Format

• The Play-in is open to all grandmasters.
• Play-in consists of a nine-round Swiss and a "Match Play" stage.
• The time control is 10+2.
• The top-ranked players from the Swiss advance to the Match Play stage.
• The top four players in the Swiss pick their opponents for Match Play one by one from the players placed between fifth and eighth.
• The pairings for the remaining Match Play are determined by the final rankings of players in the Swiss round.
• Two games make up each match in Match Play.
• A bidding armageddon game with a 10-minute base time breaks Match Play ties.
• After the Match Play, players move on to the Knockout stage, where they are placed in one of three divisions depending on their performance.

Players

156 players are participating in the event, including Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Rauf Mamedov, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov,...

Links

• chess.com
• chess24
• Twitch channel
• YouTube stream
• Champions Chess Tour

Just lost 70 points in few days on Lichess, so annoying!

I pretty much lost every game, such a bad sequence of losses!

Format

• The six qualified players join 10 invited players in a 16-player double-elimination bracket.
• Matches consist of a 30-minute countdown clock, except for Winners Semifinals, Winners Final, and Grand Final matches that last 45 minutes (Grand Final reset is still 30 minutes long).
• Games are in the 1+0 time control.
• Players earn 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw, and 0 points for a draw.
• The higher-seeded player starts with White, and colors alternate after each game.
• A player must have a two-point advantage at the end of the match to win.
• If neither player is ahead by two points at the end of the match, players keep playing until one of them gets a two-point advantage.
• If neither player achieves the two-point advantage by the sixth additional game:
  • The player currently in the lead wins the match.
  • If the match is tied, the first player to win a game is declared the winner.

Schedule

• Winners R1: July 17, 16:00 UTC
• Losers R1/Winners QFs: July 18, 16:00 UTC
• Losers R2/Winners SFs: July 19, 16:00 UTC
• Losers R3+QFs/Winners Final: July 20, 16:00 UTC
• Losers SF + Final/Grand Final: July 21, 16:00 UTC

Players

• GM Magnus Carlsen (🇳🇴, 2858)
• GM Hikaru Nakamura (🇺🇸, 2874)
• GM Alireza Firouzja (🇫🇷, 2896)
• GM Andrew Tang (🇺🇸, 2600)
• GM Daniel Naroditsky (🇺🇸, 2636)
• GM Anish Giri (🇳🇱, 2760)
• GM Eric Hansen (🇨🇦, 2561)
• GM Tuan Minh Le (🇻🇳, 2565)
• GM Oleksandr Bortnyk (🇺🇦, 2728)
• GM Fabiano Caruana (🇺🇸, 2832)
• GM Jose Martinez (Qualifier 1) (🇵🇪, 2711)
• IM Emin Ohanynan (Qualifier 1) (🇦🇲, 2411)
• GM David Paravyan (Qualifier 2) (🏳️, 2544)
• GM Denis Lazavik (Qualifier 2) (🏳️, 2560)
• GM Dmitry Andreikin (Qualifier 3) (🏳️, 2736)
• GM Arjun Erigaisi (Qualifier 3) (🇮🇳, 2710)

Links

• YouTube channel
• Twitch channel

Hexagon chess rules explained in a video, with a short sample match in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgR3yESAEVE

https://piped.video/watch?v=bgR3yESAEVE

So I saw this video about possible responses to 1.d4 It's an interesting overview to many possible responses, with general ideas and comments on whether they are worth to be played ant the like.

Recap of games 3, 4 and 5 of the Women's World Championship

These rules are novel and the game is both fun and deep. Make sure you read the rules before playing!

My son asked me how to castle on chess.com the other day, and I found that I couldn't do it the way I normally do. Picking up the king and trying to move it to c1 just caused it to move to d1 instead, every time. I tried walking backwards and redoing a few different moves before this, and that all worked, but it just refused to let me castle by moving the king. Neither the king nor the rook had moved yet, and there was no potential or existing check involved, so what gives? Is there some other rule I'm just not aware of?

Sorry I didn't get a shot of the board as well, I thought I had but I can't find it on my phone now.

Edit: Missed the bishop. Option 2 it is, then.

Levy Rozman aka GothamChess covers the first two games of the Women's World Championship

I have wide swings in my ELO on chess.com. My highest is 1425. I’m typically 1350. But I’ll nosedive into large slumps sometimes.

I have a much harder time if I slump below 1200 than if I stay in my usual 1300 range.

Has anyone else experienced this? I have some theories:

• New accounts start at 1200 so you might have people who are really good but their ELO is not cemented yet.

• Weird chess. The 1300 is playing more principled moves so there is less calculation in the opening. I’ve seen it before. The lower players are playing weird moves that require constant calculating.

• Aggressive queen moves that I can sometimes punish, but again require way more calculating early than a 1300 who keeps their Q safe for longer.

I enjoyed it, so I thought I'd share 🙂

After much speculation, both Carlsen and Nakamura will participate in the World Cup from July 29th to August 25th. The most notable absences are World Champion Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja and Levon Aronian. Aronian cited concerns about the tournament being held in Azerbaijan.