The 2020 Chess Calendar was laid to waste by the coronavirus epidemic, though the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour and other online events rose from the ashes. 2021 is guaranteed to see the $1.5 million Champions Chess Tour played out in monthly events until the Grand Final in September, but if the virus permits it’s a year that could also see the Candidates Tournament completed, a World Championship match, two World Cups, two Grand Swisses, the Grand Chess Tour and much more.

We’ve tried to gather together all the events that are currently known about for 2021. It goes without saying, of course, that all the over-the-board events are subject to change or cancellation depending on how the virus situation around the world develops.

Current and upcoming tournaments:

January 2021

January 16 – 31 | Tata Steel Masters | Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

This year’s 83rd edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament has been cut to just the main event due to COVID-19, but if everything goes as planned that will still mean a 14-player round-robin featuring Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from the world’s Top 5 and a host of young talents that include 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja.

Links: official website, chess24

January 18 - 29 [POSTPONED - provisionally to Late February] | FIDE Women’s Grand Prix | Gibraltar

The 4th and final stage of the 2019-2020 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in the Caleta Hotel venue that would normally host the Gibraltar Masters, impossible this year due to travel restrictions. After the 12-player event ends we’ll know the two players who qualify to the next FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament, which is pencilled in for the first quarter of the year.

Links: official website

January 23 - 31 [POSTPONED] | Moscow Open | Moscow, Russia

A big, traditional open with a myriad of separate events.

Links: official website

February 2021

February 6 - 14 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Leg 3 | chess24

The 3rd stage of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour and the second Regular event, with 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

March 2021

March 13 - 21 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Leg 4 | chess24

The 4th stage of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour and the second Major, with 12 players and a $200,000 prize fund.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

March 27 - 28 | Chess Bundesliga Rounds 9-10 | Germany

The 2019/2020 German Chess League was suspended after 8 rounds due to the coronavirus. The provisional plan is to complete the rounds in 2021 over three weekends.

Links: official website, chess24

April 2021

Spring 2021 | Candidates Tournament Rounds 8-14 | Yekaterinburg, Russia

The Candidates Tournament that will decide Magnus Carlsen’s next World Championship challenger was started in March 2020 despite a pandemic beginning to take hold around the world. The worst fears of Teimour Radjabov and others proved justified when the event had to be stopped halfway, with Teimour’s late replacement Maxime Vachier-Lagrave joining Ian Nepomniachtchi in the lead. The saga of trying to resume the event has dragged on ever since, with the outcome still uncertain.

Links: official website, chess24

April 1 - 5 | GRENKE Chess Open | Karlsruhe, Germany

The massive GRENKE Chess Open was the kind of event that was never going to be possible to hold in 2020. The prospects for 2021 are unclear, but if it is held it’ll again take place over the Easter weekend - Easter Sunday is April 4th. The hope is to accompany it with the GRENKE Chess Classic super-tournament, which from 2017-2019 was won by Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen.

Links: official website

April 7 - 21 | European Individual Championship | Reykjavik, Iceland

The Reykjavik Open had to be cancelled in 2020 while in 2021 the plan is for the main event of the Festival to serve as the European Championship, potentially boosting the prestige of a tournament that has largely been viewed as a qualifier for the World Cup.

Reykjavik's iconic Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre is the planned venue for the event | photo: official website 

Links: official website

April 10 - 18 | 20th Bangkok Chess Club Open | Thailand

The Bangkok Chess Club Open was postponed and then cancelled as global air traffic shut down in 2020. 2-time Champion Jan Gustafsson will be among those hoping things go better in 2021.

Links: official website

April 24 - May 2 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Leg 5 | chess24

The 5th stage of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour and the 3rd Regular event, with 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

April 24 - 25 | Chess Bundesliga Rounds 11-12 | Germany

The 2nd of three weekends on which the 2019-2020 German Chess League is planned to be completed, with matches taking places in different cities around Germany.

Links: official website

May 2021

May 14 - 16 | Chess Bundesliga Rounds 13-15 | Berlin, Germany

The planned climax for the 2019-2020 German Chess League would see all the teams once again converging on Berlin for the three final rounds.

Links: official website

May 23 - 31 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Leg 6 | chess24

The 6th stage of the Champions Chess Tour and the third and final Major, with 12 players and a $200,000 prize fund.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

May 31 – June 13 | European Women’s Chess Championship | Mamaia, Romania

This 11-round open determines the 2021 European Women’s Champion and also qualification spots for the Women’s World Cup.

Links: official website

June 2021

June 4 – 15 | Superbet Chess Classic | Bucharest, Romania

The 1st event on the 2021 Grand Chess Tour, which plans to follow the cancelled plan for 2020 of having five events and no Grand Final. The tournament in Bucharest is a 12-player classical event featuring all the main tour players, with a $325,000 prize fund.

Levon Aronian won the first Superbet tournament when it was held as a rapid and blitz event in 2019 | photo: Lennart Ootes, Grand Chess Tour

Links: Grand Chess Tour 

June 17 – 22 | Paris Rapid & Blitz | Paris, France

The 2nd leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. The 5-day rapid and blitz tournament will have a $150,000 prize fund.

Links: Grand Chess Tour 

June 17 - 26 | Prague Chess Festival | Prague, Czech Republic

The 2nd edition of the Prague Masters, won by Alireza Firouzja, was the last major chess tournament to be completed in 2020 before the virus shut down chess life. A 3rd edition, again with a Masters, Challengers and Open, is planned for 2021, but the dates have been pushed back to June due to the virus situation.

Links: official website   

June 26 - July 4 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Leg 7 | chess24

The 7th stage of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour and the 4th Regular event, with 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

July 2021

July 5 – 12 | Croatia Rapid & Blitz | Zagreb, Croatia

The 3rd leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. The 5-day rapid and blitz tournament will have a $150,000 prize fund.

Links: Grand Chess Tour 

July 10 - August 6 | FIDE World Cup | Sochi, Russia

An expanded 206-player World Cup knockout tournament is provisionally planed to start in Sochi on July 10th, with the 50 top seeds starting their campaigns from Round 2. The prize fund has been raised to $1.89 million, with the two finalists both qualifying for the next Candidates Tournament. The final is this time cut from four games to two, the same length as all the other rounds (with rapid and blitz playoffs in case of a tie).  

A Women's World Cup is planned to be held at the same time with 103 players, a $676,000 prize fund and three places in the Women's Candidates Tournament at stake.

Links: FIDE 

July 13 - 18 | Sparkassen Chess Trophy | Dortmund, Germany

The virus prevented this new look tournament in Dortmund from taking off in 2020, but it’s back for 2021, with a series of opens with a €50,000 prize fund.

Links: official website

July 17 - 28 | Biel Chess Festival | Biel/Bienne, Switzerland

The Biel Chess Festival was one of the first top level tournaments to be held successfully after coronavirus restrictions eased in summer 2020, and it plans to be back for a 54th edition in 2021. In recent years it’s experimented with combining classical, rapid and blitz chess.

Radek Wojtaszek won the 2020 Biel Chess GM event ahead of Harikrishna & Adams | photo: Biel International Chess Festival

Links: official website

July 31 - August 8 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Leg 8 | chess24

The 8th stage of the Champions Chess Tour and the 5th Regular event, with 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

August 2021

August 10 – 15 | St. Louis Rapid & Blitz | Saint Louis, USA

The 4th leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. The 5-day rapid and blitz tournament will have a $150,000 prize fund.

Links: Grand Chess Tour 

August 17 – 27 | Sinquefield Cup | Saint Louis, USA

The 8th edition of the Sinquefield Cup is the 5th and final stage of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. The 12-player classical event has a $325,000 prize fund and will also finalise who wins the additional $175,000 in prize money for the overall tour standings.

Links: Grand Chess Tour 

August 28 – September 5 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Leg 9 | chess24

The 9th stage of the Champions Chess Tour and the 6th Regular event, with 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund. This will be the last chance for players to qualify for the Grand Final.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

September 2021

Sep 25 – October 3 |  Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Final | San Francisco, USA

The Grand Final of the 2021 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour will be a $300,000 10-player round-robin featuring the top players on the tour. It's going to be held in the San Francisco headquarters of the tour's name sponsors Meltwater. The players will be handicapped based on their performance over the year. 

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

October 2021

October 25 – November 8 | FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss | Douglas, Isle of Man

As in 2019 the traditional open tournament on the Isle of Man will become a FIDE Candidates Tournament qualifier, with the $425,000 main event now offering two places in the Candidates as well as a $70,000 top prize. This year it’s accompanied by a $125,000 FIDE chess.com Women’s Grand Swiss, with 50 players and at least one qualifier to a Women’s Candidates Tournament.   

Links: official website

November 2021

November 11 - 22 | European Team Chess Championship | Terme Olimia, Slovenia

This biennial European event for national chess teams saw Russia claim double gold when it was last held in Batumi, Georgia in 2019.

Links: official website

November 27 - December 5 | European Chess Club Cup | Ohrid, North Macedonia

An annual team event for chess clubs based in Europe, though players can come from around the world.

Links: official website

November 27 – December 5 | European Women’s Chess Club Cup | Monaco

The women’s event is taking place at the same time as the open tournament, but at a different venue.

Links: official website

November-December | World Chess Championship Match | Dubai, UAE

Magnus Carlsen's World Championship title is likely to be on the line in 2021 | photo: Niki Riga

If the Candidates Tournament is successfully completed in the first half of 2021 the plan is to hold the match between the winner and current World Champion Magnus Carlsen in Dubai as part of Expo 2020, which has now been rescheduled to begin on October 1, 2021. It’s already been announced that the match will feature 14 games rather than 12, with a prize fund of at least €2 million.

Finished events:

January 2021

December 26 – January 3 | Airthings Masters | chess24

The second event on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is also the first Major, with a $200,000 prize fund. The winner gets $60,000 and a guaranteed place in the Grand Final. Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Skilling Open winner Wesley So are among the 12-player field, which will be reduced to 8 players by a 3-day preliminary stage. The remaining players will battle it out in a knockout that takes us into 2021.

Links: Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, Airthings Masters games: Prelims, Knockout | Reports: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9