chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
during the year 2011:
Events
January
* January 1 –
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
(NOR) reclaims the top position in the
FIDE world rankings
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" rankings of countries according to the average rating ...
with an
Elo rating
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor.
The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...
of 2814.
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...
(IND) falls to second with a rating of 2810.
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing Ukraine). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken b ...
(RUS) has the greatest rating change among the top 10, improving 16 points from 2760 to 2776.
Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru NakamuraWang Yue (CHN).
* January 5 –
**
Deep Sengupta
Deep Sengupta (born 30 June 1988) is an Indian chess player. He is India's 22nd player to be awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE. Sengupta competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2017.
Career
Born in Chakradharpur, Sengupta started chess with t ...
(IND) and Arghyadip Das (IND) split first at the
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...
.
**
Soumya Swaminathan
Soumya Swaminathan (born 2 May 1959) is an Indian paediatrician and clinical scientist known for her research on tuberculosis and HIV. From 2019 to 2022, she served as the chief scientist at the World Health Organization under the leadership of ...
(IND) wins the Indian Women's Championship.
**
Yannick Pelletier
Yannick Pelletier (born September 22, 1976, in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland) is a Swiss chess Grandmaster and a six-time Swiss Champion currently living in Luxembourg.
Career
He completed his final Grandmaster norm at the 2000 Chess Olympiad in Ist ...
(SUI) wins the Basel Hilton Open at the Basel Chess Festival.
* January 6 –
Vugar Gashimov
Vugar Gasim oghlu Hashimov ( az, Vüqar Qasım oğlu Həşimov; 24 July 1986 – 11 January 2014), known internationally as Vugar Gashimov , was an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. He was a noted player of blitz chess. At his peak ranking, he ...
(AZE) wins the 53rd Reggio Emilia tournament with a score of 6/9.
* January 9 –
**
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994.
He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classic ...
(ESP) wins the
Paul Keres Memorial Tournament
The Paul Keres Memorial Tournament is a chess tournament played in honour of chess grandmaster Paul Keres (1916–1975). It usually takes place in Vancouver, Canada and Tallinn, Estonia.
An annual international chess tournament has been held i ...
.
**
Loek van Wely
Loek van Wely (born 7 October 1972) is a Dutch chess player and politician. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1993, and was rated among the world's top ten in 2001 with a rating of 2714. In March 2019, he was elected to the Dutch ...
(NED) wins the Berkeley International.
* January 15 –
Stewart Haslinger
Stewart Gavin Haslinger (born 25 November 1981 in Ainsdale, Merseyside) is an English chess Grandmaster and former British Junior champion.
Biography
Now a resident of nearby Formby, Haslinger comes from a strong chess-playing family. Taugh ...
(ENG) wins the 36th Seville Open with a score of 7.5/9.
* January 16 –
Alexander Areshchenko
Alexander Areshchenko ( uk, Олександр Арещенко, Oleksandr Areshchenko; born June 15, 1986) is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 2002. He has competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, 2009, 2013 ...
(UKR) wins the 9th Delhi Parsvnath International Open.
* January 20 – The free
chess engine
In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest.
A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface wit ...
Houdini
Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...
Rybka
Rybka is a computer chess engine designed by International Master Vasik Rajlich. Around 2011, Rybka was one of the top-rated engines on chess engine rating lists and won many computer chess tournaments.
After Rybka won four consecutive World ...
in the
Thoresen Chess Engines Competition
Top Chess Engine Championship, formerly known as Thoresen Chess Engines Competition (TCEC or nTCEC), is a computer chess tournament that has been run since 2010. It was organized, directed, and hosted by Martin Thoresen until the end of Season 6; f ...
.
* January 25 –
Rafael Leitão
Rafael Duailibe Leitão (born 28 December 1979) is a Brazilian chess player. He is a grandmaster in both over-the-board chess and correspondence chess. Leitão is a seven-time Brazilian champion. He competed in the FIDE World Championship in 1 ...
(BRA) wins the Antonio Rocha Memorial Tournament with a score of 10/11.
* January 26 –
Martyn Kravtsiv
Martyn Kravtsiv ( uk, Мартин Кравців; born 26 November 1990) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2013.
Career
Kravtsiv was taught how to play chess on his sixth birthday by his father. Later, he ...
(UKR) wins the 3rd Chennai Open Tournament.
* January 30 –
Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament with a score of 9/13, half a point ahead of runner-up
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...
. This is Nakamura's first ever win at a super-GM event.
* January 31 –
Zhao Zong-Yuan
Zhao Zong-Yuan (; born 26 June 1986) is an Australian chess Grandmaster. , he was the third-ranked active chess player in Australia.
Early life
Zhao was born in Beijing. He grew up in Coffs Harbour, Australia, a pharmacy graduate from the ...
(AUS) qualifies for the
Chess World Cup 2011
The Chess World Cup 2011 was a chess World Cup tournament. It was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 26 August and 21 September 2011, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner Peter Svidler, along with second placed Alexan ...
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
at the President's Montpelier estate.
* February 6 –
Atanas Kolev
Atanas Kolev ( bg, Атанас Колев; born July 15, 1967) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster of chess. His highest rating is 2602, January 2012. Kolev was the coach of the Bulgarian women's national chess team 2004–2006. Kolev and fellow Bulgar ...
(BUL) wins the 33rd Bulgarian Open.
* February 7 – Vladimir Belous, an untitled 18 year old, takes first place at the Moscow Open.
* February 19 –
Lê Quang Liêm
Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese chess grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Liêm is the current Asian champion and was the World Blitz Chess Champion in 2013. ...
Alexei Fedorov
Alexei Fedorov (russian: Алексей Дмитриевич Фёдоров, ''Aleksey Dimitriyevich Fyodorov'', be, Аляксей Фёдараў, ''Aliaksey Fyodarau''; born 27 September 1972) is a Belarusian chess player. He was awarded the ...
(BLR) wins the 9th Khazar Cup in Iran.
* February 23 –
Gawain Jones
Gawain Christopher Bernard Jones (born 11 December 1987) is an English chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2007. He won the British Chess Championship in 2012 and 2017. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2013, 20 ...
(ENG) wins the Bunratty Chess Festival.
March
* March 1 –
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...
retakes the top spot in the
FIDE World Rankings
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" rankings of countries according to the average rating ...
with an
Elo rating
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor.
The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates T ...
(RUS) has the greatest rating decline, losing 26 points and falling to 2747.
* March 5 –
Humpy Koneru
Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess player best known for winning the FIDE Women's rapid chess championship in 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years ...
Women's World Chess Championship
The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE.
Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wher ...
match with
Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time.
(CHN).
* March 6 –
Jan Smeets
Jan Smeets (born 5 April 1985) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He is a two-time Dutch Chess Champion.
Playing record
2004 was the year that his participation in senior tournaments began to yield encouraging results. He finished in second place i ...
(NED) wins the 71st Noteboom Memorial tournament.
* March 7 –
Sergei Tiviakov
Sergei Tiviakov (russian: Серге́й Тивяков; born 14 February 1973) is a Russian–Dutch chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Dutch Champion and was European Champion in 2008.
Chess career
Tiviakov won the World Under-18 Champion ...
(NED) wins the 19th Fajr Open in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
* March 9 –
Gregory Kaidanov
Gregory Kaidanov (russian: Григорий Зиновьевич Кайда́нов, ; born 11 October 1959) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in 2013. His peak rating is 2646 ...
(USA) wins the Saint Louis Invitational, qualifying for the 2011 US Championship.
Ray Robson
Ray Robson (born October 25, 1994) is an American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2010. Robson fulfilled the requirements for the title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 11 months and 16 days, making him the young ...
(USA) finishes second, also qualifying.
* March 11 –
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...
wins the
Amber chess tournament The Amber chess tournament (officially the ''Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament'', previously ''Melody Amber'') was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event ...
in Monaco.
* March 14 – Irina Chelushkina (SRB) wins the 43rd Belgrade Women's International tournament.
* March 16 –
Yuriy Kuzubov
Yuriy Kuzubov ( ua, Юрій Кузубов; his first name is sometimes spelled "Yuri" or "Yury"; born 26 January 1990 in Sychyovka, Smolensk Oblast)Reykjavik Open The Reykjavik Open is an annual chess tournament that takes place in the capital city of Iceland. It was held every two years up to 2008, currently it runs annually. The first edition was held in 1964 and was won by Mikhail Tal with a score of 12.5 ...
.
* March 19 – The chess team from the University of Texas – Dallas competes against six invited Grandmasters. The GM team wins the match by a score of 42.5-29.5.
* March 27 –
Tigran L. Petrosian
Tigran Levoni Petrosian ( hy, Տիգրան Լևոնի Պետրոսյան; born 17 September 1984) is an Chess in Armenia, Armenian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, which FIDE awarded him in 2004. A two-time n ...
(ARM) wins the 5th George Agzamov Memorial tournament.
April
May
* May 1 –
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...
remains the world number one.
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates T ...
falls out of the top 10, and is replaced by
Vugar Gashimov
Vugar Gasim oghlu Hashimov ( az, Vüqar Qasım oğlu Həşimov; 24 July 1986 – 11 January 2014), known internationally as Vugar Gashimov , was an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. He was a noted player of blitz chess. At his peak ranking, he ...
(AZE).
June
July
* July 1 –
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
is again the world number one.
Vugar Gashimov
Vugar Gasim oghlu Hashimov ( az, Vüqar Qasım oğlu Həşimov; 24 July 1986 – 11 January 2014), known internationally as Vugar Gashimov , was an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. He was a noted player of blitz chess. At his peak ranking, he ...
falls out of the top 10, and is replaced by
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in ...
(UKR).
August
September
* September 1 –
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
remains the world number one.
Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru NakamuraShakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the world. ...
fall out of the top 10, and are replaced by
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates T ...
and
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky ( tt-Cyrl, Гата Камский, italics=no; russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion.
Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Cham ...
(USA).
October
November
* November 1 –
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
is again the world number one.
Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; az, Teymur Boris oğlu Rəcəbov, ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster, ranked number 18 in the world
A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster ...
(AZE) surges from 13th to 5th with a ratings gain of 29 points.
Alexander Morozevich
Alexander Sergeyevich Morozevich (russian: Александр Серге́евич Морозе́вич, translit=Aleksandr Sergéevich Morozévich; born July 18, 1977) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE ...
(RUS) also makes a big leap, going from 17th to 9th with a ratings gain of 25 points.
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in ...
,
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates T ...
, and
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky ( tt-Cyrl, Гата Камский, italics=no; russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion.
Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Cham ...
fall out of the top 10.
December
National champions
Armenia
* Men's –
Robert Hovhannisyan
Robert Hovhannisyan ( hy, Ռոբերտ Հովհաննիսյան; born 23 March 1991) is an Armenian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2010.
In January 2011, Hovhannisyan won the 71st Armenian Chess Championship. In J ...
Nidjat Mamedov
Nidjat Mamedov ( az, Nicat Məmmədov; born 2 April 1985) is an Azerbaijani chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006.
Career
He won the U14 section of European Youth Chess Championships in 1999. In 2007 Mamedov tied fo ...
Belarus
* Men's – Andrey Zhigalko
* Women's –
Anna Sharevich
Anna Sharevich (born December 18, 1985) is a Belarusian-American Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in chess. She won the Women's Belarusian Chess Championship in 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2011.
Sharevich played for team Belarus in the Women's Chess Olympiad in ...
Bulgaria
* Women's – Darena Sikova
Chile
* Men's – Alvaro Valdes Escobar
Croatia
* Men's –
Ante Brkić
Ante Brkić (born 31 March 1988) is a Croatian chess grandmaster.
Chess career
He won the Croatian Chess Championship in 2010 and has represented his country in a number of Chess Olympiads, including 2004 (2/4 on board 6), 2006 (3.5/5 on board 6 ...
Mateusz Bartel
Mateusz Bartel (born 3 January 1985) is a Polish chess Grandmaster. He won the Polish Chess Championship in 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Career
Bartel learnt to play the game at the age of 6 from his father when he and his younger brother were ...
* Women's – Jolante Zawadzka
Romania
* Men's –
Constantin Lupulescu
Constantin Lupulescu (born 25 March 1984) is a Romanian chess grandmaster and a five-time Romanian Chess Champion. He has competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019, 2021.
Chess career
Lupulescu won the Romanian Chess C ...
Emre Can
Emre Can (; born 12 January 1994) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Central midfielder, central midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Germany national football team, Germany na ...
United States
* Men's –
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky ( tt-Cyrl, Гата Камский, italics=no; russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion.
Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Cham ...
* Women's –
Anna Zatonskih
Anna Zatonskih ( uk, Ганна Затонських; July 17, 1978) is a Ukrainian American chess player who holds the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a four-time U.S. women's champion, as well as a former U ...
Deaths
* February 12 –
Mato Damjanović
Mato Damjanović (23 March 192712 February 2011) was a Croatian chess grandmaster who represented Yugoslavia in international team events. In 1964 he became the second Croatian grandmaster, after Mijo Udovčić.
Damjanović represented Yugosla ...
, Croatian and Yugoslav Grandmaster, dies at the age of 83.