Chess.com Open, Candidates, And More For March

Articles Chess.com Open, Candidates, And More For March CHESScom Updated: Mar 9, 2026, 8:59 AM | 49 | Other As the first quarter of 2026 enters its final weeks, some of the biggest tournaments in both online and over-the-board chess are happening, with the Chess.com Open starting March 14 and the Candidates Tournament, to determine the next world championship challenger, starts March 28. But there is also a lot more going on, including a special new Course. Here's everything this update covers:  Events Product & Engineering Community Content Chessable ChessKid Fair Play Support Events GM Magnus Carlsen won the Speed Chess Championship Finals against GM Alireza Firouzja for the second straight year, giving Magnus his third straight SCC crown and fifth overall. GM Denis Lazavik defeated GM Hikaru Nakamura in the consolation match. As top-three finishers, Firouzja and Lazavik are now qualified for the Esports World Cup (Carlsen already was). Carlsen also won the Freestyle World Championship, defeating GM Fabiano Caruana in the finals.  The stakes in Freestyle Friday are higher now, as the weekly event is now part of qualification for next year's Freestyle World Championship. The Chess.com Global Championship has been rebranded the Chess.com Open, which begins March 14—anyone is welcome to join the Preliminary Qualifiers on March 14 and March 21. You can read all about it in our Chess.com Open announcement. The Candidates Tournament starts March 28! Who will earn the right to challenge GMs Gukesh Dommaraju and Ju Wenjun for the next world championships? The winter split of Titled Tuesday concluded with Carlsen and GM Meri Arabidze taking the top spots in the overall section and the women's section. The Spring 2026 season of the Collegiate Chess League is underway with a record 227 colleges and universities registered! Product & Engineering Don't miss this month's Kpop bots. If you are in tech and would like to join our team, we're hiring! Community   Chess.com was once again at the MIT Sloan Conference this year, from March 3-6.  The vote chess game between GM Judit Polgar and the World is ongoing, and you can still jump in! (As of March 9.) Chess.com was at the Super Bowl for the second straight year to host BlitzChamps, a tournament for NFL players and contributors.  https://www.chess.com/news/view/will-davis-repeats-as-blitzchamps-live-champion  The Improvement Challenge is back for 2026! To make the most of the Chess Improvement Challenge, join the club today and check out the club forum, too! Every month, we will recognize the top improvers and share improvement stories. Content We've been as active as ever on YouTube, and you can read about those videos too. Check out our interview with Polgar about Queen of Chess and more, Polgar showing off her memory,Bodhana Sivanandan's game against GothamChess, and top players trying to guess prodigies from their accomplishments. You might also be interested in "Hyperbullet Hot Takes" from Magnus and Hikaru on YouTube: Chessable & Courses This month's top new course is a GM Aman Hambleton special as he explains all the ins and outs of his favored London System. ChessKid ChessKid Ambassador FM Bodhana Sivanandan continues her fabulous rise in the chess world and recently earned her FIDE master title. Congratulations—and happy 11th birthday—to Bodhana! Congrats to the ChessKid Youth Champions! FM Supratit Banerjee won the under-13 division of the ChessKid Youth Championships on February 22 and GM Sina Movahed took the under-16 division on March 8. Congrats also to the other finalists, Bodhana and GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. Head over to ChessKid to play the brand-new Levy bot. Not today's Levy, but a younger version... much younger. Fair Play Fair Play Stats for February 2026 790,925 reports created 129,929 Fair Play closures (including 11 titled players: 5 FM, 3 CM, 1 GM, 1 WCM, 1 IM) 2,400+ mute actions 2,000+ accounts muted 252,500+ abuse closures 41,537,794 rating points refunded Support Support Stats for February 2026 Median Time to First Human Response: 27 hours Users Helped: 939,463 Users Helped By Humans: 144,516 Average Quality by Member Rating: 94.4% Total Ratings: 4,108 Thank you for being part of the world's largest chess community. Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments below! Missed any updates? Open the menu below for all past editions of the Community Update, or find last month's here. Community Update Archive More from CHESScom Chess.com Official 2026 Event Rulebook (Archive) Speed Chess Championship Finals Leading Another Great Month At Chess.com Remove Ads Articles For Beginners Strategy Tactics Scholastics Opening Theory Middlegame Endgames Amazing Games Chess Players Fun & Trivia Other Chess.com Help Authors Study Plans Curriculum for Kids Featured Articles The Top 10 Chess Games of 2025 The Top Chess Prizewinners In 2025, And How Much They Won Countries That Love Online Chess The Most World Champions Of Rapid & Blitz Chess The 10 Best Chess Players Of All Time Remove Ads