# 2019 in chess

Major chess events that took place in 2019 include the Tata Steel, Shamkir Chess, Grenke Chess Classic and Norway Chess, all won by World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

## Events

12 December – The United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution designating 20 July as "World Chess Day", marking the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris on 20 July 1924.

## 2019 tournaments
### Supertournaments

| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2700+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
| Tata Steel Masters | Wijk aan Zee | Round robin | 12–27 Jan | 14 (12) | Magnus Carlsen | Anish Giri | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
| Tata Steel Challengers | Wijk aan Zee | Round robin | 12–27 Jan | 14 (0) | Vladislav Kovalev | Andrey Esipenko | Benjamin Gledura |
| Prague Chess Festival | Prague | Round robin | 6–15 Mar | 10 (8) | Nikita Vitiugov | Vidit Gujrathi | Radosław Wojtaszek |
| Shamkir Chess | Shamkir | Round robin | 31 Mar – 9 Apr | 10 (10) | Magnus Carlsen | Ding Liren | Sergey Karjakin |
| Shenzhen Masters | Shenzhen | Round robin | 17–Apr | 6 (6) | Anish Giri | Pentala Harikrishna | Ding Liren |
| Grenke Chess Classic | Baden-Baden | Round robin | 20–29 Apr | 10 (6) | Magnus Carlsen | Fabiano Caruana | Arkadij Naiditsch |
| Norway Chess | Stavanger | Round robin | 4–15 Jun | 10 (10) | Magnus Carlsen | Levon Aronian | Yu Yangyi |
| Poykovsky Chess Tournament | Poykovsky | Round robin | 6–15 Jun | 10 (3) | Vladislav Artemiev | Dmitry Jakovenko | Ivan Šarić |
| Netanya International Chess Festival | Netanya | Round robin | 23 Jun – 2 Jul | 10 (3) | Boris Gelfand | Leinier Domínguez | Pavel Eljanov |
| Croatia Grand Chess Tour | Zagreb | Round robin | 26 Jun – 8 Jul | 12 (12) | Magnus Carlsen | Wesley So | Levon Aronian |
| Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting | Dortmund | Round robin | 13–21 Jul | 8 (5) | Leinier Domínguez | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Radosław Wojtaszek |
| Biel Chess Festival | Biel | Round robin | 21–30 Jul | 8 (2) | Vidit Gujrathi | Sam Shankland | Peter Leko |
| Sinquefield Cup | St. Louis | Round robin | 17–29 Aug | 12 (12) | Ding Liren | Magnus Carlsen | Viswanathan Anand |
| London Chess Classic | London | Knockout | 2–8 Dec | 4 (4) | Ding Liren | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Magnus Carlsen |

### Open events

| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
| Gibraltar Chess Festival | Gibraltar | Swiss | 21–31 Jan | 252 | Vladislav Artemiev | Karthikeyan Murali | Nikita Vitiugov |
| Aeroflot Open | Moscow | Swiss | 18–28 Feb | 101 | Kaido Külaots | Haik Martirosyan | Krishnan Sasikiran |
| European Individual Chess Championship | Skopje | Swiss | 18–29 Mar | 361 | Vladislav Artemiev | Nils Grandelius | Kacper Piorun |
| Reykjavik Open | Reykjavík | Swiss | 8–16 Apr | 238 | Constantin Lupulescu | Alireza Firouzja | Nils Grandelius |
| GRENKE Chess Open | Karlsruhe | Swiss | 18–22 Apr | 904 | Daniel Fridman | Anton Korobov | Andreas Heimann |
| World Open | Philadelphia | Swiss | 2–7 Jul | 227 | Lê Quang Liêm | Jeffery Xiong | Hrant Melkumyan |
| Riga Technical University Open | Riga | Swiss | 5–11 Aug | 275 | Igor Kovalenko | Šarūnas Šulskis | Arman Mikaelyan |

### FIDE Events

| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
| FIDE Grand Prix Moscow | Moscow | Knockout | 16–30 May | 16 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Alexander Grischuk | Radosław Wojtaszek Hikaru Nakamura |
| FIDE Grand Prix Riga | Riga | Knockout | 12–24 Jul | 16 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Alexander Grischuk Wesley So |
| FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg | Hamburg | Knockout | 5–17 Nov | 16 | Alexander Grischuk | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Daniil Dubov |
| FIDE Grand Prix Jerusalem | Jerusalem | Knockout | 11–23 Dec | 16 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Wei Yi | David Navara Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
| FIDE World Cup | Khanty-Mansiysk | Knockout | 9 Sep – 4 Oct | 128 | Teimour Radjabov | Ding Liren | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
| FIDE Grand Swiss | Isle of Man | Swiss | 10–21 Oct | 154 | Wang Hao | Fabiano Caruana | Kirill Alekseenko |
| FIDE Fischer Random Chess Championship | Bærum | Knockout | 27 Oct – 2 Nov | 4 | Wesley So | Magnus Carlsen | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
| World Rapid Chess Championship | Moscow | Swiss | 26–28 Dec | 204 | Magnus Carlsen | Alireza Firouzja | Hikaru Nakamura |
| World Blitz Chess Championship | Moscow | Swiss | 29–30 Dec | 206 | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | Vladimir Kramnik |

### Team events

| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Teams | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
| World Team Chess Championship | Astana | Round robin | 5–14 Mar | 10 | Russia | England | China |
| Women's World Team Chess Championship | Astana | Round robin | 5–14 Mar | 10 | China | Russia | Georgia |
| European Team Chess Championship | Batumi | Round robin | 23 Oct – 3 Nov | 40 | Russia | Ukraine | England |
| Women's European Team Chess Championship | Batumi | Round robin | 23 Oct – 3 Nov | 32 | Russia | Georgia | Azerbaijan |

### Rapid & Blitz Tournaments

| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
| Norway Chess Blitz Tournament | Stavanger | Round robin | 3 Jun | 10 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Levon Aronian | Magnus Carlsen |
| Lindores Abbey Chess Stars | Newburgh | Round robin | 25–26 May | 4 | Magnus Carlsen | Ding Liren | Sergey Karjakin |
| Abidjan Rapid & Blitz | Abidjan | Round robin | 8–12 May | 10 | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
| Paris Rapid & Blitz | Paris | Round robin | 27 Jul – 1 Aug | 10 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Viswanathan Anand | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
| Levitov Chess Week Blitz | Amsterdam | Round robin | 3 Aug | 8 | Vladimir Kramnik | Viswanathan Anand | Alexander Grischuk |
| Levitov Chess Week Rapid | Amsterdam | Round robin | 4–6 Aug | 8 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Alexander Grischuk | Anish Giri |
| Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz | St. Louis | Round robin | 10–Aug | 10 | Levon Aronian | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Ding Liren |
| Superbet Rapid & Blitz | Bucharest | Round robin | 6–10 Nov | 10 | Levon Aronian | Sergey Karjakin | Viswanathan Anand |
| Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz | Kolkatta | Round robin | 8–12 May | 10 | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | Anish Giri |

## Deaths

* Tamar Khmiadashvili, a Georgian Woman Grandmaster with multiple wins in the Georgian Women's Championship and Women's World Senior Championship.
* 7 January – Khosro Harandi, first Iranian International Master and three-time winner of the Iranian Chess Championship, dies at age 87.
* 31 March – Eva Moser, Austria's first Woman Grandmaster and in 2006 became the first woman to win the absolute Austrian Chess Championship, dies at age 36.
* 6 July – Ragnar Hoen, Norwegian FIDE Master who won the Norwegian Chess Championship in 1963, 1978, and 1981, dies at age 78.
* 11 August – Shelby Lyman, American chess player and teacher, dies at age 82.
* 26 August – Pal Benko, Hungarian-American Grandmaster, author and composer of endgame studies, dies at age 91.
* 5 September – Nenad Šulava, Croatian Grandmaster, dies at age 56.
* 11 September – Zbigniew Szymczak, Polish International Master and Polish chess champion in 1983, dies at age 67.
* 9 September – Yoel Aloni, Israeli chess player and problemist, dies at age 90.
* 23 September – Harri Hurme, Finnish FIDE Master and International Solving Master, dies at age 74.
* 30 December – Beatriz Alfonso Nogue, Spanish Woman FIDE Master, dies at age 51.