2016

January

Estonia. Eesti Bank started releasing the Estonian two-euro circulation coin with the special design dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Paul Keres to the commercial banks today. The coin will be valid as legal tender throughout the euro area. A stamp dedicated to Paul Keres is being released on the same day.
Romania. Honorary member of FIDE, WGM, IA Elisabeta Polihroniade (ROU) has passed away.

February

China. Ju Wenjun from China won the 2^nd leg of the 2015-2016 Women’s Grand Prix in Teheran, Iran with 7.5/12 ahead of S. Khademalsharieh (IRI) and Xue Zhao (CHN).
Peru. At the Peruvian championship, F. Fernandez edged out E. Cordova, D. Vera Siguenas and J. Cori on tie-break, after all of them scored 7.5/9.

March

China. The IMSA Elite Mind Games were held in China, Huai-an. This event was hosted by IMSA organization and the Sports management center of Chinese Sports General Administration, organized by Jiangsu Sports Bureau and Huai’an government. There were 143 players and 77 technical officers from 43 countries, participated in varieties of board games including Bridge, GO, Chess, Chinese Chess and Draughts. Totally, there were 23 individual events which were divided into five categories.
The winners of the chess events were: S. Mamedyarov (AZE), Z. Tan (CHN), K. Lagno (RUS), R. Mamedov (AZE), A. Kosteniuk (RUS), L. Ding (CHN).
Russia. S. Karjakin won a thrilling Candidates tournament which was close until the end. S. Karjakin beat F. Caruana in the final round. Thus the long predicted world championship match between the two men born in 1990 S. Karjakin (RUS) and defending champion M. Carlsen (NOR) will take place in November in New York. S. Karjakin finished with 8,5/14 ahead of F. Caruana (USA) and V. Anand 7,5.
Ukraine. FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship Match in Lviv has finished. World Champion of 2015 Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) and three-time World Champion of 2010, 2011 and 2013 Hou Yifan (China) competed for world chess crown. With the final score 3:6 Hou Yifan became the Women’s World Chess Champion for the fourth time.

April

Azerbaijan. S. Mamedyarov (AZE) won his last 3 games and a tie-break match against F. Caruana (USA) to finished first at the 3rd Gashimov Memorial.
China. In Xinghua, Wei Yi won with 7;5/11 the Chinese championship with a round to spare ahead of Z. Chongsheng and B. Jinshi with 6 points.
England. The 134th Varsity Match took place on the 5th March 2016. Cambridge won 6-2.
Latvia. The Vladimir Petrov Memorial took place in Jurmala, L. van Wely (NED) took first place on tie-break from V. Ivanchuk (UKR) , A. Shabalov (USA) and A. Neiksans (LAT) after all scored 9/12.
France. At the  34th Metz Open, M. Brodsky (UKR) edged out M. Manolache (ROM) and V. Onischuk (UKR) on tie-break after all scored 6.5/9.
Greece. At the European Senior Teams in Halkidiki, Israel won the title in the 50+ competition and Russian in the 65+.
Jersey. The English M. Hebden won with 7,5/9 the Polar Capital Jersey Open one point ahead of K. Williams (ENG).
Poland. At the 73rd Polish Chess Championship organized this year in Poznan, R. Wojtaszek won his 3rd title with 6.5/9. Monika Socko won her 7th title in the women’s event with 7/9.
Serbia. M. Markovic with 7/9 became the 2016 Serbian Champion.
UAE. The English GM G. Jones won the 18^th Dubai Open. He edged out V. Akopian (ARM) on tie-break after both scored 7.5/9.
H. Gabuzyan (ARM) won the World University Championship in Abu Dhabi with 8/9 ahead of Fedoseev Vladimir (RUS)  7 points. S. Ni (CHN) won the women championship.
In Abu Dhabi, it was a great success for the Indian team at the Asian team Championship. India with 17 points topped China 15, the last Olympic Champion and Kazakhstan 14 points. China won the Women’s Championship.
Tajikistan. In Tashkent, F. Amonatov (TJK) won the 10th Agazmov Memorial ahead of M. Lodhi (PAK).
Tanzania. Wafa Shrook (EGY) rated 2080 won the African Zonal with 9/9!
Thailand. At the Bangkok Open, S. S. Ganguly (IND) edged out F. Vallejo Pons (ESP) on tie-break after both scored 7.5/9.
USA. At the 2016 US Championship in St Louis, F. Caruana took clear first by a point from W.  So and Hikaru Nakamura. A. Zatonskih and I. Krush resumed their rivalry in the women’s tournament but it was N. Paikidze who won in a dramatic final round.

May

Azerbaijan. At the Nakhchivan open, E. Safarli (AZE) edged out S. Mamedyarov on tie-break after both scored 7/9.
Bosnia.In Sarajevo, surprisingly D. Kadric (BIH) won with 7.5/9 the 46th Bosna Open ahead of 5 players with 7 points.
Bulgaria. Without most of the strong national players,  M. Nikolov won the national title with 7/9.
China. In a match organized in Shangai, L. Ding (CHN) beat W. So (USA) 2.5-1.5.
Czech Rep. D. Navara who won the last 4 titles didn’t play the national championship this year. V. Plat won the title with 7/9.
Georgia. The federation celebrated the 75th anniversary of Nona Gaprindashvili with a tournament won by  E. Sutovsky (ISR) who edged out Hovhannes Gabuzyan (ARM) on tie-break after all scored 7/9.
Finland. Without few top players, V. Sipila won the Finnish Championship with 7.5/9.
Kosovo. E. Inarkiev from Russia won the European Individual Chess Championship which concluded  in Gjakova. The silver medal went to I. Kovalenko (LAT) and the bronze went to B. Jobava  (GEO) who emerged as third with the best tie-break.
Latvia. V. Sveshnikov won the championship with 7/9.
Lithuania.  T. Laurusas edged out T. Stremavicius on tie-break after both scored 6/9.
Georgia. In Batumi, V. Gunina (RUS) with 7.5/11 won the Women’s Grand Prix tournament ahead of A. Kosteniuk 6,5.
Norway: World Champion M. Carlsen (NOR) became the winner of the Norway Chess 2016 tournament with 6 points out of 9. L. Aronian (ARM) was second, V. Topalov (BUL), M. Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and V. Kramnik (USA) shared the 3rd place.
Slovenia. Robert Markus won the championship with 7.5/9.
Spain. J. Granda Zuniga (PER) won the 5th Llucmajor Open with an amazing 8.5/9.
Sweden. The strong Hasselbacken Chess Open celebrating the Stockholm Chess Society’s 150th anniversary was organized with 305 players in the capital. D. Andreikin (RUS) edged out B Adhiban (IND) on tie-break after both scored 7.5/9.
USA. V. Belous from Russia won the strong 25th Chicago Open and 10,000 USD ahead of V. Akobian.
Uzbekistan. In Tashkent for the Asian Individual Championship, SP Sethuraman (IND) finished clear first with 7/9 following by L. Le Quang (VIE) , Y. Wei (CHN) , M. Kazhgaleyev (KAZ) and D. Sengupta (IND) with 6.5/9. Bhakti Kulkarni (IND) won the women’s event making it a double triumph for India.

June

Armenia. At the 9th K. Asrian Memorial, A. Zhigalko (BLR) and Z. Andriasyan (ARM) finished the tournament with the same score: 7 points out 9, but due to higher tie-break A. Zhigalko became the winner of the tournament and Andriasyan claimed the second place.
In Yerevan at the European Senior Chess Championship, in 50+ category Z. Sturua (GEO) defended his title and became  European Senior Champion 50+ for the second time. G. Bagaturov was the second, and Rafael Vaganian (ARM) became the third. In women 50+ category G. Strutinskaya from Russia was the strongest and in 65+ category V. Bogdanov from Ukraine became champion, in women 65+ category N. Gaprindashvili was the champion.
Belgium. The Belgian leg of the Grand Chess Tour ended in favor of M. Carlsen (NOR), who secured a victory with three rounds to go. W. So (USA) finished second, L. Aronian (ARM) and V. Anand (IND) claimed third place.
Canada. S. Shankland (USA) won the 11th Edmonton Open on tie-break from S. Ganguly after both finished on 8/9.
China. The China Zonal 3.5 took place in Shenzhen. G. Liu edged out C. Dai , Y. Xu and J. Zhou Jianchao on tie-break after all players scored 7.5/11.
Croatia. At the 1st Krunoslav Hulak Memorial in Zagreb, Z. Kozul (CRO) took first on tie-break from Mladen Palac (CRO) and Sergei Tiviakov (NED) after all scored 7.5/9.
Cuba. Another easy victory for V. Ivanchuk (UKR) at the 52nd Capablanca Memorial with 7/10 and no defeat. The second was Y. Kryvoruchko also from Ukraine with 6 points.
Czech Rep. Czech Republic A in Open section and Germany in Women section were the winners of the Mitropa Cup 2016, which took place in Prague.
S. Movsisyan became the winner of the Teplice Open 2016 International Chess Tournament. S. Movsisyan scored 7 points of 9 and shared first place with 7 other players but took the first place due to a higher tie-break.
Richard Rapport (HUN) won the Cez Trophy Match against D. Navara (CZE) with 2.5-1.5.
England. R. Rapport (HUN) won with 8/9 the Checkmate London tournament ahead of M. Rodshtein (ISR) 6.5.
France. H. Nakamura (USA) won the 1st The Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz tournament of Paris. H.  Nakamura (USA) 7/9 won the rapid event by a point from M. Carlsen (NOR) and they tied in the blitz 11/18.
Germany. At the World Senior Team Championships in Dresden, Germany 1 became World Champion in Section 50+, Russia Women won the Women’s Section and Russia 65+ was the winner in Section 65+
Iceland. After a recent comeback, Johann Hjartarson won the 2016 Icelandic championship with 8.5/11.
India. The 9th Mayors Cup Open took place 2nd to 9th June 2016. NR Visakh won the 9th Mayor Cup in Mumbai on tie-break from Diptayan Ghosh and Himal Gusain after all scored 8/10.
San Salvador. Emilio Cordova won with 9/11 the 11th American Continental.
Slovenia. After a break of 5 years, the Milan Vidmar Memorial came back in Bled with its 20th tournament.  A. Volokitin (UKR) won the event with 7/9 ahead of A. Naiditsch (AZE) 6.5 and L. Nisipeanu (GER) 6 points.
Spain. V. Anand (IND) won the 29th City of Leon Master Chess after beating in final Wei Yi (CHN) 2.5-1.5.
Romania. Ukrainian GM and former World Champion A. Ushenina added in Mamaia another important title to her collection – the title of European Champion. A. Ushenina took the lead after 7 rounds and until the end maintained the advantage. Second place went to Sabrina Vega Gutierrez from Spain. The third place went to another ex-World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova with 8 points.
Russia. In Kolomna, G. Oparin won with 6.5/9 the 69th Russian Championship Higher League ahead of 8 players with 6 points.
In Moscow at the annual Russia-China Match, the men’s match was drawn 12-12-and Russia won the women’s match by one point 13-12.
Switzerland. Swiss GM V. Korchnoi (1931-2016) passed away.
USA. IM Ruifeng Li (CHN) and GM D. Fridman (GER) shared first on 5/6 at the Las Vegas Open.

July

Armenia. The Lake Sevan tournament a top tournament for future top players. Santosh Vidit (IND) edged out Vladislav Artemiev (RUS) on tie-break after both scored 6/9.
Czech Republic. Sergei Movsesian from Armenia won the main open of the 27th Czech Open Festival.
Denmark. The Copenhague Festival sponsored by Xtracom saw the victory of the rising German star Matthias Bluebaum on tie-break with 8/10.
France. In Corsica, six players tied for first at the strong 3rd Porticcio Open with 7 points but A. Areshenko (UKR) was declared the winner of the tournament.
Russia.  Anton Korobov (UKR) won with 6/9 the 17th Karpov Poikovsky tournament ahead of Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL).
Switzerland. This year, the Master was replaced by a four-game match in which Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Peter Svidler 3-1. Vachier-Lagrave won also the initial rapid match 2.5-1.5. The amercian GM Samuek Shankland won the Open.
USA. At the 44th Annual World Open in Philadelphia, the Hungarian G. Papp beat top seed V. Bologan (MOL) in a tie-break game to win the event. In total 7 players scored 7/9 to win $5800.
A. Bachmann (PAR) and A. Shimanov (RUS) shared first at the 10th Annual Philadelphia International.

August

Austria. The Austrian number 1 player Markus Ragger finished the Vienna Open with an impressive 7/8.
France. Matthieu Cornette won the 92nd French Championship with 6/9
England. Top rated Michael Adams
India. The World Junior Championship took place in Bhubaneswar at the World Junior Championship, the American Jeffery Xiong won the title with a round to spare finishing on 10.5/13.  Dinara Saduakassova from Kazakhstan won the girls title
Iran. Alexey Shirov won the 13th Avicenna Open with 7/9 ahead of Gabuzyan Hovhannes and five other players on 6.5/9.
Netherland. Surprisingly, the 17 years old Jorden Van Foreest won the Dutch championship with 5.5/7 ahead of the top-seeded Loek Van Wely 5/7.
Poland. the Polish IM Marcin Szelag (POL) won the 52nd Rubinstein Memorial with 7.5/9, a full point ahead of Vadim Shishkin (UKR).
Spain. Five players shared first with 8/10 at the 18th Sants Open. Jorge Cori (PER) won the tiebreak games.
UAE. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS) was able to take up the position as the top seed in the Abu Dhabi Master by winning the tournament with 7.5/9 ahead of Baskaran Adhiban (IND) and Bassem Amin (EGY) 7/9.
USA.  At Greensboro, Andrey Stukopin (RUS) won the US Masters with 7/9 ahead of a dozen of GMs.
USA. In Saint Louis, Wesley So won with 5.5/9 the 4th Sinquefield Cup, a strong category 22 which is part of the Grand Chess Tour. Fabiano Caruana, Veselin Topalov, Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand followed him with 5/9.

September

Azerbaijan. Forty years after Haifa Olympiad, the USA team won the 42nd World Chess Olympiad of Baku on tie-break from Ukraine both scored 20 points. Russia took clear 3rd. on 18 points.  In the Women’s Olympiad China took back the crown with 20 points ahead of Poland and Ukraine on 17 points.
Just after the Olympiad, Stanislav Bogdanovich won the Baku Open with 7.5/9 ahead of Sanan Sjugirov (RUS) and Artemiev Vladislav Artemiev (RUS), 6.5/9.
Italy. At the 18th Trieste Festival, Andriy Vovk (UKR) edged out Vladimir Baklan (UKR) on tie-break after both scored 7/9.
Mongolia. The Mongolian IM Gombosuren Munkhgal won with 6.5/9 the Ikh Nuudel International in Ulan Bator ahead of 7 GMs.

October

Armenia. Robert Hovhannisyan won the Yerevan Open edging out Pavel Smirnov (RUS), Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR), Tigran L. Petrosian, Hovik Hayrapetyan, Sergei Tiviakov (NED), Tamir Nabaty (ISR) and Chanda Sandipan (IND) after all scored 7/9.
England. Pavel Eljanov (UKR) won on tie-break from Fabiano Caruana the strong Open chess.com IoM Masters – Ile of Man, after both scored 7.5/9.
Finland. Erik Blomqvist (SWE) won the 2016 Nordic Championship with 7/9 ahead of Martin Percivaldi (DEN) 6.5.
France. At the 14th Cap d’Agde Festival, Etienne Bacrot beat Romain Edouard in the final and won his first Karpov Rapid Trophy.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Viswanathan Anand 1.5-0.5 in the final of the 20th Corsican Circuit and Aleksander Moiseenko won the Open tournament.
In Menton, Michele Godena (ITA) won the 4th Francophonie Championship edging out Bassem Amin (EGY), Pablo Almagro Llamas (ESP) and Yannick Gozzoli (FRA) on tie-break after all scored 7.5/9.
Germany. At the 2016 German Championship, Sergej Kalinitschew edged out Rasmus Svane on tie-break after both scored 7/9.
Guernsey. Tiger Hillarp Persson (SWE) won another title at the 42nd Guernsey Chess Festival with 6/7.
Iran. Gevorg Harutjunyan (ARM) won in solo the 1st Paytakht Cup 2016. Netherland. This year the 20th Hoogeveen Chess tournament included two matches and one Open. Nigel Short beat Hou Yifan 3.5-2.5 and Ivan Sokolov beat Jorden Van Foreest 3.5-2.5. Abhijeet Gupta won the open with 7.5/9.
Russia. Kirill Alekseenko won with 8/9 the Chigorin Memorial for the second year in a row ahead of Romanov, Volkov and Kamsky, all at 7 points.
Alexander Riazantsev won with 7/11 the 2016 Russian Championship and Alexandra Kosteniuk became the Women’s Champion with 8.5/11.
In Moscow, the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi won the strong category 21, 10th Tal Memorial with 6/9 half a point clear of Anish Giri and one point ahead of Aronian and Anand.
Spain. The Spanish GM David Anton Guijarro won the Barcelona GM on tie-break from Jan-Krzysztof Duda from Poland after both scored 5/7.
USA. At the SPICE Cup Open, Sam Sevian beat Ray Robson in a final Armageddon tie-break game after both players scored 6.5/9.
The 3rd Millionaire Chess moved this year to Atlantic City. Dariusz Swiercz beat Gawain Jones play in the final.
Five players tied for first at the Washington Chess Congress, Julio C Sadorra (PHI), Gil Popilski (ISR), Ruifeng Li (USA) and Andrey Stukopin (RUS) finished on 6.5/9 and shared 9.200 USD.

November 

China. The 6th Chinese Chess Master Rapid which included some of the best national players finished with the victory of Yu Yangyi with 5/7.
Faroe Island. The Runavik Open which came back after few year was won by the IM Gudmundur Kjartansson from Iceland.
Germany. The Beautiful Minds – Krulich Cup 2016 was organized in Munich by D. Dengler to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the German businessman. The Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons won the rapid chess tournament with 8.5/11 half a point clear of Nigel Short and Anna Muzychuk.
Leonid Milov edged out Daniel Sadzikowski on tie-break after both scored 6/7 to win the Heusenstamm Sparkassen Open.
At the 20th Bad Wiessee Open Tournament,  Alex Areshchenko edged out Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, GN Gopal, Sergei Zhigalko, Babu Lalith, Abhijeet Gupta and Konstantin Landa on tie-break after all players scored 7.5/9.
India. Murali Karthikeyan upset the favorites to win with 10.5/13 the 54th National Premier Indian Championship. Chithambaram Aravindh finished at the second place one point behind.
Ireland. Sebastien Maze (FRA) and Alexander Baburin (IRL) tied first at the Kilkenny Masters.
Morocco. Aleksandr Karpatchev (RUS) won the 9th Mohammad Sekkat Open 2016 with 7.5/9 ahead of four players.
Romania. At the 10th Kings Tournament, Vladimir Kramnik played a rapid and blitz match against Hou Hifan and won both of them. Vlad Jianu won the Open section.
Russia. At the 12th Ugra Governor’s Cup, Ivan Rozum edged out Denis Khismatullin on tie-break after both scored 6.5/9.
Turkey. Mert Erdogdu won the 2016 Turkish Championship after a tie-break from Mert Yilmazyerli and Ege Koksal after all scored 10/13.
USA. In New York, the World Chess Championship match between defending champion Magnus Carlsen (NOR) and his challenger Sergey Karjakin (RUS) finished with the victory of the Norwegian champion after a tie-break (6-6 and 1.5-0.5).
The young GM Jeffery Xiong and Samuel Sevian shared first with 7/9 at the UT Dallas Fall FIDE Open.

December

Argentina. Axel Bachmann (PAR) won with 7.5/9 the 2nd Patagonia Open, one of the strongest tournament in Argentina.
China. Yu Yangyi (CHN) won with 8/9 the 1st Hainan Open.
Czech Republic. The World Senior Championships finished in Marianske Lazne with the victories of Anatoly Vaisser (FRA) and Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO) in the +65 and Giorgi Bagaturov (GEO) and Tatiana Bogumil (RUS) in the +50 category.
England. An America’s triumph at the London Classic. Wesley So (USA) won the event with 6/9 and with it the whole Grand Chess Tour. Fabiano Caruana (USA) took second place, and Hikaru Nakamura finished second on the Grand Chess Tour. Etienne Bacrot (FRA) won the Open tournament with 7.5/9.
Estonia. The 2016 European Individual and Russian Champion Alexander Riazantsev (RUS) won the rapid event on tie-break from Maxim Matlakov (RUS) after both scored 9.5/11. Dmitry Andreikin won in solo the blitz championship scoring 22/26.
Germany. Arik Braun won the traditional 33rd Boeblinger open ahead of Roven Vogel, Michael Fedorovsky and Jure Skoberne all scored 7/9.
Israel. Tamir Nabaty became the new Israeli Champion. He edged out Omer Reshef, Avital Boruchovsky and Michael Roiz on tie-break after, all scored 6/9. Michal Lahav won the women’s event with 8.5/9.
Italy. There was a four-way tie between Sabino Brunello, Michele Godena, Alberto David and Pier Luigi Basso on 6.5/11 at the 76th Italian Championship. Alberto David won the rapid tie-break.
The Russian GM Evgeny Romanov won with 7.5/9 the Roma Citta Aperta.
Mexico. The Cuban Lazaro Bruzon with 7.5/9 won the 28th Carlos Torre Memorial ahead of Aleksandr Shimanov (RUS) and Deivy Vera Siguenas (RUS) with 7/9.
Netherland: At the 54th Groningen Festival, the young Chinese GM Jinshi Bai edged out Sergei Tiviakov on tie-break after both scored 7/9.
Philippines. The Chinese GM Wang Hao won convincingly the PSC / Puregold International Open with  7/9 ahead of Levan Pantsulaia from Georgia.
A second success for the Chines Wang Hao at the Philippine Open who won the event on tie-break from Tran Tuan Minh after both scored 6.5/9.
Qatar. The Qatar Chess Federation organized the 2016 World Blitz and Rapid Championships in Doha. Surprisingly, the Word Champion. M. Carlsen didn’t collect any gold medal this year. The winners were: Rapid Men: V. Ivanchuk, Blitz Men: S; Karjakin, Rapid Women: A. Muzychuk, Blitz Women A. Muzychuk.
Russia. Dmitry Jakovenko beat Dmitry Kokarev in the final (1.5-0.5) of the Russian Cup. Anastasia Bodnaruk won the women’s event 3-2 after tie-breaks against Olga Girya.
The Chinese Wenjun Ju won the Khanty-Mansiysk Women’s Grand Prix with 7.5/11.
At the Nutcracker Match of the Generations in Moscow, the young GM Grigoriy Oparin won the men group, and Alisa Galliamova won the women group.
Serbia. At the 30th Belgrade Trophy, Boban Bogosavljevic (SRB) edged out Alexey Kislinsky (CZE) after both scored 7.5/9.
Spain. Evgeny Romanov (RUS), Romain Edouard (FRA), Josep Manuel Lopez Martinez (ESP) and Gata Kamsky (USA) with 7/9 shared first the Sunway Sitges Festival
Switzerland. Six players tied for first with 5.5/7 at the traditional 40th Zurich Christmas Open, Nijat Abasov (AZE) edged out Viktor Laznicka on the tie-break.
Ukraine. The Ukrainian Championship without Ivanchuk, Eljanov or Ponomariov took place in Rivne. Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko won the Championship with 8/11.