Timeline
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Magnus Carlsen
|
2831 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 |  Fabiano Caruana
|
2803 | -2 |
| 3 | 3 | Hikaru Nakamura
|
2802 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 |  Arjun Erigaisi
|
2801 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | Gukesh Dommaraju
|
2777 | -6 |
| 6 | 6 |  Nodirbek Abdusattorov
|
2768 | -9 |
| 7 | 7 |  Alireza Firouzja
|
2763 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 |  Ian Nepomniachtchi
|
2754 | -1 |
| 9 | 9 |  Wei Yi
|
2751 | -2 |
| 10 | 10 | Viswanathan Anand
|
2750 | 0 |
January
- Jan 4 – World number one Magnus Carlsen married Ella Victoria Malone in a ceremony in Oslo.
- Jan 8 – Vladimir Fedoseev won the Freestyle Chess play-in to qualify for the first event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.
- Jan 11 – 9-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev became the youngest player to score an International Master norm.
- Jan 11 – Magnus Carlsen made his debut for FC St. Pauli in the Chess Bundesliga, where he played for the first time since 2008, scoring 1½/2.
- Jan 17 – The President of India, Droupadi Murmu confers the Khel Ratna Award on World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju.
Events
Major tournaments
| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2700+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tata Steel Masters |  Wijk aan Zee
|
Round robin | 17 Jan – 2 Feb | 14 (9) | |||
| Prague Chess Festival |  Prague
|
Round robin | 25 Feb – 7 Mar | 10 (4) | |||
| GCT Romania |  Bucharest
|
Round robin | 5 – 17 May | 10 | |||
| TePe Sigeman & Co tournament |  Malmö
|
Round robin | 20 – 26 May | 8 | |||
| Norway Chess | Stavanger
|
Double round robin | 26 May – 6 Jun | 6 (6) | |||
| Biel Chess Festival |  Biel/Bienne
|
Multi-stage | 12 – 25 Jul | 6 | |||
| Sinquefield Cup | St. Louis
|
Round robin | 16 – 29 Aug | 10 | |||
| Grand Swiss | Samarkand
|
Swiss | 3 – 15 Sep | 114 | |||
| World Cup | TBA | Single elimination | 31 Oct – 27 Nov | 206 |
Rapid & Blitz events
| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2700+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCT Poland |  Warsaw
|
Round robin | 24 April – 1 May | 10 | |||
| GCT Croatia |  Zagreb
|
Round robin | 30 Jun – 7 Jul | 10 | |||
| Esports World Cup |  Riyadh
|
TBD | 31 Jul – 3 Aug | 16 | |||
| GCT St. Louis | St. Louis
|
Round robin | 9 – 16 Aug | 10 | |||
| World Rapid Championship |  Doha
|
Swiss | 25 – 31 Dec | TBD | |||
| World Blitz Championship | Multi-stage |
Women's events
| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2500+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monaco Grand Prix |  Monaco
|
Round robin | 17 – 28 Feb | 10 | |||
| Cyprus Grand Prix | 
|
Round robin | 14 – 25 Mar | 10 | |||
| India Grand Prix |
|
Round robin | 14 – 25 Apr | 10 | |||
| Austria Grand Prix | 
|
Round robin | 5 – 16 May | 10 | |||
| Norway Chess | Stavanger
|
Double round robin | 26 May – 6 Jun | 6 (6) | |||
| Grand Swiss | Samarkand
|
Swiss | 3 – 15 Sep | 114 | |||
| World Cup |  Batumi
|
Single elimination | 5 – 29 Jul | 103 | |||
| World Rapid Championship | Doha
|
Swiss | 25 – 31 Dec | TBD | |||
| World Blitz Championship | Multi-stage |
Deaths
- 5 January — Robert Hübner
Notes
- ^ The rapid portion of the tournament is a single round robin, while the blitz portion is a double round robin.
- Part of the 2025 Esports World Cup tournament series held in Riyadh. This tournament is part of the Champions Chess Tour 2025, which uses Chess.com and not a standard board.
References
- Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-01-04). "Chess King Magnus Carlsen Marries His Queen Ella Victoria". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
- McGourty, Colin (2025-01-08). "Fedoseev Joins Carlsen & Co. In Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam After Armageddon Thriller". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
- Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-01-11). "9-Year-Old Roman Shogdzhiev Becomes Youngest Ever To Score IM Norm". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
- Stafford-Bloor, Sebastian. "Why superstar Magnus Carlsen is playing chess for St. Pauli". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
- Schulz, André (2025-01-14). "Magnus Carlsen plays in the Bundesliga and makes headlines". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
- "Watch: World chess champion D Gukesh receives Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award". The Times of India. 2025-01-17. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
- Doggers (PeterDoggers), Peter (2024-11-19). "Caruana Tops Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 Lineup; Oro Plays Challengers". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- Šimić, Ivan (18 December 2024). "Chess joins Esports World Cup 2025, Magnus Carlsen appointed as ambassador". Esports Insider. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- "Robert Hübner has passed away". Chess News. 2025-01-05. Retrieved 2025-01-05.