Imagine sitting down for round one of an open tournament and finding Magnus Carlsen on the other side of the board. In London this December, that can actually happen!
The organisers of the XTX Markets London Chess Classic announced on the 9th of November 2026 that Magnus will play the Super Rapid on the 5th and 6th of December at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith. The World no.1 has won the London Chess Classic a record four times, in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015. This time he
could very well be using it to warm up before he defends his World Rapid and Blitz titles in Istanbul after Christmas.
Here is the best part: the Super Rapid is an open. It is a 10-round Swiss with 15 minutes and a 10-second increment, and anyone can enter. In a Swiss, the top seed meets much lower-rated opponents in the first rounds, so a few amateurs are going to get the game of their lives. The entry fee is £50, and the prize fund is £35,000, with £10,000 for the winner.
Magnus will not have it easy. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri are playing, and so are the ten players of the LCC Masters, led by the defending champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov. For Indian fans there are two names to follow. Nihal Sarin (2709) makes his London Chess Classic debut in the Masters, and D. Harika (2453) plays the new LCC Challengers. Both are on the entry list of the Super Rapid as well. Nihal against Magnus in rapid is a game I would love to see!
The London Chess Classic runs from the 24th of November to the 7th of December 2026 and is organised by the charity Chess in Schools and Communities. If you are going to be in London in the first week of December, you know what to do.
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