Carlsen trains in Spain ahead of Budapest Total World Championship as Sindarov closes in on Geneva classical match

Magnus Carlsen has returned to intensive training in Spain ahead of the Total World Championship pilot in Budapest scheduled for 10-20 November, while Javokhir Sindarov produced a notable brilliancy at Saint Louis before the FIDE World Championship match in Geneva from 24 November to 12 December.

The Total World Championship pilot combines fast classical, rapid and blitz segments and will take place in Budapest from 10-20 November; it is followed by the Gukesh Dommaraju v Javokhir Sindarov FIDE World Championship match in Geneva between 24 November and 12 December, which comprises 14 classical games with rapid and blitz tiebreaks if required. The London Classic is set to run at the Novotel West in Hammersmith from 24 November to 7 December, with the world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, listed as the top seed and a leading favourite. Photographs published on chess.com show Carlsen analysing at a training camp in Spain with his training partner and world No 5, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, commentator David Howell, his longtime coach Peter Heine Nielsen and his baby son, whose name has not been officially revealed but is believed to be Marcus.

Sindarov’s recent form was underscored by a striking last-round victory at Saint Louis, where he produced a major brilliancy against the world No 2, Hikaru Nakamura. He finished first in a quadrangular rapid tournament that included Nakamura, world Nos 3 and 7 Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, coming from behind with aggressive tactical play to clinch the event. In an interview with Maurice Ashley, Sindarov said that his Bxg4!! sacrifice is typical of the King’s Indian Defence and spoke about the game in fluent English.

At home, GM Gawain Jones claimed the English Championship title for a fourth time at Peterborough, finishing on 7.5/9 after IM Jonah Willow, who had led by half a point after six rounds, blundered from a winning position in round seven. The final scores listed Jones 7.5/9; GM Michael Adams, IM Brandon Clarke and GM Danny Gormally 6.5; and IM Willow among seven players on 6. Jones also won the English Blitz Championship, a 15-round Swiss, scoring 12/15 ahead of Livio Cancedda-Dupuis on 11 and GM Ameet Ghasi on 10.5, while IM Marcus Harvey won the English Rapid Championship by beating IM Willow in a tiebreak.

The London Classic has several younger players to watch: India’s Nihal Sarin, 22, who has just entered the world top 20 on the November FIDE rating list; the US junior Andy Woodward, 16, who defeated Caruana at the recent US championship; and Ukraine’s Ihor Samunenkov, 17, who won an individual gold at the 2026 Olympiad. Nodirbek Abdusattorov is described as the overwhelming favourite for the London Classic, where the first prize is £50,000.

England’s No 3 junior, Sohum Lohia, 17, is pursuing his first GM norm and began the Bavarian Open at Tegernsee with 4/5, including a 17-move miniature with the black pieces; his two draws were against highly rated grandmasters and he was positioned well for the norm. Lohia later drew with GM Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan to take his total to 3.5/5. Meanwhile GM Keith Arkell, who raised £3,000 toward his expenses through a GoFundMe appeal, is the No 9 seed in the World Over-65 Championship at Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia; at 65 he became the oldest player in history to go 100 consecutive FIDE-rated games without defeat and after two rounds shared the lead with 30 others on 2/2. Arkell then outplayed Serbian GM Dusan Rajkovic in a 24-move miniature to move to 3/3 and share the lead with six others, occupying the silver medal position on tiebreak.

Bernard Cafferty has died aged 92; he was a longtime editor of British Chess Magazine, translated Alexander Kotov’s Think like a Grandmaster into English, was British Lightning Champion four times in succession, runner-up in the 1964 British Championship and seconded Tony Miles when Miles won the World Junior title in 1974. A tactical note included in the coverage read: 4049: 1 Rc1! Qxa6 2 Rxc4! bxc4 3 Qh3! and the c7 pawn queens. The trap is 1 Rd8? Qxa6 2 c8=Q Qa1+ 3 Kg2 Qf1 mate.

Carlsen’s next confirmed engagement is the Total World Championship pilot in Budapest from 10-20 November, after which the Gukesh v Sindarov FIDE World Championship match will take place in Geneva from 24 November to 12 December.