Luke Mendonca News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

While the World Championship match of the 2024-2025 cycle is supposed to take place at the end of the year, players are already fighting for a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. As per the updated regulations, two places will be granted to the winners of the 2024 and 2025 FIDE Circuits (one per year). Currently, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is atop the leaderboard after winning the TePe Sigeman & Co. Tournament. A few top GMs, including Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri, have shared complaints regarding the scoring system.

Leon Luke Mendonca was the surprise winner of the Tata Steel Challenger tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He started with 3 out of 6 points, and was lost in the lower part of the table, until he recovered with 6.5 points out of his last 7 games, to reach first place! The Indian Grandmaster and ChessBase Host, Arne Kaehler, started a video series in 2023, on how a typical day in a life of a professional chess player looks like. In the third episode, Leon talks about his own approach to learning tactics, and gives us some examples to solve! | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024

The Queen's Indian Defense is one of the most solid defenses against 1.d4. From a rock-solid position, the black player can pursue many ideas and plans without having to worry about coming under quick pressure. In this video course, the young Indian Grandmaster Leon Mendonca presents the most solid black responses in various variations.

A couple of weeks ago Leon Mendonca turned 18. After many spectacular successes — like a 9.0/9 score in a very strong GM Open a year ago and winning the Challegers group in Wijk aan Zee — Leon just won the Spring Chess Classic 2024 at the Saint Louis Chess Club – outright. The round robin event had ten grandmasters with an average rating of 2625. This remarkable young player has recorded a very interesting FritzTrainer for us. | Photos by Austin Fuller

The 1st Dortmund International Chess Days will take place from 10 to 18 August 2024 at the Cultural Centre Alte Schmiede in Dortmund. Frederik Sane and Leon Mendonca have already confirmed their participation in the A-Open. Elisabeth Pähtz and Dinara Wagner will play a match to find out who is the number one in German women's chess. | (From left to right) Dirk Schaufelberger (CEO of Sparkasse Dortmund), Alexander Donchenko, Frederik Svane, Leon Luke Mendonca | Photo: Michelle Lassak