Chessdiagonals presents a survey of the chess circuit in 1946, the beginning of modern chess after WWII and the death of Alekhine (March 1946), Capablanca (1942), and Lasker (1941).

Enjoy the best games played in 1946, watch out this unique summary of all major international invitation tournaments organised that year, remember the great players then (pdf attached).

Chessdiagonals was launched in 2014, that corresponding chess year earns a closer look, too. Compare the development of the international chess circuit!

Botvinnik vs. Yanofsky 0-1 (Brilliancy prize at Groningen 1946)

The most famous game in Canadian chess history!

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032134

http://www.canadianchess.info/articles/CanadianChessNewsletter86GC.html

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19460904&id=rX4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CJkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5685,497871&hl=de

Christoffel vs. Mieses 0-1 (Brilliancy prize at Hastings 1945/46)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1155597

http://www.ajedrezdeataque.com/04%20Articulos/13%20Mieses/Christoffel-Mieses.htm 

van Scheltinga vs. Euwe 0-1 (Brilliancy prize at Maastricht 1946)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1042622

Pomar (*1931) vs. Bernstein (*1882) ½– ½ (The clash of generations: London 1946)

Some footage of Pomar playing in London in 1946: 
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/wot-no-thrills-version-2

Lupi vs. Alekhine 0-1 (Estoril match (4), the last game played (recorded) by Alexander Alekhine)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1013634

Botvinnik vs. Euwe ½-½ (Groningen, a crucial rook ending between two World Champions)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032141

Boleslavsky vs. Smyslov 0-1 (Groningen 1946, an excellent game by young Smyslov)

This game was part of Groningen (1946), the first great post-World War II international chess congress. This was also the first major individual event, Smyslov played in outside of the USSR.

Lundin vs. Botvinnik 0-1 (Groningen 1946, great strategical game from Botvinnik)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032130

Najdorf vs. Botvinnik 1-0 (Groningen, last round)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1100951

Kotov vs. Euwe 1-0 (Groningen, last round)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1042595

Bronstein vs. Katetov 1-0 (Prague vs. Moscow city match in Prague)

Some people view Bronstein's games in the Prague-Moscow Match, 1946 as the inauguration of modern chess. Bronstein scored +4 -1 =1 in Prague (draw with Opocensky, loss to Katetov), and +6 -0 =0 in Moscow. It was in this match that Bronstein made KID a fierce weapon. Czechs were impressed by Bronstein's play and, when Soviets failed nominate Bronstein for the first Interzonal (Salsjobaden, 1948), Czech used one of their own slots to rectify the omission.

C.H.O'D. Alexander vs. Botvinnik 1-0 (England vs. USSR match in London)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032147

Keres vs. Fine 1-0 (USSR vs. USA match in Moscow)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1043952

There were a series of matches played by the Soviets after the world war II when their collective strength became fully apparent:

1945 (September), USA-USSR Radio match, won by the USSR by 15.5 to 4.5
http://al20102007.narod.ru/matches/1945/ursusa45.html
1946, GB-USSR Radio match, won by the USSR 18-6
http://al20102007.narod.ru/matches/1946/urseng46.html
1946, Moscow, USSR-USA match, won by the USSR 12.5-7.5
http://al20102007.narod.ru/matches/1946/ursusa46.html
1947, London, GB-USSR match, won by the USSR 15-5
http://www.olimpbase.org/ (click on friendly matches)

Robert Byrne vs. Hans Berliner 1-0 (47^th U.S. Open 1946)
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080022

Over-the-board chess before Hans Berliner was switching to correspondence chess, most notably remembered for his clear victory in the 5th World Correspondence Chess Championship in 1965.

O’Kelly de Galway vs. Rubinstein 0-1 (Brussels 1946)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1329059

The Belgians O'Kelly and Devos were students of legendary Akiba Rubinstein.

Ossip Bernstein in Paris vs. Lajos Steiner in Sydney 1-0 (Australia vs. France radio match 1946)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1666769

Moves were communicated by wireless :)

Herman Steiner vs. Savielly Tartakower 0-1 (Hastings 1945/46)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1325249&kpage=1#kibitzing

Grigory Levenfish vs. Georgy Lisitsin 1-0 (Leningrad 1946)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1090737

Ragozin vs. Bondarevsky 1- 0 (Moscow 1946)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1283536&kpage=1

http://al20102007.narod.ru/matches/1946/ra_bo_46.html (friendly match, Ragozin won with 8-4)

Petrosian vs. Korchnoi 1-0 (Leningrad 1946, Petrosian seventeen, Korchnoi fifteen years young)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080836

Korchnoi vs. Razov 1-0 (Leningrad 1946)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080836

This game was played in the 1946 Leningrad Junior Championship. From this tournament, Korchnoi qualified for the USSR Junior Chess Championship 1946, which Petrosian won with 13 wins and 2 draws. Korchnoi was in the bottom half with 4 wins, 1 draw, and 9 losses. The next year, Viktor Korchnoi won the 1947 USSR Junior Championship with 8 wins and 7 draws.

Winner of recurring classical chess international invitation tournaments all-play-all, in 2014:

Currently eleven invitational international supertournaments (players’ average > ELO 2700)
(pl = number of players, dr = double round robin)

• 2014 (47^th) since 1968 Biel (Suri Mem) (6pl/dr) (Biel chess tournament) Vachier-Lagrave
• 2014 (7^th)   Bilbao Masters Final (4pl/dr) (Bilbao Chess Masters Final) Anand
• 2014 (42^nd) since 1973 Dortmund (8pl) (Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting) Caruana
• 2014 (49^th) since 1962 Havana (Capablanca Mem Elite) (6pl/dr) (Capablanca Memorial) So
• 2014            Havana B-group (Capablanca Mem Premier) (10pl) Bacallao Alonso (1.)
• 2014 (6^th)   London Chess Classic (6pl) (London Chess Classic) Anand (1.), Kramnik, Giri
• 2014 (1^st)   one-off Moscow Tashir (Petrosian Mem) (8pl) (www.tashir-chess.com) Grischuk
• 2014 (2^nd)   Saint Louis, Sinquefield Cup (6pl/dr) (Sinquefield Cup) Caruana
• 2014 (1^st)   Shamkir (Gashimov Mem) (6pl/dr) (Shamkir Chess) Carlsen
  2014            Shamkir B-group (Gashimov Mem) (10pl) Eljanov
• 2014 (2^nd)  Stavanger area, Norway Chess No Logo (10pl) (Norway Chess) Karjakin
• 2014 (76^th) since 1938 Wijk aan Zee, TATA Steel (12pl) (Tata Steel Chess Tournament) Aronian
  2014            Wijk aan Zee Challengers, TATA Steel (14pl) Saric
• 2014 (3^rd)   Zurich Chess Challenge (6pl) (Zurich Chess Challenge) Carlsen (classical and combined overall winner)

Wijk aan Zee, the Wimbledon of Chess, is the sole all-play-all international supertournament in classical chess to invite more than ten players!

Selection of further closed international invitation tournaments in 2014:

• 2014 ACP 2°Golden Classic, Bergamo (7pl!) (www.chessprofessionals.org) So
  (The  ACP  1°Golden Classic was held at Amsterdam in 2012)
• 2014 (19^th)  Barcelona Magistral (6pl) (www.escacs.cat) Balogh (1.), Li, Chao
• 2014 (5^th)    Danzhou (10pl) (http://chess.sport.org.cn) Ding, Liren (1.), Bu, Xiangzhi
• 2014 (9^th)    Edmonton (10pl) (www.edmonton-international.com) Ivanchuk
• 2014 (22^nd) Malmö, Sigeman & Co. (6pl) (Sigeman & Co) Fressinet
• 2014 (15^th)  Poikovsky (Karpov Tournament) (10pl) (Pojkowskij) Morozevich
  note:
• 2014 (8^th)   Bucharest King's (Romgaz Kings, earlier Bazna Kings) www.frsah.ro,
  format change in 2014 to a team event: Two Nations Match CHINA vs. ROMANIA 13-3,
  individual best Wang, Yue
• 2014 (2^nd)  Baden-Baden, Grenke Chess Classic, www.grenkechessclassic.com/en,
  a pure national event in 2014, won by Naiditsch, to determine two german players for the supertournament in 2015

Source:

www.theweekinchess.com, since 1994 by Mark Crowther

Participants of the Invitational Supertournamants in 2014 (alphabetically)

Adams (ENG), 2: Dortmund, London
Almasi (HUN), 1: Havana (4.5/10, one game win)
*Agdestein (NOR), 1: Stavanger (3.5/9, no game win)
Anand (IND), 3: Bilbao, London (1^st on tie-break), Zurich
Aronian (ARM), 6: Wijk, Bilbao, St. Louis, Stavanger, Tashir, Zurich
Bruzon Batista (CUB), 1: Havana (5.5/10, one game win)
*Baramidze (GER), 1: Dortmund (2/7, no game win)
Carlsen (NOR), 4: St. Louis, Shamkir, Stavanger, Zurich
Caruana (ITA), 6: Wijk, Dortmund, London, Shamkir, St. Louis, Zurich
Ding, Liren (CHN), 1: Tashir (3.5/7, seven draws)
Dominguez Perez (CUB), 2: Havana, Wijk
Gelfand (ISR), 3: Wijk, Tashir, Zurich
Giri (NED), 4: Wijk, Biel, London (co-winner), Stavanger
Grischuk (RUS), 2: Stavanger, Tashir
Harikrishna (IND), 2: Wijk, Biel
*Hou, Yifan (CHN), 1: Biel (5/10, two game wins), the only woman in this field
Inarkiev (RUS), 1: Tashir (2/7, no game win)
Ivanchuk (UKR), 1: Havana (4/10, no game win)
Karjakin (RUS), 3: Wijk, Shamkir, Stavanger
Kramnik (RUS), 4: Dortmund, London (co-winner), Stavanger, Tashir
Leko (HUN), 2: Dortmund, Tashir
Mamedyarov (AZE), 1: Shamkir (3/10, one game win)
*Meier (GER), 1: Dortmund (4/7, two game wins)
Morozevich (RUS), 1: Tashir (2/7, no game win)
Motylev (RUS), 1: Biel (3.5/10, one game win)
Naiditsch (GER), 2: Wijk, Dortmund
Nakamura (USA), 5 – no title / subtitle: Wijk, London, Shamkir, St. Louis, Zurich
Ponomariov (UKR), 2: Bilbao, Dortmund
Radjabov (AZE), 1: Shamkir (5/10, one game win)
Rapport (UNG), 1: Wijk (3.5/11, two game wins)
So (then PHI), 2: Havanna, Wijk
Svidler (RUS), 1: Stavanger (4/7, no game win)
Topalov (BUL), 2: St. Louis, Stavanger
Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), 2: Biel, St. Louis
Vallejo Pons (ESP), 2: Bilbao, Havana
Van Wely (NED), 1: Wijk (5/11, two game wins)
Wojtaszek (POL), 1: Biel (5.5/10, two game wins)

* = never achieved ELO 2700+ so far, that means, a player who once surpassed this notorious barrier during his/her chess career has no asterisk, even when (s)he's rated below 2700 in the corresponding tournament - or / and afterwards, as eg. Van Wely.

A small, exclusive circle of elite players: 37 players to be invited into a supertournament 2014, among them 17 with only one invitation! Andreikin, a Candiate in 2014 got none.

For ELO rating fetishists: In 2014, the Sinquefield Cup (six players) has had the highest average, Dortmund the comparatively lowest average of all supertournaments, defined as an international tournament with a player average of ELO 2700+.

Because of galloping ELO inflation, this rather rough definition could be used (if ever) only for current events, it is clearly not sound for historical comparisons!

In the rush of daily Liverating hysteria, Youth mania, ELO fetishism and CATEGORY madness,
don't forget:

The smaller the number of participants, the easier to pimp up the average! We should not be focussed (only) on the the average, but on median and number of players of a tournament.

Tournaments with only four players should be regarded as an own category ("Mini-tournament"). From a statistical point of view, chances to (co-)win a tournament with four or six invited major players, increases considerably compared to the old-fashioned all-play-all tournaments with 16, 18, 20 players even if among them always some local minor entrants were included. Look at London 2014, a single round robin of six players: after just five rounds which is little reliable, 50% of the <invited> participants were co-winning...

The number of players does have an impact on the individual chances to win, not only average counts! The probability to win for instance a round robin tournament such as Wijk aan Zee with normally 14 players, mostly top hundred including a handful from the top ten, could be therefore statistically lower than to win any tournament with four or six players even if all of them are in the top ten and their average of players subsequently higher. Of course, the gap in strength and rating between 'major' and 'minor' players shouldn't be too much.

The fifteen “strongest” chess tournaments in terms of pure category numbers  (average ELO rating of players) all took place in the 21th century, see Historical Calendar - www.chessdiagonals.ch.

≈ 50+ Open Chess Festivals of major international status, a selection:

• 2014 (21^st)  Abu Dhabi Chess Festival, Open: Kuzubov (UKR) on tie-break
• 2014 (3^rd)    Al-Ain Chess Classic, Open: Nigalidze (GEO) on tie-break
• 2014 (32^th)  Andorra Open, in La Massana: Granda Zuniga (PER) clear first
• 2014 (17^th)  Bad Homburg, “Rhein-Main-Open”: L. Milov (GER) clear first
• 2014 (30^th)  Bad Wörishofen, ChessOrg Open: Kveinys (LIT) on tie-break
• 2014 (n/a)   Baku, Open: Inarkiev (RUS) on tie-break
• 2014 (14^th)  Bangkok, BCC Bangkok Open: Vallejo Pons (ESP) on tie-break
• 2014 (16^th)  Barcelona, “Open de Sants, Hostafrancs i La Bordeta”: Fier (BRA) clear first
• 2014 (16^th)  Basel, Neujahrs-Open (ex Hilton): Wojtaszek (POL) clear first
• 2014 (28^th)  since 1948 Belgrade Trophy, Open: IM (later GM) Pavlidis (GRE) on tie-break
• 2014 (47^th)  since 1968 Biel Master Tournament, Open: Adhiban (IND) clear first
• 2014 (34^th)  Bratto, Open: IM (later GM) Pakleza (POL) clear first
• 2014 (21^st)  Bunratty Masters, Open: Jones (ENG) clear first
• 2014 (51^st)  since 1956 Canadian Open, in Montreal: Tiviakov (NED) on Armageddon
• 2014 (6^th)   Capo d'Orso, Porto Mannu Open in Palau, Sardinia: Ni, Hua (CHN) clear first
• 2014 (30^th)  Cappelle-la-Grande, Open: Bachmann (PAR) on tie-break (604 players)
• 2014 (23^rd)  Chicago Open, in Wheeling, Illinois: Sargissian (ARM) on tie-break
• 2014 (36^th)  Copenhagen, “Politiken-Cup”, Open: Bu, Xiangzhi (CHN) clear first
• 2014 (12^th)  Dehli, Open: Gupta (IND) clear first
• 2014 (18^th)  Deizisau, “Neckar-Open”: Laznicka (CZE) clear first
• 2014 (1^st)    Doha, “Qatar Masters”, Open: Yu, Yangyi (CHN) clear first
• 2014 (23^rd)  Dresden, “ZMDI Festival”, Open: IM Shah Sagar (IND) on tie-break
• 2014 (16^th)  Dubai, “Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup”, Open: Romain (FRA) clear first
• 2014 (12^th)  Gibraltar, “Tradewise Chess Festival”, Open: Cheparinov (BUL) play-off
• 2014 (40^th)  Guernsey Chess Festival, Open: E. Hansen (CAN) clear first
• 2014 (52^nd)  since 1963 Groningen Chess Festival, Open: IM Donchenko (GER) clear first
• 13/14 (89^th)  since 1920/21 (1895 Summer Congress) Hastings Chess Congress, Open:
  Mchedlishvili (GEO) on tie-break
• 2014 (18^th)  Hoogoveen, “Univé”, Open: Mikhalevski (ISR) clear first
• 2014 (17^th)   Isle of Man, “PokerStars”, in Douglas, Open: Short (ENG) clear first
• 2014 (19^th)  Kolkata (Calcutta), Open (successor of Goodricke): Barbosa (PHI) on tie-break
• 2014 (11^th)  Kuala Lumpur, “Malaysia Open”: Zhang, Zhong (SIN) clear first
• 2014 (1^st)    Las Vegas, “Millionaire Chess” Open: So (USA), winner K.O. stages
• 2014 (32^nd) Liechtenstein Open, in Triesen: Bogner (SUI) clear first
• 2014 (4^th)    Malta Open, in Sliema: Gundavaa (MGL) clear first
• 2014 (45^th)  since 1960 Mar del Plata, (Marcel Duchamp Open): Mareco (ARG) on tie-break
• 2014 (26^th)  Mérida, Yucatán (Torre Repetto Mem), Open: Bruzon (CUB) clear first
• 2014 (32^nd) Metz, Open: IM (third and final GM norm) Shoker (EGY) on tie-break
• 2014 (10^th)  Moscow, Open: Matlakov (RUS) & Moiseenko (RUS) joint on tie-break
• 2014 (n/a)   Minsk (Bronstein Mem 90th birthday), Open: Jobava (GEO) on tie-break
• 2014 (n/a)   National Open, in Las Vegas, Nevada: Kamsky (USA) clear first
• 2014 (24^th)  North American Open, in Las Vegas, Nevada: So (USA) clear first
• 2014 (8^th)    Philadelphia Open, Pennsylvania: Kamsky (USA) clear first
• 2014 (25^th)  Pardubice, “Czech Open”: Nisipeanu (GER) clear first
• 2014 (29^th)  since 1964 Reykjavik, Open: Li, Chao (CHN) clear first
• 2014 (37^th)  San Sebastian, “Donostia”, Open: Vazquez Igarza (ESP) clear first
• 2014 (44^th)  since 1957 Sarajevo, “Bosna”, Open: Rakhmanov (RUS) clear first
• 2014 (n/a)   Sochi (Tseshkovsky Mem), Open: Jobava (GEO), clear first
• 2014 (4^th)    Skopje, Macedonia “Karpos Open”: Georgiev (BUL) clear first
• 2014 (n/a)   St. Petersburg (Chigorin Mem), Open: Ivanisevic (SRB) on tie-break
• 13/14 (43^rd) since 1971/72 Stockholm, “Rilton-Cup”, Open: Hammer (NOR) clear first
• 2014 (16^th)  Trieste, Open: Vovk (UKR) clear first
• 2014 (115^th) since 1900 U.S. Open, in Orlando, Florida: Holt (USA) after play-off
• 2014 (39^th)  Vancouver (Keres Mem), Open: IM Orlov (CAN) clear first
  Georgi Orlov (USA, *1964) won at Vancouver his 12th Keres Memorial since 1996!
• 2014 (18^th)  Vlissingen, “Hogeschool Zeeland”, Open: Krasenkow (POL) on tie-break
• 2014 (18^th)  Voronezh Master (Alekhine Mem), Open: Ponkratov (RUS) on tie-break
• 2014 (42^st)  since 1973 World Open, in Arlington, Virginia: Smirin (ISR) on Armageddon
• 2014 (38^th)  Zürich Weihnachts-Open (ex Nova-Park): Naiditsch (GER) clear first
  note:
• 2014 (50^th)  since 1963 Polanica-Zdrój (Rubinstein Mem)-B: Shishkin (UKR) on tie-break
  (there was no A-(Open) tournament in the jubilee year!!)

Source:

www.theweekinchess.com, since 1994 by Mark Crowther

Official tournaments (including World Chess Championship Match)

• 2014 FIDE Candidates, Khanty-Mansiysk (Candidates Tournament) Anand
• 2014 FIDE Grand Prix, Baku (FIDE Grand Prix) Caruana (1.), Gelfand
• 2014 FIDE Grand Prix, Tashkent (FIDE Grand Prix) Andreikin
  
  
• 2014 FIDE World Chess Championship, Sochi (http://www.sochi2014.fide.com)
  Incumbent Champion Carlsen defeating Challenger Anand 6.5:4.5 (match)
  
  
• 2014 FIDE Europ. Individ. Ch., Yerevan (www.eicc2014.am) Motylev (swiss system)
  
  
• 2014 FIDE Women's Grand Prix, Lopota (http://lopota2014.fide.com) Hou, Yifan (round robin)
  
  
• 2014 No Woman World Championship, originally scheduled, but cancelled.

Source:

www.fide.com
www.theweekinchess.com, since 1994 by Mark Crowther

Friendly Matches in 2014, a selection

• 2014 Leipzig, University Summit (Active Chess) Viktor Korchnoi vs. Wolfgang Uhlmann 2:0
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldm0Vfn3tuc (live broadcast of game 1)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpywFwKvBSU (live broadcast of game 2)
  http://chess-db.com/public/game.jsp?id=1300016.4611284.177267456.28287
  
  
• 2014 Budapest, Clash of Generations (Rapid Chess) Richard Rapport vs. Lajos Portisch 3.5:0.5 (1^st MVM Chess Cup)
  http://en.chessbase.com/post/clash-of-generations-portisch-rapport
  
  
• 2014 Riga, Clash of Generations (Rapid Chess) Alexei Shirov vs. Evgeni Sveshnikov 5.5:0.5
  http://tiesraide.rtu.lv/shirov-sveshnikov/live.htm
  
  
• 2014 Prague, ČEZ Chess Trophy by the Prague Chess Society, organized by Pavel Matocha (Classical Chess) Hikaru Nakamura (as guest) vs. David Navara (Czech number one) 3.5:0.5
  http://praguechess.cz/poradane-akce-detail.php?id_akce=35&akce_menu=hraci&znak=0&langue=en, http://www.uschess.org/content/view/12695/767
  
  
• 2014 Oslo, Norway Chess seed (Rapid Chess) Simen Agdestein vs. Jon Ludvig Hammer 3.5:1.5 (the sixth game was not necessary; Agdestein then took part at the Stavanger supertournament)
  http://schach.chess.com/news/field-norway-chess-completed-1065
  
  
• 2014 Hoogeveen, Univé Matches (Classical Chess) Anish Giri vs. Alexei Shirov 4.5:1.5 and Baadur Jobava vs. Jan Timman 4.5:1.5
  http://www.univechess.nl
  
  
• 2014 Caracas (Classical Chess) Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli vs. Alexei Shirov 3.5:2.5
  (Iturrizaga Bonelli is the first Venezuelan GM)
  http://www.normasdeajedrez.com/eventos.html
  
  
• 2014 St. Louis, Missouri, Showdown in St. Luis, Match (4 classical games and 16 blitz games) Hikaru Nakamura vs. Levon Aronian 2:2 and 9.5:6.5
  http://www.uschesschamps.com/overview
  
  
• 2014 Lawrence, Kansas, Match sponsored by Falbo knows Tennis (90 min + 30 sec increment) Varuzhan Akobian vs. Julio Becerra 4.5:1.5
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Us3j5PbAs
  
  
• 2014 London, 6^th London Chess Classic, side event Match (Classical Chess) Gawain Jones vs. Romain Edouard 4:2
  http://www.londonchessclassic.com/games.challm_regj.htm
  
  
• 2014 Groningen, Schaakfestival (Classical Chess) Elisabeth Paehtz vs. Anne Haast 4:2
• 2014 Groningen, Schaakfestival (Classical Chess) Dimitri Reindermann vs. Jorden van Foreest (born 1999) 3.5:2.5
  http://www.schaakstadgroningen.nl
  
  
• 2014 Tokyo, Dwango Chess Exhibition (Rapid Chess), Garry Kasparov vs. Yoshiharu Habu 2:0. Kasparov (ELO 2812) played against Shogi Champion and Chess FM Habu (ELO 2415) in advance of the latter's computer shogi exhibitions (Shogi is also known as Japanese chess)
  http://ex.nicovideo.jp/denou/chess

  
  and the offical World Title Match, Men World Championship
  (no Woman World Championship, originally scheduled, but cancelled):

• 2014 FIDE World Chess Championship, Sochi (www.sochi2014.fide.com)
  Incumbent Champion Carlsen defeating Challenger Anand 6.5:4.5

Source:

www.theweekinchess.com, since 1994 by Mark Crowther

41st Chess Olympiad (https://chess24.com/en/olympiad2014) in Tromsø, Norway

• Open section: China. Best performance of all players: Yu, Yangyi (CHN) on the third board; Veselin Topalov (BUL) won the Gold medal on board one.
• Women section: Russia. Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) best of all and the first board
  All individual board prizes were given out according to performance ratings.

European Club Cup 2014 (http://www.europeanchessclubcup2014.com) in Bilbao

• Men: SOCAR Azerbaijan
• Women: Batumi Chess Club "Nona" (Georgia)

Source:

www.theweekinchess.com, since 1994 by Mark Crowther

Russian Championship (other Championships, see corresponding Federations!)

• 2014 (67^th) ch-RUS Higher League Qualifying (swiss), in Vladivostok: Lysyi
• 2014 (67^th) ch-RUS Russian Superfinal men (round robin), in Kazan: Lysyi
  
  
• 2014 (64^th) ch-RUS Higher League Qualifying (swiss), in Vladivostok: Girya
• 2014 (64^th) ch-RUS Russian Superfinal women (round robin), in Kazan: Gunina
  (Valentina Gunina lost her first 2 games and then won the next 7! to win the tournament outright)

Sources:

http://ruchess.ru
Russian Chess Championship
www.theweekinchess.com, since 1994 by Mark Crowther

Prominent retirement from professional competitive chess

Judit Polgar (*1976), after leading the Women’s world ranking (ELO rating) for more than 25 years!

Source:

www.wikipedia.org

Rest in Peace

Vugar Gashimov (1986-2014), Andrei Kharlov (1968-2014), Gyula Sax (1951-2014), Dragoljub Velimirović (1942-2014), Dragoljub Čirić (1935-2014), Čirić scored a perfect 8/8 playing as second reserve at the 17th Chess Olympiad 1966 in Havana for Yugoslavia, which finished fourth as team), Levente Lengyel (1933-2014), Elmārs Zemgalis (1923-2014, GM Honorary in 2003)

Source:

www.wikipedia.org

Reigning World Champions in classical chess

• 2014 FIDE World Chess Champion: Magnus Carlsen (NOR)
• 2014 FIDE Woman World Championne: Hou, Yifan (CHN)
  
  
• 2014 FIDE Junior World Chess Champion: Lu, Shanglei (CHN)
• 2014 FIDE Junior World Chess Championne: Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS)
  
  
• 2014 FIDE Senior World Chess Champion 50+: Zurab Sturua (GEO)
• 2014 FIDE Senior World Chess Champion 65+: Anatoly Vaisser (FRA)
• 2014 FIDE Senior World Chess Championne 50+: Svetlana Mednikova (UKR)
• 2014 FIDE Senior World Chess Championne 65+: Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO)

Source:

www.fide.com

World ranking — ELO list of FIDE per end of year (Live Rating per 31.12.2014)

1. Carlsen (Norway) 2862
2. Caruana (Italy) 2819.9
3. Grischuk (Russia) 2810
4. Topalov (Bulgaria) 2800
5. Anand (India) 2796.9

Historical ranking — Chessmetrics by Jeff Sonas per end of year (December 1914)

1. Emanuel Lasker 2822
2. José Raúl Capablanca 2818
3. Alexander Alekhine 2776
4. Akiba Rubinstein 2762
5. Frank Marshall 2738
6. Aron Nimzowitsch 2714
7. Richard Teichmann 2708
8. Rudolf Spielmann 2707
9. Siegbert Tarrasch 2701
10. Carl Schlechter 2698

Sources:

www.2700chess.com
www.chessmetrics.com
www.fide.com