International Chess Day is celebrated annually on July 20, the day the International Chess Federation (FIDE) was founded in 1924.

The 2020 Candidates Tournament is an eight-player round robin to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The first half of the tournament was played in Yekaterinburg, Russia from 17 March to 25 March 2020. On 26 March, FIDE decided to postpone the second half of the tournament after Russia announced it would be interrupting air traffic with other countries starting on 27 March due to the covid-19.

The winner will earn the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Carlsen earned the grandmaster title at the age of 13 and at 19 became the world’s youngest FIDE World Champion.