January

Australia. Max Illingworth won with 10/11 his second title of Australian Champion.

Azerbaijan. Without the participation of the top players, Adulla Gadimbayli and Ravan Aliyev shared first with 7/9. Adulla Gadimbayli took the national title on tiebreak.

Brazil. At the 4th Floripa Open in Florianopolis, the GMs Andres Rodriguez Vila took the title on tiebreak ahead of Alexandr Fier, Evandro Amorim Barbosa, Axel Bachmann and Neuris Delgado Ramirez with 8/10.

Belarus. Alexey Alexandrov won his 5th title of Belarus Champion.

England. The Indian GM Deep Sengupta and the Chinese IM  Yiping Lou shared first at the 93rd Tradewise Hastings Congress with 7/9.

Georgia. At the 77th Georgian Championship which this year was a 16 player knockout format, Mikheil Mchedlishvili beat Davit Jojua 2.5-1.5 in the final.

Germany. In Schwaebisch Gmuend, the German IM Jonas Lampert won the 30th Staufer-Open on tie-break ahead of 7 players all finishing with 7/9.

Arik Braun edged, In Panneerselvam, Mads Andersen and Misa Pap shared first at the 34th Boeblinger Open with 7/9. Braun won the title on tie-break.

Gibraltar. The 2018 Tradewise Gibraltar Masters was won by Levon Aronian of Armenia, following an exciting playoff after the tournament ended with a seven-way tie for first place on 7½.

India. The German -Azeri GM Arkadij Naiditsch won with 8.5/10 the 16th Delhi Open ahead of Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh.

At the 10^th Chennai Open, five players shared first: R.R. Laxman (India), Ivan Rozum  (Russia), Timur Gareyev (USA), Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), and Erigaisi Arjun (India. Laxman won the title.

At the 3rd IIFL Wealth Mumbai Open, the GM Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran won the title with 8/9.

Laos. The Armenian Karen H. Grigoryan won with 7.5/9 the first Laos Open.

The Netherlands. Magnus Carlsen won the 6^th title in Wijk and Zee after beating Anish Giri in a blitz tie-break.Both players finished with 9/13 then follow  Kramnik and Mamedyarov with 8.5/13.

New Zealand. The French GM Adrien Demuth won with 8/9 the 125th New Zealand Open.

The Indian GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit won the Group B.

Peru. Peruvian GMs Emilio Cordova and Jorge Cori shared first with 7/9 at the Copa Latinoamericana tournament in Lima.

Russia. The Russian GMs Aleksey Sarana and Sergey Volkov shared first at the Vladimir Dvorkovich Cup with 7/9.

The Russian GM Simen Lomasov won the A-Group of the 14th Moscow Open with 8/9. WGM  Anastasia Bodnaruk won the B-Group.

Slovenia. Jure Skoberne from Slovenia and Andrey Sumets from Ukraine shared first with 7/9 at the 23rd HIT Open in Nova Gorica.

Spain. The 2017 Women’s Chinese Champion and WGM Tingjie Lei surprisingly won with 8/9 the 43rd Seville Open ahead of 13 GMs.

At the 29th Roquetas de Mar Open, the Georgian Davit Jojua edged out a large group on tie-break after all scored 7/9.

Sweden. At the 47th Rilton Cup in Stockholm, the Russian GM Kirill Alekseenko took the first place with 7.5/9.

Switzerland. Boris Chatalbashev, Andreas Heimann and Vadim Milov with 7/9 shared first at the traditional new year Basel Schachfestival.

February

China. Hou Yifan played Anatoly Karpov in a 6 game rapid match in Harbin. Karpov won 3.5-2.5.

Cuba. At the 55th Cuban Championship, Yuri Gonzalez Vidal, Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez, Ermes Espinosa Veloz and Yasser Quesada Perez shared first with 5.5/9. Yuri Gonzalez Vidal took the 2018 national title.

Iran. The Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo won with 7.5/9 the 26th Fajr Open.

Portugal. In Lisbon at the Portugal Open, Aleksandar Indjic Anton Demchenko and Nikita Petrov shared first prize with 7.5/9. 

U.A.E. The GM Mohamed Haddouche from Algeria won with 6.5/9 the 2018 Arab Individual Championship.

Uruguay. In Montevideo, GMs Sandro Mareco and Salvador Alonso shared first the 2nd Marcel Duchamp Cup with 7.5/9.

U.S.A. The Ukrainian GM Pavlo Vorontsov won the GM St. Louis Congress with 5.5/8 ahead of Patel, Advait Patel and WGM Stavroula Tsolakidou with 5 points.