Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com

In this episode:

• US Chess membership stood at 118,303 on October 31, which the federation calls a new all-time high: an increase of 2,184 over September that passes the March 2024 record of 117,716.
• Ding Liren is out of the Chinese Rapid Championship in Shaoxing, eliminated in the quarterfinals by Xiao Tong (2476) in a blitz tiebreak after four drawn rapid games, and defending champion Yu Yangyi (2679), whom ChessBase calls the only rating favorite to survive the round, won the first three games of his semifinal against Xu Xiangyu (2594) on the relay.
• GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495), No. 7 on the US Chess Under 21 list, beat Canadian CM Karson Lu (2049) as the 20th SPICE Cup Open opened with 20 Americans on its relay, and IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452), No. 13 on the Under 21 list, drew reigning German champion GM Leonardo Costa (2557) in round five of the Open Bavarian Championship at Tegernsee.
• Khumoyun Begmuratov of Uzbekistan won the World Junior Rapid Championship in Al Ain on 7.5/9, ahead of V. Pranav, who had opened with six wins from six, and Azerbaijan's Read Samadov, while Eline Roebers of the Netherlands took the girls' title; the two reports of her final score differ.
• IM Hussain Besou, 15, beat Hungarian GM Peter Acs (2555), the 2001 World Junior champion and seventh seed, in round five of the Open Bavarian Championship to join five grandmasters on 4½/5, and in Chennai GM Pranesh M (2673) beat GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2617) to take the sole lead in the Chola Chess Open after six rounds.

The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.