2006 in chess

Events in chess in 2006:

May

 * May 5 – The world's oldest living Grandmaster, Andor Lilienthal, celebrates his 95th birthday. In his career Lilienthal played World Champions Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and Mikhail Botvinnik.

October

 * Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) defeats Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) in the 2006 World Championship title unification match to become undisputed world champion.

December

 * December 26 – The All India Chess Federation imposes a ten-year ban on Umakant Sharma for using a Bluetooth device sewn into his cap to gain assistance from a chess computer during a FIDE rated tournament in Delhi.
 * December 29 – 44th Indian Chess Championship (National "A" Championship) in Atul won by GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly for the fourth consecutive year with the score 9/13. The tournament format was changed to a 13-round Swiss instead of the 22 player round-robin used previously.
 * December 30 – Iranian Chess Championship in Tehran won by GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami at 8.5/11. The women's champion is WGM Shadi Paridar scoring 9.5/11.

Grandmasters
In 2006 FIDE awarded the title of Grandmaster to the following players:


 * Bassem Amin (b. 1988) 🇪🇬
 * Levan Aroshidze (b. 1985)
 * David Arutinian (b. 1984)
 * Valeriy Aveskulov (b. 1986) 🇺🇦
 * Pascal Charbonneau (b. 1983) 🇨🇦
 * Paweł Czarnota (b. 1988) 🇵🇱
 * Chakkravarthy Deepan (b. 1987) 🇮🇳
 * Dzhakay Dzhakaev (b. 1980) 🇷🇺
 * Grzegorz Gajewski (b. 1985) 🇵🇱
 * José González García (b. 1973) 🇲🇽
 * Andrey Gutov (b. 1978) 🇷🇺
 * Gennadij Ginsburg (b. 1971) 🇩🇪
 * Bartłomiej Heberla (b. 1985) 🇵🇱
 * Peter Horvath (b. 1972) 🇭🇺
 * Alojzije Janković (b. 1983) 🇭🇷
 * Radosław Jedynak (b. 1982) 🇵🇱
 * Zoran Jovanović (b. 1979) 🇭🇷


 * Meelis Kanep (b. 1983) 🇪🇪
 * Melikset Khachiyan (b. 1970) 🇺🇸
 * Ibragim Khamrakulov (b. 1982) 🇪🇸
 * Aleksandr Kharitonov (b. 1986) 🇷🇺
 * Petr Kostenko (b. 1976) 🇰🇿
 * Tigran Kotanjian (b. 1981) 🇦🇲
 * Sergei Krivoshey (b. 1971) 🇺🇦
 * Yuriy Kryvoruchko (b. 1986) 🇺🇦
 * Vitaly Kunin (b. 1983) 🇩🇪
 * Viktor Láznička (b. 1988)
 * Quang Liem Le (b. 1991)
 * Constantin Lupulescu (b. 1984) 🇷🇴
 * Nidjat Mamedov (b. 1985) 🇦🇿
 * Mikulas Manik (b. 1975)
 * Andrei Murariu (b. 1986) 🇷🇴
 * Das Neelotpal (b. 1982) 🇮🇳
 * Magesh Panchanathan (b. 1983) 🇮🇳


 * Eugene Perelshteyn (b. 1980) 🇺🇸
 * Reefat Bin-Sattar (b. 1974)
 * Davor Rogic (b. 1971) 🇭🇷
 * Andrey Rychagov (b. 1979) 🇷🇺
 * Bator Sambuev (b. 1980) 🇷🇺
 * Vasile Sanduleac (b. 1971) 🇲🇩
 * Konstantine Shanava (b. 1985)
 * John Shaw (b. 1968)
 * Andrey Sumets (b. 1980) 🇺🇦
 * Jurij Tihonov (b. 1978) 🇧🇾
 * Todor Todorov (b. 1974) 🇧🇬
 * Marko Tratar (b. 1974)
 * Yge Visser (b. 1963)
 * Jan Werle (b. 1984)
 * Andrey Zhigalko (b. 1985) 🇧🇾
 * Zhou Jianchao (b. 1988) 🇨🇳
 * Yaroslav Zinchenko (b. 1987) 🇺🇦

Woman Grandmaster
In 2006 FIDE awarded the title Woman Grandmaster to the following players:


 * Evgeniya Doluhanova (b. 1984) 🇺🇦
 * Marina Guseva (b. 1986) 🇷🇺
 * Anastasia Gutsko (b. 1985) 🇺🇦
 * Sopio Gvetadze (b. 1983)
 * Thi Bao Tram Hoang (b. 1987)
 * Beata Kądziołka (b. 1986) 🇵🇱


 * Julia Kochetkova (b. 1981) 🇷🇺
 * Tatiana Kostiuk (b. 1982) 🇺🇦
 * Liubov Kostiukova (b. 1983) 🇺🇦
 * Lija Kucherova (b. 1986) 🇷🇺
 * Naira Movsisian (b. 1977) 🇦🇲
 * Jessica Nill (b. 1979) 🇩🇪


 * Niina Sammalvuo (b. 1971) 🇫🇮
 * Anna Sharevich (b. 1985) 🇧🇾
 * Shen Yang (b. 1989) 🇨🇳
 * Elena Tairova (1991–2010) 🇷🇺
 * Carmen Voicu (b. 1981) 🇷🇴

Births

 * March 13 – Leon Luke Mendonca
 * May 29 – Gukesh D

Deaths

 * January 15 – Herbert Avram (1913–2006), 92, United States.
 * May 13 – Ratmir Kholmov (1925–2006), 80, Soviet/Russian Grandmaster.
 * May 13 – Burt Hochberg (1933–2006), 73, chess writer and editor, editor of Chess Life.
 * May 20 – Wolfgang Unzicker (1925–2006), 80, German Grandmaster, "world champion of amateurs".
 * July 2 – René Letelier (1915–2006), 91, Chilean International Master.
 * July 14 – Aleksander Wojtkiewicz (1963–2006), 43, Polish Grandmaster.
 * July 23 – Rudolf Teschner (1922–2006), 84, German Grandmaster and chess writer.
 * July 26 – Jessie Gilbert (1987–2006), 19, English Woman FIDE Master.
 * August 14 – Adriaan de Groot (1914–2006), 92, Dutch chess master and psychologist.
 * November 29 – Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska (1931–2006), 75, Polish Woman Grandmaster.
 * December 5 – David Bronstein (1924–2006), 82, Soviet/Ukrainian Grandmaster and renowned chess writer, challenger in the 1951 World Championship match.