Daily Current Affairs and GK | 18 February 2026

Topic: Sports

1. Magnus Carlsen won FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026.

• On 15 February, the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 title has been clinched by Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
• The championship final was won after defeating American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in Weissenhaus, Germany.
• A final score of 2.5–1.5 was secured by Carlsen to claim the championship.
• The tournament is historic as it is the first official freestyle chess world championship recognised by the international chess governing body FIDE.
• With this victory, Carlsen also added the freestyle crown to his collection, taking his total to 21 world titles across different chess formats.
• Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov finished third, while Germany’s Vincent Keymer placed fourth.
• The event carried a total prize fund of $300,000, with $100,000 awarded to the champion.
• The top three finishers have qualified for the 2027 Freestyle World Championship.
• In a women’s exhibition match, Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva defeated Switzerland’s Alexandra Kosteniuk held alongside the Freestyle Chess World Championship in Germany.
• With this victory, she became the first player to qualify for the 2026 Women’s Freestyle Chess World Championship.
• The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 took place from 13 to 15 February and featured the world's top chess players competing in the increasingly popular freestyle (also known as Fischer random) chess format.