GM Ray Robson won his sixth title at the 2026 Chess.com Puzzles Championship after defeating GM Pranav Venkatesh 5-1 in the Grand Final. Earning another $1,500, Robson has won every edition of the event except for last year, when GM Andy Woodward won.
Robson scored a staggering 19.5-2.5 against all of his competitors put together.
Knockout Bracket
“When it’s time to deliver, you can always count on Ray-Ray,” summarized GM Maurice Ashley at the end of the broadcast. Robson mowed through the opposition, defeating FM James Chirilov 5-0, GM Jeffery Xiong 4.5-1.5, and Pranav 5-0 the first time and 5-1 the second.
When it’s time to deliver, you can always count on Ray-Ray.
—Maurice Ashley
Eight players qualified on the previous day for the Knockout, which featured a double-elimination bracket. Players competed in Puzzle Battle matches that were best-of-eight. Matches in the Losers Bracket were best-of-four.
Winners Quarterfinals
Robson, Xiong, IM Anthony Atanasov, and Pranav won their first match to advance to the Winners Semifinals. The most clearly dominant score was Robson vs. Chirilov, which the former took 5-0. His lowest score in the match, across five Puzzle Battles, was a monstrous 57—one that most people would covet as a personal record.
The five-time champion correctly solved 171 puzzles before making his first and only mistake, on puzzle 57 in the third Puzzle Battle. You can take a look at that puzzle below, where his move did in fact lead to a winning opposite-color bishop endgame (and it’s been reported). The correct move, however, won a full piece in two moves.
The closest match was IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher vs. Xiong, and it went right down to the wire. In the final minute, the international master could have evened the score, but a third mistake allowed Xiong to cruise to a winning score of 53.
Winners Semifinals
Robson and Pranav advanced after winning the second match as well, respectively sending Xiong and Atanasov to the Losers Bracket.
Robson got a freebie in round one when his opponent made his third mistake on puzzle 36. As Robson had about 49 seconds, GM Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian asked, “What do you think is the best flex if you are Ray? Do you stop solving and just get a glass of water or you just go to 57?” Robson went for the latter and finished with a score of 53.
Jeffery gets his third wrong on puzzle 36, which gives Ray a chance to flex! pic.twitter.com/bvGPJxJx5X
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 16, 2026
Xiong nicked a point and a half off of the champion along the way. He won the following Battle when both players finished on 55, but Xiong had made one mistake less.
Xiong scored a half-point in the next Battle, but Robson took it in a fiery finale. Both players made their third mistake in the last seconds, but Xiong finished on 53 and Robson on 54.
Pranav, on the other hand, won the match against Atanasov 5-0, proving himself early to be the greatest threat for the title.
Winners Final
Robson won yet another match with a dominant 5-0 score, giving Pranav a taste of his own medicine.
The closest Battle was the third, where Pranav gained a five-puzzle lead, but Robson came back just as fast. When Pranav made his third mistake on Puzzle 53 (a wrong king move), Robson also stopped at the same puzzle, knowing that having just two strikes meant he’d secured the win.
Two puzzles later, it was over without any room for debate.
Ray Robson wins another match 5-0 and makes it to the Grand Final! pic.twitter.com/mLmLPg8BEK
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 16, 2026
Losers Semifinals & Final
Xiong eliminated Taher 3-1, but Pranav eliminated him after that with a 2.5-1.5 score. That earned Pranav a rematch in the Grand Final.
The Losers Final started with an interesting draw, as both players finished on 53 and neither could solve the following puzzle. Interestingly, the following position occurred in a real game, Vocaturo-Muhren 2011. The engine shows the fastest way to win is a checkmate in nine moves.
Pranav took the match, though the final Battle got close. Xiong got to 56 before making his third mistake, but Pranav won the match by reaching 57.
Grand Final
“The score belies the competitiveness” said Ashley of this last match, which Robson won convincingly 5-1. Every one of the Battles looked to be close, but somehow Robson always pulled away with the win in the final seconds.
Pranav took a five-puzzle lead in the first Battle, but froze on one puzzle for too long. Ray caught up and then beat him by two, with no mistakes.
Battle two left Pranav with his head in his hands. The players ended on 56 points, but in his attempt to solve just one more puzzle Pranav got it wrong and was left with one more mistake than Robson. Had he stopped solving at 56, without attempting, he would have received a half-point.
Pranav scored his first win in the third, finishing with 58 against 55. But Robson hit 60 with a fist pump in game four.
With a 58-56 score, Robson won the last Battle and the match. Pranav still earns $1,000 for his efforts as the runner-up.
Robson joined for a brief interview and, like last year, said that the competition is only getting tougher. He said, “Jeffery, Pranav, and Anthony all had the potential of beating me, so I had to really focus and lock in and I think I was able to do that really well.”
Robson shared that he’s playing Puzzles much less frequently this year than he used to. Rather than practicing every day, he solves “occasionally, a little bit.” He would normally train for a few weeks before the event, but this time he only started three days before. It didn’t seem to affect his form, evidently, and he said, “Fortunately, I felt like I played really well.”
His greatest rival is last year’s winner Woodward, who wasn’t able to participate due to a scheduling conflict with Tata Steel Chess 2026. On top of losing the Puzzles title last year, Robson said that it was a “really bad year” for him in regular chess as well. He wasn’t too upset about Woodward’s absence, saying:
Just to win something, you kind of feel good, so from the perspective of winning the event, it definitely boosted my mood a little bit. But obviously that would be the best matchup and I would like to play Andy again because he’s the one person who’d even be a favorite against me.
He also shared that everybody’s getting better, “I feel like people are improving every year. I played against a couple of the top guys just to practice in the few days before the event, and I felt like they were better than they had been in previous years.” And next year, he’ll try to make it seven titles: “It’s not gonna get any easier, and I’m also probably going to continue to not play nearly as much as I used to.”
How To Rewatch
The Chess.com Puzzles Championship was the first event of the 2026 Chess.com Community Championships. Anyone could qualify to play in the Chess.com Puzzles Championship by submitting a Twitch or YouTube clip showing a 5-minute Puzzle Rush score of at least 50 points between January 12 and 14. Qualified players participated in a five-round Puzzle Rush Royale on January 15 where they attempted to get their highest 3-minute Puzzle Rush score before the 30-minute clock ran down. The top eight players moved on to a double-elimination Knockout on January 16, featuring matches in Puzzle Battle. The Chess.com Puzzles Championship featured a $5,000 prize fund.
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