What is a super fan?

Every year, the best players on Earth play big tournaments for titles. A super fan follows one of those tournaments, round by round. You pick a favorite player and cheer for them. As you play their moves, you start to learn their ideas.

Which events count?

• In a world championship match, two players play 14 games against each other. If they are tied at the end, fast games decide it.
• In the Candidates tournament, eight players each play every other player twice. The winner gets to play the world champion, and in 2024 Gukesh won it at age 17.
• You can also follow another strong event, like Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. It has been played every January since 1938, and you say it "vike ahn zay".

Any strong event where you can watch the games live counts.

How to follow it

Open the event's website with your grown-up, and the moves show up live on a board on the screen. Many events also have a video where grown-ups explain the moves. Watch it with your grown-up, one round a day, and write down which game you liked best. You need three games in all, and all from the same event.

How to replay a game

Top players must write down every move, because that is a rule of FIDE, the world chess federation. So every game is saved as a list of moves. Set up your board and play the moves from the list, for both sides. Ask your grown-up or coach to help you read the list. Stop at any move where you would have played something else, and ask yourself why they chose it. Then play on and see what happened.

How you get the sticker

Your grown-up or coach checks it and hands you the sticker. Replay one of your three games for them on the board. Then tell them what happened in the event. Your grown-up does not need to play chess, because you explain and they watch. If you have no club, the grown-up who followed the event with you checks it. Did you follow a match before you had the passport? It still counts.