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:

• Lichess has ended its 2023 boycott of US Chess and will resume official broadcasts of the federation's events, saying the changes it wanted have been made — the confirmation of the resumption reported here Thursday from an r/chess post — as RookReview reports from Lichess's announcement.
• Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, completed the requirements for the International Master title on Friday in Budva, beating WIM Viktoria Johansson with Black in the last round of the European Club Cup for her third norm at 11 years, seven months and 16 days — younger than Judit Polgar was when she took the title in 1988, chess.com reports, and the seventh-youngest player of all time to qualify.
• Bayegan Pendik of Turkey won the European Club Cup in Budva on Friday, beating holders SuperChess Romania 3.5-2.5 in the final round as Anish Giri beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov on top board and Amin Tabatabaei beat Haik Martirosyan; Novy Bor finished level on 13 match points after beating Elektroprivreda 4.5-1.5 and took silver on tiebreak, Rishon LeZion A bronze — and both Americans on the open relay won their last games.
• Hans Niemann won Freestyle Friday on October 23 with nine points, taking the tiebreak over Sina Movahed after beating him in round 10 — his first win in the Freestyle Friday Championship era and third overall, chess.com reports — a day after Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana won two of the three 3 0 Thursday events, Nakamura opening with Lionel Messi's "GOAT Horns" line in every game as Black.
• FIDE's Council has extended its waiver of rating fees for all rapid and blitz tournaments through 2027, a concession FIDE says has spared federations close to €2 million since it began in 2021; at home US Chess newly rated 42 events across 19 states, and Bryan Enming Lin, No. 1 on the US Chess Under 16 list, shared first in the Marshall FIDE Blitz.

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.