Carlsen & co. swiftly recover, shine on the first day of blitz action

The World Team Blitz Championship began in Hong Kong with an opening day that reduced the field from 48 teams to 8. The day included both the pool stage and the round-of-16, with most of the leading teams reaching the quarterfinals.

The blitz event uses a different format from the rapid championship. Instead of a single Swiss tournament, the 48 teams were divided into 4 pools of 12 squads. Each pool was played as a round-robin, with the top four teams advancing to the knockout stage. From the round-of-16 onwards, each tie consists of two blitz matches, with colours reversed in the second encounter. Extra matches are used only if the score remains level.

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WR Chess, Endgame.AI, Hexamind and Mr Birdie and Friends won their pools and then won their first duels in the knockout, while Dragon Chilling, Uzbekistan, Team MGD1 and Chessgurukul also made it through the first knockout round. Among the players eliminated on the first day were Vishy Anand, Richard Rapport and Peter Svidler.

Chess fans of all ages visited the Queen Elizabeth Stadium to witness top-notch blitz action on Saturday | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Pool A

Pool A was won by WR Chess, who responded strongly after finishing only 17^th in the rapid event. The defending blitz champions and three-time winners of the competition won all but one of their matches in the pool stage. Their only dropped point came in a 3-3 draw against China's Schnappi Krokodil Team, a match in which Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Alexandra Kosteniuk all lost.

Carlsen's start to the blitz event was also notable after his difficult finish in the rapid tournament. Having lost his last four rapid encounters in a row, he began the pool stage with eight consecutive wins. He looked close to making it nine when he reached a winning position against Xu Xiangyu, but an exchange of queens allowed the advantage to fade, and he eventually lost after taking risks in the resulting position.

Chess United finished second in Pool A. The team was led by former world champion Vishy Anand and also included Faustino Oro, the "Messi of chess", who scored 9½/10 in the pool stage. Their heaviest setback came in a 5-1 defeat against WR Chess. Barys took third place, while Schnappi Krokodil completed the set of qualifiers from the group.

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Magnus Carlsen (WR Chess) defeated Vishy Anand (Chess United) with black in round three - the Norwegian scored eight wins in a row on Saturday | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro (Chess United) scored an astounding 9½/10 in the pool stage - his biggest win came in round three, when he upset Jan-Krzysztof Duda (WR Chess) with black | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Final standings

Pool B

Endgame.AI topped Pool B with 10 wins and 1 draw. Hans Niemann, playing on his 23^rd birthday, was one of the team's leading performers, scoring 9/11, a result coincidentally matched by teammates Alexey Sarana, Leinier Dominguez and Zhu Jiner. Their only drawn match came against the newly crowned World Rapid Team champions, Dragon Chilling.

Dragon Chilling also went through the pool stage unbeaten, finishing second with 9 wins and 2 draws. The all-Chinese team advanced comfortably, though Ding Liren had a difficult time on the top board, suffering four losses in nine games. Chessgurukul and Indonesia took the remaining two qualification places from Pool B.

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Endgame.AI's Hans Niemann turned 23 years old on Saturday! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Wang Zihao is one of two "recreational player" in Dragon Chilling's roster - he scored 2½/6 in the pool stage, and then collected back-to-back victories in the round-of-16! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Final standings

Pool C

Pool C was headed by Hexamind, who scored 10 wins and 1 draw. Their squad included several experienced blitz specialists, with Alireza Firouzja, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri and Volodar Murzin all playing key roles. Giri, much like Carlsen, started with 8/8 before losing his ninth game.

Uzbekistan finished second in the same pool, also unbeaten, with 8 wins and 3 draws. Nodirbek Abdusattorov took over from Javokhir Sindarov on the top board and produced a strong performance. Team MGD1, featuring Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Pranav Venkatesh on the top boards, finished third. Sky Chess took the final qualifying place, helped by a 10/11 score from Uzbek teenager IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov on board four.

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The ever-charismatic Levon Aronian (Hexamind) right before his team's encounter against Uzbekistan | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Javokhir Sindarov, Mukhiddin Madaminov and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) following closely the game of their teammate Nodirbek Yakubboev | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Final standings

Pool D

Pool D produced the only perfect match score of the round-robin stage. Mr Birdie and Friends won all 11 matches to finish on 22/22 match points, continuing the form that had taken them close to a podium place in the rapid championship. Vladislav Artemiev did not have his best day on board one, but the team had strong returns elsewhere: Le Quang Liem and Sam Sevian both scored 9/11, Awonder Liang made 8½/11, while Carissa Yip and "recreational player" Ning Yunlong collected 10/11 each.

The rest of Pool D was much closer. KazChess took second place after a 6-0 win over Chessnut Nova in the final round, a result that proved costly for the team that features, among others, rising stars Marc'Andria Maurizzi and Lu Miaoyi. Chessnut Nova missed qualification only on game-point tiebreaks. Odlar Yurdu from Azerbaijan finished third, while Interstellar Club took the fourth and final qualifying place.

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The only squad from Pool D that made it to the quarterfinals was Mr Birdie and Friends - here Ning Yunlong, Carissa Yip and Awonder Liang facing their round-two opponents from Qatar Chess Team | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Odlar Yurdu from Azerbaijan, with Rauf Mamedov and Aydin Suleymanli on the top boards, finished third in Pool D and were then knocked out by Uzbekistan in the round-of-16 | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Final standings

All available games - Pool stage

Round-of-16

The round-of-16 was also played on the opening day, reducing the knockout field to eight teams. The group winners all advanced comfortably.

• WR Chess defeated Indonesia 5-1 and 4-2
• Endgame.AI went through convincingly, defeating Schnappi Krokodil 5½-½ and 3½-2½
• Hexamind beat Interstellar Club 4-2 and 4½-1½
• Mr Birdie and Friends continued their smooth run with 4-2 and 4½-1½ victories over Sky Chess

Team MGD1, despite ending third in their group, also achieved a clear victory in the first round of the knockout, scoring 5-1 and 3½-2½ victories over Kazchess to remain in contention.

Dragon Chilling and Uzbekistan had to work harder for their quarterfinal places. Dragon Chilling drew the first match against Barys before winning the second 4-2. Uzbekistan also drew their first match, against Odlar Yurdu, and then edged the second by a 3½-2½ score.

The main upset of the round-of-16 came from Chessgurukul, who eliminated Chess United. The Indian team won the first match 4-2 and then increased the margin with a 5-1 victory in the second.

The quarterfinals, semifinals, third-place match and final will be played on Sunday, with WR Chess set to face Uzbekistan - Carlsen is likely to face either Abdusattorov or Sindarov - in a highly anticipated quarterfinal pairing.

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YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.

Team MGD1 defeated Kazchess in the round-of-16 | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (Chessgurukul) scored 1½/2 against Viswanathan Anand (Chess United) to help his team reach the quarterfinals | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Chinese superstars! Reigning women's world champion Ju Wenjun and former world champion Ding Liren | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

All available games - Knockout stage

Links

• Official website
• Hong Kong takes centre stage
• Chess superstars headline World Team Rapid and Blitz Championships in Hong Kong