FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships live

by ChessBase
6/15/2025 – From Wednesday onwards, London will be the capital of chess. Many top players will be competing in the FIDE Rapid and Blitz World Championships, where they will also face ambitious amateurs. Rapid chess will be played from Wednesday to Friday, followed by the blitz tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Live coverage will be available daily from 15:00 CET.
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For the third time, FIDE is hosting a World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship for teams. Teams can be put together as desired, subject to certain requirements. The matches are played on six boards, one of which must be occupied by a female player and one by a player without a FIDE rating.

The first three days will feature the Rapid Chess World Championship, played over 12 rounds using the Swiss system. The following two days will see the Blitz World Championship, with a preliminary round in groups and a knockout final round.

The Elo favourite is the WR team sponsored by Wadim Rosenstein, which includes six super grandmasters.

Regulations... 

Live games Blitz

Live commentary

Top teams

55 Teams

Schedule

Times shown in local time (+1 = CEST)

June 11 – Day 2 Rapid

11:00 – Technical Meeting
13:30 – Opening Ceremony
14:00 – Round 1
15:40 – Round 2
17:20 – Round 3
19:00 – Round 4

June 12 – Day 3 Rapid

14:00 – Round 5
15:40 – Round 6
17:20 – Round 7
19:00 – Round 8

June 13 – Day 4 Rapid

14:00 – Round 9
15:40 – Round 10
17:20 – Round 11
19:00 – Round 12

June 14 – Day 5 Blitz

Pools
14:00 – 20:00
4 Round Robin Pools
The top 4 teams from each pool
qualify for Phase 2

June 15 – Day 6 Blitz

Knockout Phase
14:00 – Round of 16
15:15 – Quarterfinals
16:30 – Semifinals
17:45 – Final

TBD – Closing Ceremony

Links

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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.