The FIDE Team Rapid and Blitz World Championship is a relatively recent addition to the FIDE tournament calendar. Three years ago, the idea was conceived by Düsseldorf entrepreneur and chess enthusiast Wadim Rosenstein, who secured the support of FIDE and organised the inaugural event in Düsseldorf, initially without a blitz competition. The new tournament introduced two, perhaps even three, innovations.

Unlike in the Chess Olympiads or the World Team Championships with classical time control, where the federations select and send players, the six players in a team can, but do not have to, belong to the same federation, club or other organisation. One board must be reserved for a woman. Such requirements already exist in some countries and their leagues, but this is a first for such a high-ranking FIDE tournament.

Lastly, one of the players must be an amateur, meaning they have never had a FIDE rating above 2000 in any category (classic, rapid or blitz). This enables chess enthusiasts and sponsors to play alongside top players and may have motivated Wadim Rosenstein in developing this format. After all, it is possible to win an official FIDE world championship title here.

Incidentally, there is no requirement for teams to include top players, so several teams without such players have travelled to London. On paper, the weakest team is Equity Bank Kenya, with an average Elo rating of 1863. However, the team does include two title holders: Ugandan guest player IM Patrick Kawuma and WCM Jully Mutisya, who is set to play on the women's board.

Equity Bank Kenya (on the right)

At the other end of the seedings is the name of the WR (Wadim Rosenstein) Chess Team. Even without Ian Nepomniachtchi – the Russian grandmaster was denied a visa for England – the 2023 Rapid winner and 2024 Blitz winner is once again the Elo favourite.

Jan Gustafsson is captain of WR Chess

Following Düsseldorf and Almaty (Kazakhstan), London is now hosting the third edition of this new world championship. Almost everyone of note in the world of chess is currently at the Novotel London West, competing for points, glory, and a share of the prize money. The total prize fund is €500,000, of which €310,000 is for the rapid tournament and €190,000 for the blitz tournament. The tournament is sponsored by the Scheinberg family.

The FIDE leadership is also represented by a team featuring well-known players Nigel Short, Victor Bologan and former world champion Zhu Chen. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich is playing on the amateur board and opened the tournament at Faustino Oro's board.

Faustino Oro had to face a real heavyweight in the first round, Richard Rapport.

While Faustino Oro ultimately had to concede defeat to Richard Rapport, 14-year-old Chinese player Lu Miaoyi taught Grandmaster Darmen Sadvakasov a lesson in attacking chess in the same match.

Lu, Miaoyi2452

1–0

Sadvakasov, Darmen2629

FIDE-WRBC Rapid 2025 London11.06.2025[Schulz,A]

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.Nf3 d6 4.Be2 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 would lead to a Najdorf Variation, but White did not want to enter a theoretical duel. 4...e5 5.a4 Nc6 6.Bc4 The bishop is better placed here than on e2. g6 Black would have had fewer problems after 6...Be7 7.d3 Nf6 7.d3

7...Bg7? Necessary was 7...h6 8.Ng5 Nh6 9.h4 Nd4 After 9...0-0? White has 10.h5 and after moves like Rb8 a sample line is 11.Qd2 b6 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.Nh7 Kxh7 14.Rxh6+ Bxh6 15.Qxh6+ Kg8 16.Qxg6+ Kh8 17.Qh6+ Kg8 18.Bg5 and mate in a few moves. 10.h5 10.Nd5!? 10...f6 11.Nf3

11...Bg4 After 11...Be6 12.Bxh6 Bxh6 13.hxg6 hxg6 14.Nxd4 Bxc4 15.Nf5 gxf5 16.dxc4 fxe4 is 17.Qc1+- is strong. 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.Be3 Nf7 14.Rxh8+ Nxh8 15.Nd5 g5 16.c3 Here, the queen sacrifice 16.Nxd4 was nice: Bxd1 17.Ne6 Qb8 18.Nxg7+ 18.Kxd1+- 18...Kf7 19.Nf5 White currently has two minor pieces for the queen, but Black is completely defenseless against the attack: Bg4 19...Bxc2 20.Kd2+- 20.Nh6++- 16...Nxf3+ 17.gxf3 Bh5 17...Be6 18.Qb3 Bxd5 19.Bxd5 Rb8 20.Qc4 with the idea -- 21.b4+- 18.Qb3 Immediately 18.b4 offered even more chances. 18...Rb8 19.Nb6 Bxf3 More of a tempo loss than a pawn gain, but Black has almost no moves. 20.Be6 Invasion. Bh5 21.Nd7 Rc8 22.Kd2 22.Bf5!? Bf7 23.Qxb7 Rc7 24.Qxa6 Rxd7 25.Bxd7+ Qxd7 26.Qa8+ Ke7 27.a5+- 22...Rc7 23.Rh1 Bf7 23...Bg6 24.Nb6 Bf7 25.Nd5+- 24.Nb6?! With the next moves, White gives away much of her large advantage. Probably both sides had not much time left. 24.Rxh8+ Bxh8 25.Bxf7+ Kxd7 26.Qe6+ Kc6 27.Bxc5 Rxf7 28.Qd5+ Kd7 29.Qxf7+ Qe7 30.Qd5 Kc7 31.Ba7 Bg7 32.c4+- White is a pawn up with a clearly superior position. 24...Kf8 25.a5 Qe8 26.Bxf7 Qxf7 27.Nd5 Ng6 28.Qb6

28...Rc6 28...Rd7= 29.Qa7 Rc8 30.Nb6? 30.b4! would have brought the rook into play. cxb4 31.Rb1 bxc3+ 32.Kc1+- 30...Rd8 31.Nc4 31.b4?? Qa2+ 31...Qc7 32.b4 Qc6? 32...Ne7 with the idea 33.bxc5 Nc8 33.bxc5+- d5 34.Nd6 d4 35.cxd4 exd4 36.Bxd4 f5 37.Bxg7+ Kxg7 38.Qxb7+ Qxb7 39.Nxb7 Rb8 40.c6 Ne7 41.Rc1 fxe4 42.dxe4 Nxc6 43.Rxc6 Rxb7 44.Rxa6 Rb2+ 45.Ke3 Rb3+ 46.Ke2 Ra3

The rook endgame is now easily winning. 47.f3 Ra2+ 48.Ke3 Ra3+ 49.Kf2 Kf7 50.Kg3 Ke7 51.Kg4 Kf7 52.Kxg5 Rxf3 53.Rb6 Ra3 54.a6 Ra5+ 55.Kf4 Ke7 56.Ke3 Ra4 57.Rh6 Kf7 58.Kd3 Kg7 59.Rb6 Kf7 60.e5 Ke7 61.Rh6 Kf7 62.Kc3 Ke7 63.Kb3 Ra1 64.Kc4 Ra5 65.Kb4 Ra1 66.Kc5 Ra2 67.Kb6 Rb2+ 68.Kc7 Ra2 69.Kb7 Rb2+ 70.Rb6 1–0

Master Class Vol.2: Mihail Tal

On this DVD Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller present the 8. World Chess Champion in video lessons: his openings, his understanding of chess strategy, his artful endgame play, and finally his immortal combinations.

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

After the first day of play with four rounds, Team MGD1, consisting mainly of Indian players, is the only team with four wins. In round four, MGD1 scored an important victory against Uzbekistan, the Uzbek national team, with Arjun Erigaisi and Pentala Harikrishna. Abdusattorov won for Uzbekistan against Erigaisi, Mendonca scored for MGD1. However, the match was decided on the amateur board. Atharvaa P Tayade defeated Nilufarkhon Imomkuzieva with the white pieces.

Atharvaa P Tayade1952

1–0

Imomkuzieva, Nilufarkhon1943

Team MGD1

Round 4: Atharvaa P Tayade - Imomkuziev 11.06.2025[Schulz,A]

Uzbekistan

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.a4 c5 13.Bc2 Qc7 14.Nf1 Rfc8 15.d5 c4 16.Ng3 Bf8 17.Nf5 Rcb8 18.a5 Nc5 19.Bg5 Ne8 20.Nh2 Bc8 21.Be3 Nf6 22.g4 Bd7 23.Qf3 b4 24.Nh6+ gxh6 25.Qxf6

25...bxc3?! After 25...b3 26.Bb1 Bg7 27.Qh4 Qd8 the bishop on b1 and the rook an a1 will not be happy. 26.bxc3 Rb2 27.Re2 Bg7 28.Qh4 Ba4? 28...Nxe4 29.Bxh6 Qd8= 29.Bxc5 Rxc2 30.Bb6 Qd7 31.Re3

White has a large advantage. The invading black pieces Rc2 and Ba4 achieve nothing and are unstable. 31...Rd2 32.g5 32.Nf1!? Rd3 33.Ng3 Rxe3 34.Bxe3 Bc2 35.Nh5+- 32...hxg5 33.Qxg5 Rd3 34.Ng4 Threatens Nf6, winning the queen. Kh8 35.Nf6? Wins a pawn, but White had better options. 35.Qh4! e.g. Rb8 36.Nf6 Bxf6 37.Qxf6+ Kg8 38.Kh2+- 35...Qe7 36.Nxh7 Qxg5+ 37.Nxg5 Rxe3? The exchange simplifies the task for White. White couldn’t comfortably recapture on d3 and has trouble improving the position of the dark-squared bishop. 37...Be8± 38.Bxe3 Be8 39.Rb1 Kg8 40.Rb7 Bf6

White's advantage is now obvious. 41.Nf3 Bb5 42.Nd2 Kf8 43.Nb1 Ba4 44.Na3 Bb3 45.Rb4 Ba2 46.Nxc4 White is more successful at grabbing pawns. Rc8 47.Nxd6 Rxc3 48.Rb7 Bd8 49.Nxf7 Bxa5 50.Nxe5 Rb3 51.Ra7 Rb1+ 52.Kg2 Bc3 53.Bh6+ Kg8 54.Rg7+ Kf8 55.Rc7+ Kg8 56.Rxc3 Bb3 57.d6 Be6 58.d7 Bxd7 59.Nxd7 1–0

In the same round, WR Chess dropped a team point in a 3:3 draw against the "Freedom" team. Nine-year-old Mani Sarbartho made up for his team's deficit on the amateur board by beating WR sponsor Wadim Rosenstein.

Wadim Rosenstein resigns

In addition to the teams WR Chess and Freedom, the predominantly English team Malcolm's Mates is also among the chasing pack.

A shared team outfit strengthens team spirit. Here the prize goes to Anish Giri's and Vidit's team Hexamind – very elegant!

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Master advanced Tactics and Calculations like a super Grandmaster

The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti

Standings after day 1

Games

Links

• Tournament page...
• Chess-results.com...