Preview of the Rapid and Blitz World Team Championships

by André Schulz
8/1/2024 – On Friday, the event, which has been expanded into the World Rapid Chess and Blitz Team Championship, will begin in Astana after its premiere in Düsseldorf last year. Some teams are coming with absolute top line-ups. Defending champion WR Chess has strengthened its team with Magnus Carlsen.

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The idea of a world rapid chess championship was the brainchild of Wadim Rosenstein. Last year the Düsseldorf businessman hosted a very prestigious grandmaster tournament and then organised and funded the first World Rapid Chess Team Championship, in which the enthusiastic amateur chess player and tandem expert also wanted to take part. For this reason, the event was organised a little differently than usual.

The matches are played on six boards. Four boards can be set up at will, with some teams fielding top grandmasters. One board is reserved for a woman and one for an amateur with a maximum rating (in rapid and blitz) of 2000.

This proved to be an attractive format for the first edition of the new tournament and no fewer than 34 teams were able to meet the requirements in Düsseldorf. There were some professional teams with very strong players on the top boards, but also many teams who were happy to take part without much chance of winning this World Championship, but who were happy to play alongside or against absolute world class players.

In Düsseldorf Wadim Rosenstein had assembled a team of six top grandmasters, including Nepomniachtchi, Praggnanandhaa and Keymer, as well as two former women world champions, Hou Yifan and Alexandra Kosteniuk, and this team was the favourite to win the title. Rosenstein played on the amateur board and scored 50%. But WR Chess had very strong competition from teams such as Freedom (Anand on board one), Team MGD 1 (a team of top Indian players), Armenia and Germany and Friends (the German national team).

The tournament has now moved to Kazakhstan and will be held in Astana. After Russia was cancelled as a venue for international sporting events due to the war of aggression against Ukraine, Kazakhstan is increasingly taking on the role of host of major chess tournaments. There is a great enthusiasm for chess in the country, and after Kazakhstan already plays a major role in women's chess with strong female players, young male talents are now following suit with success. Kazakhstan is also putting a lot of effort and money into making chess even more popular.

FIDE will use the stage to organise various activities on the sidelines of the tournament to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

For the second edition, the World Rapid Team Championship has been expanded to include a blitz tournament, making it a World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship. Once again the field of participants is select and with 39 teams there are now even more contenders for this new world championship title.

Wadim Rosenstein's WR Chess is once again the Elo favourite and with Magnus Carlsen on board one, the team is even stronger than last year.

Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Nils Rohde

Second place in the seeding list is now taken by an international team from the United Arab Emirates, Al-Ain ACMG UAE. Third in the seeding list is the international team Chessy. They are followed by a Kazakh team, supplemented by Peter Svidler, Shahriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk on the top boards. There will be an all-Chinese team with Ding Liren and Wei Yi. Team MGD 1 from India with Arjun Erigaisi is also taking part again.

In seventh place on the seeding list is the team GMHans.com, with Hans Niemann on board one and as team captain. 

The FIDE Board also fields a team. Nigel Short and Viktor Bologan are playing at the top boards. 

The Top Teams

1. WR Chess Team (Elo average:2580 / Tb1: 0 / Tb2: 0) Captain: Gustafsson,Jan
Board Name Elo Country FideID Gr sex Games Rp
1 GM Carlsen, Magnus 2827 NOR 1503014 0 0
2 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2754 FID 4168119 0 0
3 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2742 POL 1170546 0 0
4 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2724 UZB 14204118 0 0
5 GM Hou, Yifan 2545 CHN 8602980 w 0 0
6 Rosenstein, Wadim 1887 GER 24148148 0 0
7 GM Praggnanandhaa, R 2709 IND 25059530 0 0
8 GM Keymer, Vincent 2645 GER 12940690 0 0
9 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2485 SUI 4128125 w 0 0
2. Al-Ain ACMG UAE (Elo average:2519 / Tb1: 0 / Tb2: 0) Captain: Khader,Sami & TeamDirector: Al Taher,Hisham
Board Name Elo Country FideID Gr sex Games Rp
1 GM Artemiev, Vladislav 2732 FID 24101605 0 0
2 GM Dubov, Daniil 2716 FID 24126055 0 0
3 GM Maghsoodloo, Parham 2644 IRI 12539929 0 0
4 GM Andreikin, Dmitry 2644 FID 4158814 0 0
5 GM Lagno, Kateryna 2477 FID 14109336 w 0 0
6 WFM Al Maamari, Wafia Darwish 1899 UAE 9305734 w 0 0
7 GM Murzin, Volodar 2591 FID 44155573 0 0
8 GM Zhu, Jiner 2440 CHN 8608059 w 0 0
9 Galymzhanuly, Ibragim 1853 KAZ 13727915 0 0
3. Chessy (Elo average:2517 / Tb1: 0 / Tb2: 0) Captain: Sutovsky,Emil
Board Name Elo Country FideID Gr sex Games Rp
1 GM Rapport, Richard 2718 ROU 738590 0 0
2 GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi 2701 IND 5029465 0 0
3 GM Sarana, Alexey 2648 SRB 24133795 0 0
4 GM Martirosyan, Haik M. 2599 ARM 13306553 0 0
5 GM Koneru, Humpy 2456 IND 5008123 w 0 0
6 Ainakul, Mukhtar 1979 KAZ 13727354 0 0
7 GM Muzychuk, Anna 2404 UKR 14111330 w 0 0
8 IM Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan 2342 TUR 44599790 0 0
9 GM Van Foreest, Jorden 2659 NED 1039784 0 0
4. Kazchess (Elo average:2512 / Tb1: 0 / Tb2: 0) Captain: Dauletova,Gulmira
Board Name Elo Country FideID Gr sex Games Rp
1 GM Svidler, Peter 2734 FID 4102142 0 0
2 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2683 AZE 13401319 0 0
3 GM Grischuk, Alexander 2670 FID 4126025 0 0
4 GM Sadvakasov, Darmen 2593 KAZ 13700464 0 0
5 IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara 2425 KAZ 13708694 w 0 0
6 Ayapov, Alimzhan 1965 KAZ 13727125 0 0
7 GM Suleymenov, Alisher 2475 KAZ 13707833 0 0
8 IM Ansat, Aldiyar 2354 KAZ 13715658 0 0
9 Kabinazar, Nurmukhammed 1872 KAZ 13750186 0 0
5. Decade China Team (Elo average:2486 / Tb1: 0 / Tb2: 0) Captain: Ni,Hua
Board Name Elo Country FideID Gr sex Games Rp
1 GM Ding, Liren 2775 CHN 8603677 0 0
2 GM Wei, Yi 2771 CHN 8603405 0 0
3 GM Wang, Yue 2710 CHN 8601429 0 0
4 GM Yu, Yangyi 2708 CHN 8603820 0 0
5 GM Ju, Wenjun 2550 CHN 8603006 w 0 0
6 Pang, Bo 0 CHN 8606374 0 0
7 GM Xu, Xiangyu 2593 CHN 8608288 0 0
8 GM Li, Chao B 2602 CHN 8604436 0 0
9 Li, Deyang 1847 CHN 8622272 0 0

Teams

No. Team Elo average Captain
1 WR Chess Team 2580 Gustafsson,Jan
2 Al-Ain ACMG UAE 2519 Khader,Sami & TeamDirector: Al Taher,Hisham
3 Chessy 2517 Sutovsky,Emil
4 Kazchess 2512 Dauletova,Gulmira
5 Decade China Team 2486 Ni,Hua
6 Ashod Chess Club 2433 Slav,Moshe
7 Team MGD1 2431 Narayanan,Srinath
8 GMHans.com 2416 Niemann,Hans
9 Royal Chess 2390 Vahidov,Tair
10 Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow 2386 Pakleza,Zbigniew
11 Teniz Kazakhstan 2317 Ismagambetov,Anaur & Team Director:Khussainov, Galim
12 Astana-1 2310 Ibrayev, Nurlan
13 FIDE Management Board 2301 Lukasz,Turlej
14 World Champions Higher School 2262 Orlov, Oleg
15 Theme International Trading 2260 Tin,Jingyao
16 Hunnu Air 2214 Bilguun,Sumiya
17 Egypt 2175 Ahmed,Sameh
18 Rookies 2201 Bivol,Alina
19 Astana-2 2118 Bakhtiyar,Nugumanov & Team Director:Abzal Sagymbayev
20 Helicopter 2081 Khusnutdinov,Rustam
21 Chess Ratel 2042 Kassimov,Bauyrzhan
22 Noval Group Kyrgystan 2016 Zhumashova,Medina
23 Chess Mates 1991 Akhmedya,Madyar
24 GM Kazahhstan 1983 Akhilbay,Imangali
25 TKM Chess 1967 Turayev,Shahruh
26 Kyrgyz Chess Academy 2079 Tologon Tegin, Semetei
27 Kazakhstan dream team 1953 Adil,Ishmukhametov
28 KRG-Team 1933 Kulyshov,Sain
29 Greco 2175 Askarov, Bakhtiyar
30 Storm of Dragons 2062 Kazakov,Konstantin
31 Chess Dream 1894 Kaipbayev,Aday
32 Future GM 1889 Zeynyshev,Elnur
33 Baiterekchess 1835 Gulnur,Ishmukhametova
34 Chess Empire 1827 Nurgalimov,Chingis
35 Abai Chess Team 1807 Zhaksylyk,Akylbek
36 VKO Team 1796 Nyshanbayev,Bolat
37 Chessacademy_pvl 1795 Kazakov,Pavel
38 Last Dance 1790 Amangeldyev,Abylai
39 Abai's Gambit Pioneers 1673 Serikgali,Daulet

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.