12/28/2019 – Magnus Carlsen and Humpy Koneru were crowned 2019 World Rapid Champions in Moscow. Carlsen all but secured first place with a round to spare, and then confirmed it with a 22-move draw against Hikaru Nakamura. Humpy, on the other hand, caught up with Lei Tingjie in the final round after the latter lost against Ekaterina Atalik — the Indian star would then go on to beat Lei in the Armageddon phase of tiebreaks. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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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.
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Firouzja gets silver
The Rapid World Championships finished on Saturday in Moscow. In the open section, Magnus Carlsen, the perennial favourite, got clear first place with an astounding 11½/15 score. Three players finished a full point behind, with 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja getting the silver medal and Hikaru Nakamura taking the bronze. Vladislav Artemiev also collected 10½ points, but was left out of the podium.
This is Carlsen's 11th WC title in 10 years: Classical: 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 Blitz: 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018 Rapid: 2014, 2015 and 2019#rapidchess
Among the women, Lei Tingjie reached the final round a half point ahead of her compatriot Tan Zhongyi and a full point ahead of a five-player group. Lei Tingjie lost with Black against Ekaterina Atalik, allowing Humpy Koneru and Atalik herself to catch up on 9 out of 12 points. Although prize money was evenly distributed, a play-off took place to decide the champion between Lei Tingjie and Humpy Koneru. The Indian player lost game one, but bounced back and then won the Armageddon decider to take the title.
Replay the games with computer analysis. Full report will come up shortly.
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Alireza Firouzja becomes second Iranian sports figure in recent months to try renouncing citizenship over pressures on athletes to forego matches with Israeli competitorshttps://t.co/SyYoeDrn4M
The 16-year-old Iranian Alireza Firouzja is in Moscow, despite a general prohibition from the Iranian association, which did not want its players competing against Israelis. Iran is also regional rivals with Saudi Arabia, however they did allow three female players to participate in Moscow — there are no Israelis among the women.
Firouzja now starts under "FIDE" flag, and he is reportedly striving to join another country's chess federation. The USA and France are under discussion — Firouzja currently lives in France.
Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.
Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
Anna Muzychuk | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
No opening ceremony without a bit of music! | Foto: Eteri Kublashvili
Magnus Carlsen followed the action standing | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
Because there are only 12 rounds in the women's tournament, there is no round at 16:00. Otherwise the schedule is the same for both tournaments (in UTC).
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.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
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.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
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