Preview: World Rapid and Blitz Championships

Carlsen, Firouzja, Nakamura!

Press release by FIDE

One of the most anticipated events in the chess calendar, the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship, is around the corner. The open and women’s championships that have been held concurrently since 2016 will take place on December 25-31 in Warsaw, Poland, at the PGE Narodowy Stadium. Traditionally, the participants will fight not only for titles and glory but also for substantial prize money. (See full regulations: Open | Women’s).

The reigning champion in all three formats (classical, rapid and blitz), Magnus Carlsen, is heading into the event as a clear favourite, but his old and new rivals are eager to challenge his supremacy. Can Magnus repeat his triumph of  2014 and 2019 and win a double-crown?

Fresh from the Gashimov Memorial, Fabiano Caruana (the winner of the event), Richard Rapport, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and former World Rapid and Blitz Champion (2013 and 2016, respectively) Sergey Karjakin all seem to be in good form and ready for battle.

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

The winner of the 2021 Speed Chess Championship, Hikaru Nakamura (who trounced Wesley So in the final of this competition), has not played over-the-board chess for quite a while, but you can never discard the American when it comes to fast chess formats.

The second-rated player in the world, young star Alireza Firouzja, who gave Carlsen a real run for his money in the last Rapid Championship (2019), will definitely try to climb one step higher this time. Another young player, a local hero, freshly mint European Blitz Champion Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who competed with Magnus for gold to the very last round in the Blitz Championship three years ago, will do his best on home turf.

Last but not least, let’s not forget about a quartet from the Chess Federation of Russian: the recent World Championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, World Rapid Champion (2018) Daniil Dubov, three-time World Blitz Champion Alexander Grischuk and speed-chess specialist Vladislav Artemiev.

The Chinese players will not be make it to Poland due to Covid-19 restrictions, which makes Humpy Koneru’s task of defending her Women’s Rapid Champion title a bit easier, at least on paper. Still, she is up against the powerful opposition from top Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian and Kazakhstani players, and we can expect a very close race in the Women’s Rapid Championship.

As for the Women’s Blitz Championship, it will be interesting to see whether Kateryna Lagno can win her third straight title. Such a feat will not come easy, but it doesn’t look like “mission impossible” for the world's #3 in Women's Rapid List.

The winners of the 2019 edition | Photo: Amruta Mokal

We have five days of exciting chess ahead of us. Unfortunately, not all the potential spectators will be able to watch the action live — the organizers will allow only 200 visitors a day due to Covid-19 restrictions (all 1,000 tickets were sold out within an hour). Luckily, the event will be broadcast on various websites, including the official one so chess fans from all around the world can enjoy it in real-time.

Format and schedule

Open

• Rapid - 13 rounds with a time control of 15 minutes plus 10-second increments per move
  • December 26: Rounds 1-5
  • December 27: Rounds 6-9
  • December 28: Rounds 10-13
• Blitz - 21 rounds with a time control of 3 minutes plus 2-second increments per move
  • December 29: Rounds 1-12
  • December 30: Rounds 13-21

Women’s

• Rapid - 11 rounds with a time control of 15 minutes plus 10-second increments per move
  • December 26: Rounds 1-4
  • December 27: Rounds 5-8
  • December 28: Rounds 9-11
• Blitz - 17 rounds with a time control of 3 minutes plus 2-second increments per move
  • December 29: Rounds 1-9
  • December 30: Rounds 10-17

In both sections, rounds kick off daily at 15.00 CET, except on December 30 when the final day of blitz will begin one hour earlier, at 14.00 CET.

Master Class Vol.8 - Magnus Carlsen 2nd Edition

Let our authors show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame.

Links

• Official site
• Magnus Carlsen and Kateryna Lagno are World Blitz Champions (2019)