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A sole leader emerged after two days of action at the World Rapid Team Championship - the Al-Ain ACMG UAE. The squad captained by Sami Khader has Daniil Dubov, Parham Maghsoodloo and Vladislav Artemiev on the top three boards. After 8 rounds, the leaders have scored 6 match wins and 2 draws, with victories over defending champions WR Chess and draws against two of the top contenders for the title, Decade China and Chessy.
Individually, the Al-Ain have in Maghsoodloo their top scorer with 7 out of 8 points. The Iranian star has collected victories over Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jorden van Foreest and Timur Gareyev, all achieved on Saturday. Also strong have been the performances of Artemiev and Dmitry Andreikin, on boards 3 and 4 respectively.
Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
In second place, a match point behind, Decade China are very much in the race for the world rapid title. The squad led by world champion Ding Liren are unbeaten in Astana, with 5 wins and 3 draws. Ding's first loss of the event came in round 8, when he was defeated by none other than Magnus Carlsen. The best performances for the Chinese team have been achieved by Wei Yi on board 2 (6½/8 points) and by Pang Bo on the "recreational" board (7/7 points) - as per the tournament regulations, teams are forced to include a player who has never surpassed the 2000 rating mark in an official FIDE ratings list.
A match point behind Decade China, tied for third place, are Chessy and Team MGD1. Chessy remained unbeaten until round 7, but suffered their first loss in Saturday's final round, precisely against Team MGD1. Team MGD1, on their part, have suffered two losses so far in the event, against WR Chess and Decade China.
Decade China's Pang Bo has a perfect 7/7 score | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
Richard Rapport (Chessy) signed a draw in his game against Ding Liren (Decade China) - Rapport helped Ding to win the 2023 World Championship match, which also took place in Astana | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
Middlegame Secrets Vol.5 - The Inner Strength of Kings
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
Kateryna Lagno (Al-Ain) beat Hou Yifan, the highest-rated woman player in the world, in the fifth round | Photo: FIDE
Improve your pieces - a winning system you need to know
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.
Ding Liren resigns the game against Magnus Carlsen | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
| Rk. | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al-Ain ACMG UAE | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 284,5 |
| 2 | Decade China Team | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 304,5 |
| 3 | Chessy | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 282 |
| 4 | Team MGD1 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 270,5 |
| 5 | WR Chess Team | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 250,5 |
| 6 | Ashdod Chess Club | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 232 |
| 7 | Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 222,5 |
| 8 | Kazchess | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 218 |
| 9 | Hunnu Air | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 200,5 |
| 10 | Astana-1 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 178,5 |
