Dragon Chilling reach final after narrow wins over Mr Birdie and Friends and Uzbekistan

Dragon Chilling completed a double success at the World Team Rapid and Blitz Championships in Hong Kong, adding the blitz title to the rapid gold they had won two days earlier. The all-Chinese team, led by former world champion Ding Liren, defeated Endgame.AI in the final after a series of much closer matches earlier in the knockout stage.

The blitz event had begun with 48 teams split into 4 pools, followed by knockout matches from the round-of-16 onwards. Dragon Chilling finished second in Pool B, one point behind Endgame.AI, with the two teams drawing their direct encounter in the round-robin phase. They met again in the final duel for the championship victory.

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Dragon Chilling won both final matches by 5–1 scores, giving Endgame.AI little room to challenge for the title. Ding scored 1½/2 on the top board against Hans Niemann, while Wei Yi, Lu Shanglei and Wang Zihao all won both their games in the deciding contest. Lu Shanglei was the team's leading scorer in the knockout phase with 8/10, followed by Yu Yangyi on 7½/10 and Wang Zihao on 6½/10.

Wang's contribution was again significant. Playing on the "recreational player" board, he had already been a key part of Dragon Chilling's rapid-chess triumph, scoring 9/11 in that section. In the blitz knockouts, he added further important points, including in matches that were decided only after tiebreaks.

The final match: Endgame.AI v. Dragon Chilling | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Great team spirit for Dragon Chilling - superstars Ding Liren, Wei Yi and Lei Tingjie smiling | Photos: FIDE / Michal Walusza

...and the team's secret weapon, 1967-rated Wang Zihao (Sh), who had a great performance alongside his country's chess heroes in the amateur board | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Dragon Chilling's route to the final was not straightforward. In the quarterfinals, they faced Mr Birdie and Friends, the only team to have scored 11 wins from 11 matches in the pool stage. Vladislav Artemiev's squad had then defeated Sky Chess convincingly in the round-of-16, but Dragon Chilling managed to stop their run after tiebreaks.

The semifinal was also closely contested, as Dragon Chilling needed tiebreaks again to defeat Uzbekistan. The Uzbek team had reached that stage after eliminating WR Chess, the rating favourites and defending champions, in the quarterfinals.

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That match was one of the most closely followed by fans and commentators. Uzbekistan won the first encounter 3½-2½ despite victories for Magnus Carlsen over Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Fabiano Caruana over Javokhir Sindarov on the top boards. In the return match, Abdusattorov beat Carlsen, helping Uzbekistan secure a 3-3 draw and advance on aggregate.

Uzbekistan defeated WR Chess in quarterfinals - here Magnus Carlsen in trouble with white against Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

But the Uzbek team was then defeated by the eventual champions in semifinals - here Wei Yi playing black against World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov (the pair traded wins with white) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Endgame.AI also had to overcome strong opposition on the way to the final. The team led by Niemann and Leinier Dominguez defeated Team MGD1 in the quarterfinals, winning the first match 3½-2½ and drawing the second 3-3. They then knocked out Hexamind in the semifinals after losing the first match 3½-2½, before responding with wins by 5-1 and 4-2.

Alexey Sarana played a major role in Endgame.AI's run. Across the quarterfinal and semifinal matches, he scored 4½/5 while facing Pranav Venkatesh, Leon Luke Mendonca and Anish Giri, whom he met three times. The comeback win over Hexamind, whose lineup included Alireza Firouzja, Levon Aronian and Giri on the top boards, sent Endgame.AI into the final with momentum, but Dragon Chilling proved too strong in the title match.

Hans Niemann congratulates Nguyen Anh Dung, Endgame.AI's amateur representative from Vietnam, who scored 1½/2 in the semifinals | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Alexey Sarana was the star performer for runners-up Endgame.AI on Sunday | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

The third-place match was won by Uzbekistan, who came from behind to defeat Team MGD1. After losing the first match 4-2, Uzbekistan levelled the contest with a 3½-2½ win and then dominated the tiebreaker, winning 5½-½ to secure bronze.

Abdusattorov was the top performer for Uzbekistan in the knockout stage, scoring 7/10. His results throughout the two-day blitz event gained him 34.9 rating points, taking him past 2800 in the live blitz rankings and up to third place, behind only Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.

The start-studded WR Chess, champions of the 2024 and 2025 editions, recovered from their quarterfinal elimination to win the parallel knockout for fifth place. Their final two matches were both decided in tiebreaks, with Aleksandra Goryachkina playing a decisive role. She scored 6/7 against Carissa Yip (Mr Birdie and Friends) and Harika Dronavalli (Team MGD1), helping the defending champions finish the event in fifth.

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Awonder Liang and Sam Sevian always in a good mood while representing the over-performing - and memorably named - Mr Birdie and Friends! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Good friends, teammates and collaborators Javokhir Sindarov and Mukhiddin Madaminov are having a great year! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Reigning women's world rapid champion Aleksandra Goryachkina was the top scorer for WR Chess on Sunday | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Silver medallists Endgame.AI | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Bronze medallists Uzbekistan | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Full regulations | Team composition, pairings and results

Games and results

Quarterfinals

Match 1

Match 2

Tiebreak 1

Semifinals

Match 1

Match 2

Tiebreak 1

Final and match for third place

Match 1

Match 2

Tiebreak 1

Placement matches (5^th-8^th)

Full regulations | Team composition, pairings and results

Links

• Official website
• Hong Kong takes centre stage
• Chess superstars headline World Team Rapid and Blitz Championships in Hong Kong