Magnus Carlsen leads WR Chess to World Blitz team crown

With a dominant performance in the tournament, last year’s World Rapid winners claimed another title, this time in the Blitz, coming out on top among 40 teams featuring top players from around the globe. In the finals, WR Chess defeated the Indian squad MGD1, who took the silver

This year’s event saw the debut of The World Blitz Team Championship alongside the World Rapid. In the 2023 edition in Dusseldorf, only the rapid championship was held. The intense one-day event saw 40 teams compete for the World Blitz Championship and a prize fund of 100,000 Euros.

The Blitz Championship had two parts – the pool stage and the knockout stage. Only 16 teams out of 40 advanced to the playoffs: the top three in each pool and the best team among all teams that finished in 4th place in the pools. With the time control of three minutes plus a two-second increment per move, the players had to think and move quickly. The scoring mirrored the rapid format, with two matchpoints for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss.

WR Chess got off to a good start. In Pool A, they dominated all their competitors, including GMHans.com, led by Hans Niemann. There was little uncertainty for WR in the knockout stages. First, they faced an easy challenge against Mongolia’s Hunnu Air, defeating them both times with 4.5:1.5. Then, in the quarter-finals, they had their second encounter of the day with GMHans.com. While Magnus Carlsen did not play, WR took the first match with a narrow victory but came back much more confident in the second, entering the semi-finals with a 5.5:0.5 victory.

In the semi-finals, WR was up against a team they had a score to settle with: Chessy, who knocked them out of the lead on the first day of the World Rapid. Magnus Carlsen avenged his loss in the rapid against Richard Rapport, defeating him convincingly in the first knockout match. In the rematch, Chessy had a chance to stage a comeback: Anna Muzychuk had a significantly better position against Alexandra Kosteniuk but misplayed and lost. The match was tied, which meant WR Chess moved on to the finals, where they played MGD1.

The Indian squad of MGD1 came to Astana with the similar lineup they had in the World Rapid Team in 2023. In Dusseldorf, they won bronze in the World Rapid, but in this year’s event, they finished fifth. The Blitz Championship was their big chance. They had a great run in the pool stage, winning all their matches. In the knockouts, they started with a strong performance against the local team of Astana-2. The first big challenge for them came in the quarter-finals against the Ashdod Chess Club from Israel. Not even their compatriot, Nihal Sarin, who played the first board for Ashdod, could do much to stop MGD1, who had the most convincing results of all the teams in the quarter-finals.

The first serious challenge for MGD1 came from World Rapid winners Al-Ain, who got to the semis by eliminating the Decade China team in the tiebreaks. Both matches ended in tense 3:3 draws, which meant that the finalist was decided in the third round. MGD1 came out strong from the beginning of the round, creating better positions on all boards. In the end, they reached the finals in style by defeating Al-Ain 5.5:0.5 in the playoffs.

This meant that WR would face MGD1 in the finals, a match where the 2023 World Rapid winners faced the 2023 World Rapid bronze medalists.

The Blitz finals

In the first round of the finals, WR’s top player, Magnus Carlsen, played as Black on the top board against India’s No. 1 player, Arjun Erigaisi. Carlsen ended up with an exchange down and a poor position where he could do nothing more but resign. WR also lost on the non-professional board. However, the team then struck back on other boards, scoring 3.5 out of four, winning the match. Things could have easily gone the other way as WR’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda had a lucky escape from a lost position against Narayanan and ended up winning.

In the second round of the finals, the WR team was the first to score: Ian Nepomniachtchi had a lucky break as Black against Raunak Sadhwani, who blundered an even endgame. MGD1 made a comeback on the final board. In a wild game on board five, Alexandra Kosteniuk emerged victorious against Harika Dronavalli, giving an edge to WR Chess. But Narayanan won, leveling the score. On board four, Pranav had a winning endgame against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

It all came down to the duel on board one between Carlsen and Erigaisi. All WR needed was a draw. It seemed that the world number one player got into difficulties again, but as the game progressed, he took control of the position. Carlsen didn’t want to draw but to win and finish the tournament in style. Ultimately, that was the case. The round ended in a tie, 3:3, but that was enough for WR to claim the title of World Blitz Team Champions.

The best performers

Apart from team medals, individual players were also awarded for their performance in the Rapid. Magnus Carlsen took the gold for best performance on the first board, silver went to Erigaisi while the World Champion Ding Liren from Decade China took the bronze.

Apart from board one, WR Chess took the gold for the third board as well (Duda). Decade China took as many as three gold medals – for the second board (Wei Yi), women’s board (Ju Wenjun) and the non-professional board (Pang Bo).

Here follows an overview of the 2024 World Blitz Team Chess Championship

In the first stage, the teams were split into five pools of roughly equal strength. In each pool, there was a round-robin tournament, with the top three moving to the next stage. All the usual suspects qualified, with some notable third-place surprises such as the young team of Rookies from Pool A. The 16th team to qualify was Theme International Trading, also from Pool A.

In Pool A, WR Chess and GMHans.com were the heavy favorites. Both WR Chess and GMHans.com dominated in their matches until their duel in round six. Despite Hans Niemann calling out Magnus Carlsen for avoiding playing against him in the rapid, the Norwegian also abstained from the match in the Blitz, leaving Ian Nepomniachtchi to lead the team. WR Chess won the match 4:2, with their top three boards scoring against GMHans.com. This victory sealed first place for WR in Pool A.

With six victories and one defeat, GMHans.com was second. Third place went to the team of Rookies, who in round six defeated their direct competitors, Theme International Trading.

While the competition was serious, the players did have a bit of fun in the Blitz. In that fashion, Magnus Carlsen opened his first game of the Blitz with 1…h5 and then 2…h4, giving up a pawn but still winning.

In Pool B, the World Rapid winners Al-Ain played alongside the very strong Indian squad MGD1. The Indians dominated the group, winning all seven matches and defeating Al-Ain 4.5:1.5 in round three. Al-Ain secured second place, while Teniz Kazakhstan grabbed third.

Although he was struggling in the Rapid, Daniil Dubov made a comeback in the Blitz, scoring 6.5/7 in the pool stage (only losing half a point to Erigaisi in round three). In round seven, Dubov played a remarkable game against Arystan Isanzhulov of Teniz Kazakhstan, starting by giving up pawns and ending by advancing his white pawn to g7, behind Black’s g6- and f7-pawns.

Pool C started with a match of the two favorites in the group: Decade China and Royal Chess. Ding Liren lost his opening game in the event. Playing as White against Javokhir Sindarov, he was an exchange up but misplayed and allowed Black to win easily. The World Champion sat out the next two rounds. Still, the Chinese team won the match 4:2, as well as all their matches, securing first place. The Chinese board-six star, Pang Bo, continued his 100% run, winning all five games that he played in this stage. Royal Chess came in second, with one victory less.

Third place in the group went to Greco, who qualified by beating the FIDE Management Board team, their direct competitors for third place.

Chessy dominated Pool D with seven wins, led by Alexei Sarana’s flawless performance on board one. Ashdod was second and Astana-2 third.

Despite winning all their matches, Chessy suffered a few surprising losses among their top boards: in round one, Vidit lost to the 300-points lower-rated Aslan Aitbayev of Astana-2, while in the second round, Jorden van Foreest was defeated by the 500-points lower-rated Emir Sharshenbekov.

Pool E saw Kazchess make a perfect score, with Peter Svidler on board two and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on board three, winning all seven games. They were followed by Astana-1, with one defeat in the matches, and Kings of Krakow, with two losses.

The team of Hunnu Air came in fourth and managed to qualify as the last team to the knockout stage, thanks to having the best tiebreaks of all other teams who finished fourth in their pools.

The Knockouts (until the finals)

The knockout stage of the World Blitz Team Championship delivered electrifying matches and surprising outcomes. Each round consisted of two sets, with players alternating colors.

The first round of the knockouts saw the favorites advance, but not without some unexpected upsets. The 16-year-old Turkish Grandmaster Ediz Gurel from the Rookies stunned Alexander Grischuk of Kazchess on board one. Gurel’s rare line in the Berlin Defense, involving a bold exchange and rook sacrifice, led to a sharp attack on Grischuk’s king, culminating in a 27-move victory. Gurel held Grischuk to a draw in the rematch.

In a major upset, experienced GM Yu Yangyi of Decade China lost to the 2213-rated Bakhtiyar Askarov after blundering in time trouble. Arguably the biggest news of the first knockout round was Pang Bo – the reliable board six for Decade China – suffering his first defeat in the tournament after winning all his previous games. Pang had a better position as White against Yedil Kabylbek of Greco but managed only a draw in the rematch.

The most even matchup of the first knockout stage was between GMHans.com and Royal Chess, made up of Uzbek Olympic gold medalists. GMHans.com edged out a narrow victory in the first round, but in the second round, Royal Chess was completely crushed, losing 5:1.

In the quarter-finals, the top teams clashed, featuring the championship’s first tiebreak. The highlight was the showdown between Al-Ain and Decade China, featuring Daniil Dubov and Ding Liren. The first round ended in a 3:3 draw, with Ding and Dubov drawing in a tense position. Decade China underperformed on the top boards but won on the last two, keeping the score level. However, the second round brought more drama. Dubov misplayed, and Ding, with two exchanges up, secured a decisive victory. Decade China’s Pang Bo faltered on board six, but Xu’s victory over Lagno leveled the match. Ju Wenjun, with a winning position against Maghsoodloo, blundered in time trouble and lost, leading to a tied overall score.

With both matches drawn, Al-Ain and Decade China headed into the event’s first tiebreak. Dubov served a tactical surprise for Ding and won. Things then went downhill for Decade China – Wei Yi lost on board two, and Pang Bo drew. Xu defeated Zhu, giving a glimmer of hope. Ju was under pressure to defeat Maghsoodloo in a complicated endgame, but the Iranian player stopped the clocks and called in the arbiters for a threefold repetition, ending the game in a draw and swaying the victory to Al-Ain, eliminating Decade China.

In a repeat of the pool stage match, WR Chess faced GMHans.com. Once again, Nepomniachtchi, not Carlsen, was on board one against Hans Niemann. WR Chess squeezed a narrow victory in the first round, despite Nepomniachtchi’s losing. In the second round, WR Chess was more confident, eliminating GMHans.com with a 5.5:0.5 victory.

Chessy split points with Kazchess in the first round, with Rapport losing to Grischuk. However, Chessy bounced back strongly in the rematch, winning 5:1 to advance confidently to the semi-finals.

The best performance in the first round of the quarter-finals came from MGD1, who had a strong result against Ashdod in both matches. In the first match, they defeated Ashdod 4:2, with Nihal Sarin beating compatriot Erigaisi on board one. MGD1 continued confidently in the rematch, winning 4.5:1.5 to move to the next stage.

The semi-finals saw Chessy play WR Chess. In the rapid, Chessy knocked out WR Chess from the leading position at the end of day one. Now, the 2023 world rapid winners were looking for revenge, especially Magnus Carlsen, who was outplayed by Richard Rapport and lost in their rapid game. Carlsen won quickly, and the team followed, winning the first round with a comfortable 4.5:1.5. In the rematch, Chessy had a chance to stage a comeback: Anna Muzychuk had a significantly better position against Alexandra Kosteniuk but misplayed and lost. The match was tied, meaning WR Chess moved on to the finals.

In the second matchup, MGD1 started the first round against Al-Ain with a quick victory by Raunak Sadhwani against Vladimir Artemiev on board two. Narayanan then won as Black against Andreikin, lifting hopes for MGD1. However, they only got half a point from the bottom three boards. With Dubov managing to save a draw against Erigaisi, the match was leveled.

In the rematch, Dubov managed to defeat Erigaisi after the top-rated Indian player miscalculated in the middlegame. Al-Ain had another big chance in the game Lagno-Dronavalli. Lagno, playing as White, had a better position in the French Defense but erred in her attack and lost, allowing a comeback for MGD1. With all other games ending in a draw, the stage was set for a second tiebreak in the World Blitz.

In the tiebreak rematch, Al-Ain replaced Lagno with Zhu Jiner. However, everything went downhill for them: they started out badly, with the entire team entering worse positions. The only one to save her game was Zhu Jiner, who drew. On all other boards, MGD1 won comfortably. It was a crushing end for the World Rapid champions, marking the end of their journey.

About The World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship 2024

The World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship 2024 took place in Astana, Kazakhstan, between August 2 and 5.

More information about the tournament, including regulations, pairings, and the schedule, can be found on the official website of the event.

The games and the live commentary were be broadcast on FIDE’s YouTube channel and are available for viewing.

For more information contact Anna Volkova at press@fide.com.

Photos: Arlan Olzhabay, Ruslan Mazunin and Maria Emelianova