The World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship is held in Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, Kazakhstan. This was a highly competitive tournament with nearly 300 players participating from 50 countries. You will be able to see some of the best chess players on the planet there. It will be broadcast live on chess24.
The event is an elite over-the-board tournament, featuring masters from all over the world, along with national champions. It is also a swiss system event, meaning there is a $350,000 prize fund on offer. One of the most intriguing features of this tournament is the inclusion of some of the hottest speed chess players in the world. Among these are Vladimir Fedoseev, Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, U.S. world champion and Ian Nepomniachtchi, FIDE world champion.
Table of Contents
Format
The competition was divided into two sections, the Open section and the Women’s section. Throughout the tournament, time control is 15 minutes per player for the whole game. Players get 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The player with the most points at the end of the tournament becomes the World Rapid Champion.
Carlsen and Tan Takes Title
After three days of competitors, the World Rapid Chess Championship finished in Almaty. After 13 rounds in the Open Division, Magnus Carlsen prevailed. This is his 4th rapid championship in rapid chess. In the females’s division, China’s Tan Zhongyi won the gold medal after winning the making a decision video game.
Carlsen’s 4th Rapid World Championship
Carlsen remained in the lead initially of the competition and also preserved his dominant position throughout. Nonetheless, not every thing went smoothly. The last day of the tournament started well for Carlsen, as he won his match versus young German GM Vincent Keymer Then bad luck struck.
A minor problem in the 11th round against GM Vladislav Artemiev put Carlsen’s game in doubt for a while. The next match in the 12th round was against his old bane on the board – Fabiano Caruana, who began the match slowly however reached the top degree in the last rounds, Caruana matched as black and neither gamer had enough advantage to win, so they made a decision to split a factor. In the last 13th round, Carlsen beat previous World Junior Champion Parham Maghsoodloo.
Nevertheless, Carlsen’s destiny was not entirely in his very own hands. Carlsen was seeing very closely as rising chess celebrity Vincent Keymer from Germany was playing a tight stalemate match against World Blitz champion Maxime Vacher-Lagrave. He will have to deal with Magnus in a tiebreaker if Keymer wins. To Carlsen’s pleasure, the match ended in a draw.
Excellent performance by German player Keymer
Second place in the World Rapid Championship went to Vincent Keymer. The 18-year-old German grandmaster was competing in his first World Rapid and Blitz tournament. Given his lack of experience in these events, his results were surprising. Despite losing to Carlsen at the beginning of Day 3, he won his next two matches (Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi) in quick succession. The fight with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave came down to the wire in a thrilling match that ended in a draw.
Caruana third, Nodirbek Absudattorov tenth
After a slow start to the competition, former contender for the world title Fabiano Caruana made it four success in a row to reach the top five and get a shot at the title. By defeating Vladislav Artemiev in the last round, Caruana took 3rd location in the rapid race.
Nodirbek Absudattorov, the safeguarding 2021 World Rapid Championship champion, can be found in 10th place with 8.5 points. Hikaru Nakamura fought with draws throughout the tournament as well as came in 44th place on the whole. He had only 2 wins and 11 draws, gaining 7.5 points.
| Ranking | Title and Name | Rating | Points |
| 1 | GM Magnus Carlsen | 2834 | 10 |
| 2 | GM Vincent Keymer | 2590 | 9.5 |
| 3 | GM Fabiano Caruana | 2747 | 9.5 |
| 4 | GM Daniil Dubov | 2712 | 9 |
| 5 | GM Arjun Erigaisi | 2628 | 9 |
Women’s Rapid Chess Championship decided by Blitz
Tan Zhongyi of China and Dinara Sadaukassova of Kazakhstan tied for first place in the Female’s Rapid competition with 8.5 points after 11 rounds. The championship was chosen by a blitzkrieg tie-break, in which the first video game was connected, but Tan Zhongyi won the second.
The substantial success for the previous ladies’s world champion and China’s initial gold medal in women’s rapid tournament considering that 2018, Tan Zhongyi played well and did not shed a solitary video game in the competition. This was another great performance after Tan Zhongyi’s triumph in the Female’s Candidate B category.
Second location went to Kazakhstan’s Dinara Saduakassova, that guaranteed that her country maintained the silver medal in the rapid competitors. India’s Shri B Savitha continued her excellent performance this year, topping the team with 8 factors. Last year’s world champ in the fast occasion, Aleksandra Kosteniuk, completed 9th with 7.5 factors.
| Ranking | Title and Name | Rating | Points |
| 1 | GM Tan Zhongyi | 2502 | 8.5 |
| 2 | IM Saduakassova Dinara | 2435 | 8.5 |
| 3 | WIM Savitha Shri B | 2311 | 8 |
| 4 | GM Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2484 | 8 |
| 5 | GM Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2448 | 8 |
Previous Champions
- 2012 : Sergey Karjakin
- 2013 : Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
- 2014 : Magnus Carlsen
- 2015 : Magnus Carlsen
- 2016 : Vasyl Ivanchuk
- 2017 : Viswanathan Anand
- 2018 : Daniil Dubov
- 2019 : Magnus Carlsen
- 2021 : Nodirbek Abdusattorov