The World Rapid and Blitz Team Chess Championships 2024 was a team chess tournament organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to determine the world team champions in chess played under rapid and blitz time controls.
The 2024 tournament between club teams included both rapid and blitz time formats. It organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in collaboration with the KazChess/Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KCF), with financial support from Freedom Holding Corp. The tournament took place from August 1 to 5, 2024, in Astana, Kazakhstan.[1][2]
Overview
[edit]According to the tournament regulations, teams consisted of 6-9 players. Matches between teams in both rapid and blitz were played on six boards, with each team required to have at least one female player (5th board) and one amateur player (6th board) whose FIDE rating in any time control—standard, rapid, or blitz—had never reached 2000 Elo points (as of registration). The team captain could be a playing member.
The 2024 World Rapid Team Championship took place from August 2 to 4 and consisted of 12 rounds using a Swiss system.
The 2024 World Blitz Team Championship was held on August 5 in two phases. In the first phase, teams played in a round-robin format in five groups (A, B, C, D, and E) of 8 teams each. The top three teams from each group, along with the best fourth-placed team, advanced to the knockout phase. The draw for the Round of 16 was conducted based on the standings in the groups and the average ratings of the teams. The top 16 teams then competed in a knockout format: Round of 16 — Quarterfinals — Semifinals — Final.
Participants
[edit]Over 300 participants from around the world formed 40 teams for the competition. Among the participants were both current (Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun) and former world champions (Magnus Carlsen, Hou Yifan, Alexandra Kosteniuk), as well as vice-champions, World Cup winners, and world champions in rapid and blitz from various years.
Most Notable Participants (Ratings as of August 1, 2024)
Achievement | Player | Team | Rapid Rating | Blitz Rating |
Current World Champions | Ding Liren | Decade China Team | 2775 | 2785 |
Ju Wenjun | Decade China Team | 2540 | 2500 | |
Former World Champions | Magnus Carlsen | WR Chess Team | 2827 | 2888 |
Hou Yifan | WR Chess Team | 2550 | 2529 | |
Alexandra Kosteniuk | WR Chess Team | 2485 | 2460 | |
Vice-World Champions | Ian Nepomniachtchi | WR Chess Team | 2753 | 2777 |
Humpy Koneru | Chessy | 2456 | 2432 | |
World Cup Winners | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | WR Chess Team | 2742 | 2762 |
Peter Svidler | Kazchess | 2728 | 2687 | |
Alexandra Kosteniuk | WR Chess Team | 2485 | 2460 | |
Rapid World Champions | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | WR Chess Team | 2732 | 2669 |
Daniil Dubov | Alain ACMG UAE | 2716 | 2802 | |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Kazchess | 2687 | 2712 | |
Ju Wenjun | Decade China Team | 2540 | 2500 | |
Kateryna Lagno | Alain ACMG UAE | 2466 | 2478 | |
Humpy Koneru | Chessy | 2456 | 2432 | |
Anna Muzychuk | Chessy | 2404 | 2408 | |
Blitz World Champions | Alexander Grischuk | Kazchess | 2670 | 2681 |
Kateryna Lagno | Alain ACMG UAE | 2466 | 2478 | |
Bibisara Assaubayeva | Kazchess | 2434 | 2457 | |
Anna Muzychuk | Chessy | 2404 | 2408 |
Favorites
Before the championship, based on achievements and the average ratings of team participants in rapid, FIDE identified the following teams as favorites:
- WR Chess Team – 2582 (Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Hou Yifan, Wadim Rosenstein, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Vincent Keymer, Alexandra Kosteniuk)
- Decade China Team – 2559 (Ding Liren, Wei Yi, Wang Yue, Yu Yangyi, Ju Wenjun, Pang Bo, Li Chao, Xu Xiangyu, Li Deyan)
- Chessy – 2528 (Richard Rapport, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Jorden van Foreest, Alexey Sarana, Humpy Koneru, Mukhtar Ainaikul, Aik Martirosyan, Anna Muzychuk, Yagyz Kaan Erdogmus)
- Alain ACMG UAE – 2519 (Vladislav Artemiev, Daniil Dubov, Parham Maghsoodloo, Dmitry Andreikin, Kateryna Lagno, Wafiya Darvish al-Maamari, Volodar Murzin, Zhu Jinyer, Ibragim Galyamzhanuly)
- Kazchess – 2510 (Peter Svidler, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Darmeen Sadvakassov, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Alimzhan Ayapov, Alisher Suleimenov, Aldiyar Ansat, Nurmuhammed Kabinazar)
- Team MGD1 – 2453 (Arjun Erigaisi, Sunilduth Lina Narayanan, Raunak Sadhwani, Baskaran Adhiban, Harika Dronavalli, Mihir Shah, Vijay Pranav, Narayanan Srinath)
Format and Rules
[edit]The FIDE World Rapid Team Championship was played with a time control of "15+10" (15 minutes per game with a 10-second increment per move starting from the first). It consisted of 12 rounds using a Swiss system. Teams received 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 for a loss. The team with the highest number of team points became the rapid world champion.
The FIDE World Blitz Team Championship was played with a time control of "3+2" (3 minutes per game with a 2-second increment per move starting from the first). It consisted of two phases. In the first phase, teams played in a round-robin format across five groups (A, B, C, D, and E) of 8 teams each. The top three teams from each group, along with the best fourth-placed team, advanced to the knockout phase, where teams competed in a two-match final. The team winning the final was crowned blitz world champion.
Prize Fund
[edit]The total prize fund for the championship was €350,000, distributed as follows:
Place | Rapid | Blitz |
1st | €100,000 | €40,000 |
2nd | €60,000 | €25,000 |
3rd | €40,000 | €17,500 |
4th | €25,000 | €17,500 |
5th | €12,500 | - |
1st "under 2400" | €12,500 | - |
Total | €250,000 | €100,000 |
Results
[edit]The 2024 FIDE World Rapid Team Championship was won by the team "Al-Ain ACMG UAE" (Vladislav Artemiev, Daniil Dubov, Parham Maghsoodloo, Dmitry Andreikin, Kateryna Lagno, Wafiya Darvish al-Maamari, Volodar Murzin, Zhu Jinyer, Ibragim Galyamzhanuly), who scored 21 team points (10 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss) across 12 matches.
The silver medals went to the "Decade China Team" (20 points), while the bronze medals were awarded to last year's champion, the "WR Chess Team" (19 points). The fourth place was taken by "Chessy" (18 points), and the fifth place went to "Team MGD1" (17 points). The prize for teams with an average rating below 2400 was won by "Royal Chess": starting as the 10th seed (2390), they finished 7th (14 points).
The fate of all medal sets was decided literally "at the last moment": the gold was secured for "Al-Ain ACMG UAE" by the first victory (!) of their top player Daniil Dubov, while Hou Yifan's win helped the defending champion "WR Chess Team" maintain third place.
Notable individual results include a sensational defeat of the reigning champion and rating leader "WR Chess Team" by "Chessy" with a score of 5:1 in the fourth round, where Magnus Carlsen (2827), playing white, chose to stop the clock and resign without waiting for the 24th move of the black pieces commanded by Richard Rapport (2702).
Place | Team | Games | Points | TB1 | TB2 |
1 | Al-Ain ACMG UAE | 12 | 21 | 635.5 | 47 |
2 | Decade China Team | 12 | 20 | 682 | 52.5 |
3 | WR Chess Team | 12 | 19 | 533.5 | 42.5 |
4 | Chessy | 12 | 18 | 606 | 45.5 |
5 | Team MGD1 | 12 | 17 | 583 | 44 |
6 | Ashdod Chess Club | 12 | 14 | 545 | 42.5 |
7 | Royal Chess | 12 | 14 | 450.5 | 37 |
8 | Rookies | 12 | 14 | 432 | 40 |
9 | GMHans.com | 12 | 13 | 505.5 | 37 |
10 | Kazchess | 12 | 13 | 498.5 | 40.5 |
11 | Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow | 12 | 13 | 450.5 | 36.5 |
12 | Hunnu Air | 12 | 13 | 444 | 41 |
13 | Theme International Trading | 12 | 13 | 423 | 38.5 |
14 | Teniz Kazakhstan | 12 | 13 | 412.5 | 39 |
15 | Noval Group Kyrgyzstan | 12 | 13 | 390 | 40 |
16 | Greco | 12 | 12 | 424 | 42 |
17 | FIDE Management Board | 12 | 12 | 415.5 | 36.5 |
18 | World Champions Higher School | 12 | 12 | 403.5 | 37 |
19 | Astana-2 | 12 | 12 | 394 | 38 |
20 | GMs Kazakhstan | 12 | 12 | 370.5 | 33 |
21 | Storm of Dragons | 12 | 12 | 364 | 38.5 |
22 | Astana-1 | 12 | 12 | 359.5 | 31 |
23 | Chess Ratel | 12 | 12 | 350.5 | 35 |
24 | TKM Chess | 12 | 12 | 303 | 38.5 |
25 | Future GM | 12 | 12 | 275.5 | 37.5 |
26 | Kyrgyz Chess Academy | 12 | 11 | 320 | 34.5 |
27 | Chess Mates | 12 | 11 | 265.5 | 34.5 |
28 | Kazakhstan Dream Team | 12 | 11 | 240.5 | 30.5 |
29 | Egypt | 12 | 10 | 329 | 33.5 |
30 | Helicopter | 12 | 10 | 271 | 29.5 |
31 | KRG-Team | 12 | 9 | 221.5 | 29.5 |
32 | Abai Chess Team | 12 | 9 | 220 | 31.5 |
33 | Chess Empire | 12 | 9 | 195.5 | 28.5 |
34 | Chess Dream | 12 | 8 | 236.5 | 31 |
35 | VKO Team | 12 | 8 | 219 | 29.5 |
36 | Baiterekchess | 12 | 4 | 190.5 | 23.5 |
37 | Chessacademy_pvl | 12 | 4 | 170.5 | 22.5 |
38 | Abai's Gambit Pioneers | 12 | 4 | 123 | 19 |
Additionally, the top three players on each board were awarded prizes, not just on the six main boards, but across all nine, based on the maximum allowed in the application. The main indicator was the Tournament Performance Rating (TPR), reflecting the level at which a player performed in the tournament, calculated based on the number of games played, points scored, and opponents' ratings.
Gold Medalists by Board:
- Magnus Carlsen (2827, "WR Chess Team") – 2895 (6½ points out of 8 possible);
- Wei Yi (2771, "Decade China Team") – 2822 (10/12);
- Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2742, "WR Chess Team") – 2756 (5½/8);
- Dmitry Andreikin (2644, "Al-Ain ACMG UAE") – 2815 (9/10);
- Alexey Sarana (2648, "Chessy") – 2681 (7/10);
- Klaudia Kulon (2313, "Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow") – 2273 (6½/12);
- Ju Wenjun (2540, "Decade China Team") – 2451 (8/12);
- Bella Khotenashvili (2399, "Ashdod Chess Club") – 2326 (7/12);
- Pang Bo (1400, "Decade China Team") – 2624 (11/11).
The 2024 FIDE World Blitz Team Championship was won by the "WR Chess Team" (Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Hou Yifan, Wadim Rosenstein, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Vincent Keymer, Alexandra Kosteniuk), who defeated "Team MGD1" in the final over two matches. The bronze medals went to the losing semifinalists – "Chessy" and "Al-Ain ACMG UAE."
In the first stage, 40 teams were divided into 5 groups of 8, which played against each other in a round-robin format, similar to the rapid event: team vs. team on six boards, including a woman (5th board) and an amateur player with a blitz rating below 2000 (6th board). In case of a tie in team points, the Sonneborn-Berger coefficient was used for team (TB1) and individual points (TB2).
Group A:
Place | Team | Games | Points | TB1 | TB2 |
1 | WR Chess Team | 7 | 14 | 38 | 84 |
2 | GMHans.com | 7 | 12 | 31.5 | 60 |
3 | Rookies | 7 | 10 | 27.5 | 40 |
4 | Theme International Trading | 7 | 8 | 23.5 | 24 |
5 | Kyrgyz Chess Academy | 7 | 6 | 19 | 12 |
6 | Chess Empire | 7 | 4 | 9 | 4 |
7 | Storm of Dragons | 7 | 2 | 15 | 0 |
8 | Baiterekchess | 7 | 0 | 4.5 | 0 |
Group B:
Place | Team | Games | Points | TB1 | TB2 |
1 | Al-Ain ACMG UAE | 7 | 12 | 35 | 56 |
2 | Team MGD1 | 7 | 12 | 33 | 60 |
3 | Teniz Kazakhstan | 7 | 10 | 26.5 | 36 |
4 | Helicopter | 7 | 6 | 18 | 14 |
5 | Egypt | 7 | 5 | 15.5 | 10 |
6 | Chess Mates | 7 | 5 | 14 | 10 |
7 | Chessacademy_pvl | 7 | 2 | 8.5 | 0 |
8 | VKO Team | 7 | 0 | 5.5 | 0 |
Group C:
Place | Team | Games | Points | TB1 | TB2 |
1 | Decade China Team | 7 | 14 | 36.5 | 84 |
2 | Royal Chess | 7 | 12 | 33.5 | 60 |
3 | Greco | 7 | 9 | 25 | 34 |
4 | GMs Kazakhstan | 7 | 8 | 23 | 28 |
5 | FIDE Management Board | 7 | 7 | 23 | 20 |
6 | Chess Ratel | 7 | 3 | 15.5 | 3 |
7 | Chess Dream | 7 | 3 | 8 | 3 |
8 | ChessStar | 7 | 0 | 3.5 | 0 |
Group D:
Place | Team | Games | Points | TB1 | TB2 |
1 | Chessy | 7 | 14 | 33 | 84 |
2 | Ashdod Chess Club | 7 | 12 | 35 | 60 |
3 | Astana-2 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 40 |
4 | Noval Group Kyrgyzstan | 7 | 7 | 24 | 23 |
5 | World Champions Higher School | 7 | 6 | 24.5 | 14 |
6 | Future GM | 7 | 3 | 11.5 | 11 |
7 | KRG-Team | 7 | 2 | 8.5 | 6 |
8 | Abai's Gambit Pioneers | 7 | 2 | 6.5 | 4 |
Group E:
Place | Team | Games | Points | TB1 | TB2 |
1 | Kazchess | 7 | 14 | 34.5 | 84 |
2 | Astana-1 | 7 | 12 | 30.5 | 60 |
3 | Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow | 7 | 10 | 28.5 | 40 |
4 | Hunnu Air | 7 | 8 | 26.5 | 24 |
5 | TKM Chess | 7 | 6 | 20 | 12 |
6 | Kazakhstan Dream Team | 7 | 4 | 12 | 4 |
7 | Abai Chess Team | 7 | 2 | 10.5 | 0 |
8 | ChessStar | 7 | 0 | 5.5 | 0 |
The top three teams from each group advanced to the playoffs, along with the best of the five teams that finished in 4th place – Hunnu Air (Group E). The draw for the round of 16 was conducted based on the teams' placements in their groups and their average ratings. The opponents then faced off in two-match showdowns with alternating colors.
Round of 16:
- WR Chess Team (No. 1) – Hunnu Air (No. 14) – 4½:1½, 4½:1½
- Al-Ain ACMG UAE (No. 2) – Astana-1 (No. 11) – 6:0, 3½:2½
- Greco (No. 15) – Decade China Team (No. 3) – 1½:4½, 2½:3½
- Chessy (No. 4) – Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow (No. 12) – 4:2, 4:2
- Rookies (No. 13) – Kazchess (No. 5) – 2½:3½, 2:4
- Team MGD1 (No. 6) – Astana-2 (No. 16) – 5½:½, 4:2
- Teniz Kazakhstan (No. 12) – Ashdod Chess Club (No. 7) – 3:3, 1:5
- GMHans.com (No. 9) – Royal Chess (No. 8) – 3½:2½, 5:1
Quarterfinals:
- GMHans.com – WR Chess Team – 2½:3½, ½:5½
- Decade China Team – Al-Ain ACMG UAE – 3:3, 3:3, 2½:3½
- Kazchess - Chessy – 3:3, 1:5
- Ashdod Chess Club – Team MGD1 – 2:4, 1½:4½
Semifinals:
- Team MGD1 – Al-Ain ACMG UAE – 3:3, 3:3, 5½:½
- WR Chess Team – Chessy – 4½:1½, 3:3
Final:
- Team MGD1 – WR Chess Team – 2½:3½, 3:3
As with the rapid tournament, the top three players on all nine boards were awarded prizes.
Gold Medalists by Board:
- Ediz Gurell (2465, "Rookies");
- Ian Nepomniachtchi (2777, "WR Chess Team");
- Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2762, "WR Chess Team");
- Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2693, "WR Chess Team");
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2669, "WR Chess Team");
- Harika Dronavalli (2423, "Team MGD1");
- Xu Xiangyu (2473, "Decade China Team");
- Alexandra Kosteniuk (2460, "WR Chess Team");
- Mukhtar Ainaikul (2025, "Chessy").