2019 World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships
The 2019 World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships are underway in Moscow.
How to watch
You can follow the games here (women's games here) as part of our live portal. You can watch daily commentary with GMs Yasser Seirawan and Robert Hess at Chess.com/TV.
Dates & Schedule
The event is held in the last week of December. The world rapid championship runs December 26-28, followed by the world blitz Dec. 29-30. Here's the full schedule:
World Rapid & Blitz | Time table
| Date | Open | Women | Moscow | Pacific |
| RAPID Dec. 26 |
Round 1 | Round 1 | 15:00 | 04:00 |
| Round 2 | Round 2 | 16:15 | 05:15 | |
| Round 3 | Round 3 | 17:30 | 06:30 | |
| Round 4 | Round 4 | 18:45 | 07:45 | |
| Round 5 | 20:00 | 09:00 | ||
| Dec. 27 | Round 6 | Round 5 | 15:00 | 04:00 |
| Round 7 | Round 6 | 16:15 | 05:15 | |
| Round 8 | Round 7 | 17:30 | 06:30 | |
| Round 9 | Round 8 | 18:45 | 07:45 | |
| Round 10 | 20:00 | 09:00 | ||
| Dec. 28 | Round 11 | Round 9 | 15:00 | 04:00 |
| Round 12 | Round 10 | 16:15 | 05:15 | |
| Round 13 | Round 11 | 17:30 | 06:30 | |
| Round 14 | Round 12 | 18:45 | 07:45 | |
| Round 15 | 20:00 | 09:00 | ||
| BLITZ Dec. 29 |
Round 1 | Round 1 | 15:00 | 04:00 |
| Round 2 | Round 2 | 15:30 | 04:30 | |
| Round 3 | Round 3 | 16:00 | 05:00 | |
| Round 4 | Round 4 | 16:30 | 05:30 | |
| Round 5 | Round 5 | 17:00 | 06:00 | |
| Round 6 | Round 6 | 17:30 | 06:30 | |
| Round 7 | Round 7 | 18:00 | 07:00 | |
| Round 8 | Round 8 | 18:30 | 07:30 | |
| Round 9 | Round 9 | 19:00 | 08:00 | |
| Round 10 | 19:30 | 08:30 | ||
| Round 11 | 20:00 | 09:00 | ||
| Round 12 | 20:30 | 09:30 | ||
| Dec. 30 | Round 13 | Round 10 | 14:00 | 03:00 |
| Round 14 | Round 11 | 14:30 | 03:30 | |
| Round 15 | Round 12 | 15:00 | 04:00 | |
| Round 16 | Round 13 | 15:30 | 04:30 | |
| Round 17 | Round 14 | 16:00 | 05:00 | |
| Round 18 | Round 15 | 16:30 | 05:30 | |
| Round 19 | Round 16 | 17:00 | 06:00 | |
| Round 20 | Round 17 | 17:30 | 06:30 | |
| Round 21 | 18:00 | 07:00 |
Participants
Most of the world's strongest players are competing. The open section includes the reigning world champion in standard chess and blitz, Magnus Carlsen, along with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura. The 2018 world rapid champion Daniil Dubov is also there to defend his title.
In the women's section, the sisters Anna and Mariya Muzychuk are playing, as well as Alexandra Kosteniuk and the women's world blitz champion Kateryna Lagno. GM Ju Wenjun will not return to defend her world rapid championship from last year in St. Petersburg.
Below are the top 20 of both groups, paired by their rapid ratings:
| # | Fed | Title | Open | Rtg | # | Fed | Title | Women | Rtg |
| 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2886 | 1 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2592 | ||
| 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2873 | 2 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2538 | ||
| 3 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2819 | 3 | GM | Lagno Kateryna | 2533 | ||
| 4 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2818 | 4 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2518 | ||
| 5 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2808 | 5 | GM | Lei Tingjie | 2498 | ||
| 6 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2784 | 6 | GM | Tan Zhongyi | 2496 | ||
| 7 | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2768 | 7 | WGM | Pogonina Natalija | 2494 | ||
| 8 | GM | Artemiev Vladislav | 2756 | 8 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2484 | ||
| 9 | GM | Dominguez Perez Leinier | 2755 | 9 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2478 | ||
| 10 | GM | Kamsky Gata | 2755 | 10 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2455 | ||
| 11 | GM | Dubov Daniil | 2752 | 11 | IM | Saduakassova Dinara | 2446 | ||
| 12 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2752 | 12 | GM | Ushenina Anna | 2439 | ||
| 13 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 2751 | 13 | GM | Koneru Humpy | 2438 | ||
| 14 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2749 | 14 | GM | Gunina Valentina | 2434 | ||
| 15 | GM | Andreikin Dmitry | 2748 | 15 | GM | Cramling Pia | 2428 | ||
| 16 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2748 | 16 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2425 | ||
| 17 | GM | Wang Hao | 2748 | 17 | IM | Khademalsharieh Sarasadat | 2421 | ||
| 18 | GM | Giri Anish | 2747 | 18 | IM | Mammadova Gulnar | 2418 | ||
| 19 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2747 | 19 | IM | Arabidze Meri | 2416 | ||
| 20 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2745 | 20 | GM | Krush Irina | 2415 |
Location
The location of the world rapid & blitz is the VIP zone of the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex along the Luzhniki embankment in Moscow. It is one of the biggest multifunctional sports complexes in the world. Built in the 1950s, it served as the Olympic Park of the 1980 Summer Olympics.
The stadium and the surrounding areas were extensively renovated and upgraded on the occasion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, turning it into one of the biggest and more modern sports facilities in Europe, with a capacity of 81,000 spectators.
Prizes
Both the world rapid and the world blitz championships have a total prize fund of $350,000 each, with a first prize of $60,000 for each tournament. Both the women's world rapid and the women's world blitz championships have a total prize fund of $150,000 each, with a first prize of $40,000 for each tournament.
Distribution of prizes
| World Rapid | Prizes (USD) |
World Blitz | Prizes (USD) |
Women's World Rapid |
Prizes (USD) |
Women's World Blitz |
Prizes (USD) |
| 1 | 60,000 | 1 | 60,000 | 1 | 40,000 | 1 | 40,000 |
| 2 | 50,000 | 2 | 50,000 | 2 | 30,000 | 2 | 30,000 |
| 3 | 40,000 | 3 | 40,000 | 3 | 20,000 | 3 | 20,000 |
| 4 | 30,000 | 4 | 30,000 | 4 | 15,000 | 4 | 15,000 |
| 5 | 25,000 | 5 | 25,000 | 5 | 10,000 | 5 | 10,000 |
| 6 | 22,000 | 6 | 22,000 | 6 | 7,000 | 6 | 7,000 |
| 7 | 18,000 | 7 | 18,000 | 7 | 6,000 | 7 | 6,000 |
| 8 | 14,000 | 8 | 14,000 | 8 | 5,000 | 8 | 5,000 |
| 9 | 11,000 | 9 | 11,000 | 9 | 4,000 | 9 | 4,000 |
| 10 | 8,000 | 10 | 8,000 | 10 | 3,000 | 10 | 3,000 |
| 11-16 | 5,000 each | 11-16 | 5,000 each | 11-15 | 2,000 each | 11-15 | 2,000 each |
| 17-25 | 3,000 each | 17-25 | 3,000 each | ||||
| 26-35 | 1,500 each | 26-35 | 1,500 each | ||||
| TOTAL | 350,000 | TOTAL | 350,000 | TOTAL | 150,000 | TOTAL | 150,000 |
Time control
The rapid is played with 15 minutes plus a 10 second-increment per move, starting from move one. The blitz is played with three minutes plus a two-second increment per move, starting from move one.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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