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FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships—13 Things We Learned
After putting on an incredible show, Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi agreed to split the title. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships—13 Things We Learned

AnthonyLevin
NM AnthonyLevin
Staff
| 43 | Chess Event Coverage

FIDE's last events of 2024 crowned five world champions: World Rapid Champion Volodar Murzin, Women's World Rapid Champion Koneru Humpy, Women's World Blitz Champion Ju Wenjun, and finally Blitz World Co-Champions Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi. It's the first time in history that chess has co-world champions, after a controversial, spur-of-the-moment rule change in the final.

Below we review the things we learned from this year's winter finale, held on Wall Street in New York.

Carlsen kindly agreed to let Nepomniachtchi keep the trophy. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
  1. Was It About Jeans?
  2. Historic, Last-Minute Rule Change Sparks Mostly Negative Reactions
  3. New Format Comes With Its Own Challenges
  4. Caruana Wins FIDE Circuit But Questions System
  5. Losing Early Doesn't Mean It's Over
  6. Humpy Delivers Another W For India
  7. Murzin Is The Real Deal
  8. Russian Players Take Several Podium Spots
  9. China Continues To Hold Most Women's World Titles
  10. No-Shows Continue To Stir Drama
  11. Naroditsky Led In Rapid, Came Close To Knockout In Blitz
  12. Lazavik Continues To Impress
  13. Athletes Show Up For Chess 

1. Was It About Jeans?

Carlsen's participation in the blitz championship nearly went up in smoke after he quit the rapid championship on day two. FIDE fined Carlsen $200 for wearing jeans; the chief arbiter also did not pair the defending champion for round nine, when he refused an ultimatum to change clothes, and he left the tournament. He didn't mince words in his interview on Take Take Take.

Two days later, after talks with FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Carlsen made a U-turn and announced he would return for the Blitz after all. FIDE changed the dress code to allow jeans. This all happened just in time for Carlsen to attend the Wall Street Gambit conference on the rest day, and he wore jeans for all the remaining days.

Carlsen playing Freedom Holdings CEO Timur Turlov. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Players called into question whether the issue was really about the jeans. GM Hikaru Nakamura told Take Take Take, "It's not really about the jeans or the attire, it's about a much bigger situation that's brewing regarding Freestyle Chess. I think it would've happened one way or another."

GM Hans Niemann, who has been a vocal critic of Carlsen and FIDE, expressed a similar viewpoint, that jeans were not at the center of this dispute.

What we know is that Freestyle Chess published an agreement with FIDE on a "friendly co-existence" on December 21. Carlsen and Nakamura said that FIDE threatened players in the background—a claim FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky denied in a conversation with ChessBase India, saying that the dispute is solely about Freestyle Chess using the term "world championship" in their events. FIDE President Dvorkovich posted, from the official FIDE account, that the organization will issue a further statement on the matter soon.

Still, we saw the reigning world champion return to defend his blitz title—or, well, share it.

2. Historic, Last-Minute Rule Change Sparks Mostly Negative Reactions

For the first time, we have co-world champions, and the decision was made rather quickly after Carlsen suggested it. In the final match, Carlsen won the first two games, but Nepomniachtchi incredibly won the next two on demand to force sudden death tiebreaks. The players would continue playing until a single game was won, and the winner of that game would be world champion.

After three draws, Carlsen suggested to call it a day, and President Dvorkovich made the final call to change the regulations. A video later came out showing that the players discussed making short draws ad infinitum.

Carlsen posted that the video was misleading, writing, "I've never prearranged a draw in my career." He wrote that he was joking in the clip shared and "This was obviously not an attempt to influence FIDE... If anything it was a bad joke given the gravity of the situation."

At the press conference, Carlsen justified his decision by saying the players were "tired and nervous" after many hours of blitz. After such a spectacular show by both players, "it would've been very cruel on both of us if one gets first and the other one gets second." 

It would've been very cruel on both of us if one gets first and the other one gets second.

—Magnus Carlsen

While the community was split on the jeans decision, with roughly half saying FIDE should have been firmer and the other half saying flexibility was the way to go, most top players and participants in the tournament criticized FIDE's decision to change the rules during the final stage of the event.

GM Judit Polgar was one of the few that was neutral, congratulating both and celebrating the friendly outcome.

GM Daniel Naroditsky, who just missed out on the Blitz Knockout, suggested that there could have been 10 co-champions instead of just two. If that were the case, he would have been one of those 10.

GM Cristian Chirila, another participant, said (in a video embedded lower down) that this undermined the world championship title: "This is a huge asterisk. This is just simply not going to bode well for the players. First of all, this is not a world championship title they have right now. I mean, this is BS." He said that blame should be on the players first and arbiters second.

This is not a world championship title they have right now.

—Cristian Chirila

Chirila called the decision "BS." Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

GM Fabiano Caruana, who was eliminated in the Quarterfinals, disagreed, saying, "You can't blame the players. They just want to get their title and go home... it's a win-win for them." He pinned blame on FIDE. He also said that "it doesn't matter," calling into question the legitimacy of GM Ding Liren's world championship title. "Ding didn't win the Candidates, he didn't even qualify for the Candidates, and he made it to a world championship match without qualifying."

In 2022, Ding entered the Candidates in an unusual way after GM Sergey Karjakin lost his spot. After Carlsen opted not to defend his title, Ding earned the right to the 2023 FIDE World Championship by finishing second in the Candidates—another unusual development.

As for the second-place medal, Caruana said he'd be happy to take it, "I do offer to take it off of FIDE's hands as a courtesy."

GM Ivan Sokolov, in a post on X, was one of several to point out that an armageddon tiebreaker was an option. "If to change the rules, why not Armageddon?" This would have avoided a theoretically endless match.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, another participant this year, knows first-hand what it's like to be tired and nervous. In 2021, he played three nail-biting tiebreak games against GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda and won the third game. He wrote that this decision "deprived the spectators of a fitting ending."

FIDE CEO Sutovsky wrote, "I do think it is VERY BAD tho." Responding to a follow-up email about what he meant, Sutovsky responded, "Very bad refers to the fact of such a statement/proposal made by Magnus to Ian [to make endless draws in protest]. To me it does not look that it was just a joke."

IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, who played in the Women's championship, raised another concern, that the Women's Final produced just one winner and that GMs Ju and Lei Tingjie didn't have the same option of splitting the title. The Women's Final was decided in game six, which Ju won with the white pieces.

So that leaves us with two world champions. One critical question is: will we see future co-champions, or was this a one-time exception?

3. New Format, New Challenges

While the Rapid was a standard 13-round Swiss tournament, this year saw a novel format in the Blitz: another 13-round Swiss, but this time followed by an eight-player Knockout. The format change was supposedly to keep the competition alive all the way to the end, though it's worth noting that in the nine World Blitz Championships from 2013-2023 only once had a player won the title before the final round.

In 2023, we saw draws on the top six boards and Carlsen took first place by half a point. GM Daniil Dubov, who could have potentially reached playoffs against Carlsen, made an uneventful draw on board two.

The end of the Blitz Swiss portion this year looked pretty similar to the year before, as players were incentivized to just finish in the top eight to qualify for the next stage.

We saw the exact same Berlin draw on boards one and four, and another Berlin on board three. Even Naroditsky made a three-move draw with GM Wesley So, knowing that he risked being left out of the Knockout. At least he finished in the giant tie of players on 9.5 points, rather than recklessly playing for the win with the black pieces against one of the world's most solid players.

Every game on the top four boards ended in under 13 moves, with not a single new move played.

As for the Knockout, it did provide plenty of fireworks at each stage—in the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Final. Though even the Final between Ju and Lei was extremely calm, with five innocuous draws before they eventually did reach a decisive result in game six.

Carlsen watches the other final between games. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

The match between Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi was full of action, with four decisive games and three fighting draws, before the co-champions agreed on a peaceful result.

4. Caruana Wins FIDE Circuit But Questions System

Caruana has won the FIDE Circuit ahead of GM Arjun Erigaisi to earn a spot in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. The Indian prodigy, who jumped from world number-17 at this time last year to world number-four now, was the only player who could have caught him, but his 9.53 points for fifth in the Rapid was less than the worst of his seven eligible scores, 14, so didn't alter his points total. Then even first place in the Blitz wouldn't have been enough to bridge the six-point gap between the players.

The final standings of the 2025 FIDE Circuit.

Despite benefiting from it, Caruana has been critical of the FIDE Circuit for a while now. In a recent podcast episode, he called it "basically a minimal-effort way of deciding two Candidates spots," saying that FIDE doesn't have to organize events or provide prize funds for the tournaments involved. This circuit has replaced the old FIDE Grand Prix, which FIDE did organize in the past.

Caruana noted that most top players didn't really try to win the FIDE Circuit this year. Only three even had a chance of winning it: him, Arjun, and GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.  "The amount of people who actually played seven events, only three. So nobody tried," he concluded. Absent top players he named were GMs Gukesh Dommaraju, who already qualified for the world championship, GM Alireza Firouzja, "for whatever reason he has," and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who played just five eligible events.

Caruana asked, "If people aren't trying, how can you say it's a good system?" He suggested to add top-three prizes to encourage participation, so that players are incentivized to attempt even if they won't finish first.

If people aren't trying, how can you say it's a good system?

—Fabiano Caruana

Caruana also said that the points awarded to different tournaments "seem very arbitrary to me," an argument he has made several times before. Finally, he and Chirila were critical of a recent rule change by FIDE to decrease the amount of circuit points awarded to events with two rounds in one day. FM Peter Giannatos' post actually sums up the same argument quite well, claiming that this is discriminatory against U.S. tournaments specifically, as most tournaments in the U.S. traditionally have two rounds in a day.

The 2025 FIDE Circuit will award another spot in the Candidates, so we will see if more players make a push for that one in the new year.

5. Losing Early Doesn't Mean It's Over

Losing the first round of the Rapid against a player almost 200 points lower-rated didn't stop Humpy from earning her second world rapid title. The fall is less important than the recovery, as she showed in the remaining 11 rounds. She even surprised herself by winning the title, after the round-one misfortune, she said at the press conference.

Similarly, Carlsen lost an early game against Niemann in their quarterfinal match. He then won two games on demand to turn it around, and ultimately won seven in a row after losing once.

Nepomniachtchi, of course, proved the same principle to be true. He lost his first two games against Carlsen, and it would have been easy to give up. He won the next two games to equalize the score, and that grit was enough for him to earn the world championship title. 31...Ne3!!, after he'd already sacrificed a rook on g2, was a brilliant way to score that second win.

It comes to show that momentary failures can be overshadowed by perseverance. 

6. Humpy Delivers Another W For India

Not only did Humpy win the Rapid, but she came oh so close to qualifying for the Blitz Knockout. She finished ninth in the Swiss, just missing out on the top eight.

Her victory was a great story of perseverance, and her struggle extended beyond this individual event. She said at the press conference that she was doubtful about flying to New York, and even considered retiring from chess, before she arrived. She clearly made the right decision. 

Sutovsky congratulates the world champion. Anand watches. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

While it's an incredible personal achievement to win her second world title at the age of 37, it's also understood to be a national accomplishment. India, a superpower in the chess world, has enjoyed several victories in the year 2024. Notably, the country won the 45th Chess Olympiad (both Open and Women's) and, earlier in December, Gukesh won the 2024 FIDE World Championship and became the second Indian world champion, after GM Viswanathan Anand.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged Humpy as the only Indian to win two world rapid championship titles, though Anand, as well as winning it in the current format in 2017, also picked up the rapid title in a 16-player event in 2003. 

7. Murzin Is The Real Deal

Murzin may be just 18 years old, and he was the 59th seed going into the event, but he's more than proven his worth in speed chess. The teenager, rated 2657 in classical, won the Rapid undefeated and, if anyone had doubts after that, he shut them down by finishing eighth in the Blitz Swiss. He was eliminated in the Knockout Quarterfinals by Nepomniachtchi. 

GM Mikhail Kobalia spoke to ChessBase India about Murzin's strength, saying that he'd beaten Indian superstars Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa as far back as six years ago in world youth championships.

Murzin didn't get a chance to play Carlsen in either the Rapid or Blitz, but at the press conference he said that he looks forward to the opportunity, should it arise: "Of course I want to play with Magnus because he's a really strong player. Of course, I want to win. But maybe next year I will play with him."

Of course I want to play with Magnus because he's a really strong player.

—Volodar Murzin

8. Russian Players Take Several Podium Spots

It was a good event for Russia as well, who got the opportunity to show their skills on the world stage. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the nation has been barred from participating in two Olympiads. Several players have also relocated to new countries over the years as opportunities remain limited for Russian players.

Murzin and Nepomniachtchi brought two world titles back to Russia. Nepomniachtchi also finished in tied second-third with GM Alexander Grischuk in the Rapid. 

Success for three Russians at the World Rapid & Blitz. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

In the Women's Rapid GM Kateryna Lagno, Grischuk's wife, finished third. She got as far as the Blitz Semifinals, where she lost to runner-up Lei.

Ju, Humpy, and Lagno receive awards. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
 

9. China Continues To Hold Most Women's World Titles

China, which held both classical world titles until Gukesh defeated Ding this year, continues to  be the strongest force in Women's chess. Going into the Rapid, for instance, four of the top five players were Chinese. On the classical list, the top four women are also Chinese. Admittedly, number-one GM Hou Yifan is not a very active player.

Ju has achieved the rare "triple crown," winning the world titles in classical, rapid, and blitz, although she does not hold all three titles concurrently. She is the current champion in classical and blitz, but not rapid. We knew going into the Final that the world blitz title would go to China, as her compatriot Lei was her opponent. Indian GM Vaishali Rameshababu and Lagno were the semifinalists.

Chinese players Ju and Lei finished at the top of the Blitz. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Ju also finished in second-seventh in the Rapid along with former World Champion Tan Zhongyi. China and India had the greatest representation on the leaderboard there, with Indian GM Harika Dronavalli also in the large runner-up group in the Rapid.

10. No-Shows Continue To Stir Drama

There were two notable cases of no-shows. One of them was an instance we are used to seeing in the chess world, with an Iranian player not showing up to a game against an Israeli player. Israeli Former World Championship Challenger Boris Gelfand earned a free point in round seven of the Rapid, though this is to take nothing away from his solid performance. He scored 8/13. 

The no-show that garnered more attention was Dubov failing to show up to his round-10 game against Niemann, claiming he overslept in his hotel room between the rounds. Niemann didn't believe this to be the reason, telling FIDE, "usually when someone doesn't show up against me I have one assumption." That is, he believes Dubov was protesting against him on purpose. 

It turns out that if Dubov had showed up and resigned on move one, he would have made it to the Knockout by tiebreaks. But he received no Buchholz for his no-show.

No show, no Knockout for Dubov. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Since then, Niemann and Dubov have discussed playing a one-on-one match publicly on Twitter/X. In a post via GM Peter Svidler's account (because Dubov does not have one), Dubov called for Niemann to take a lie-detector test administered by Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry CM Demis Hassabis. He wrote, "If the test comes out clean, i will accept my decision was rash." His decision to fall asleep, that is?

Will we see another attempt to organize a $1 million buy-in event, after the last one was cancelled? The official WR Chess Masters account suggested putting this money on the line for four blitz games, and Niemann responded writing he would do it for a 24-game match.

11. Naroditsky Led In Rapid, Came Close To Knockout In Blitz

Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has published several YouTube videos scrutinizing Naroditsky's online performances and has called fair play into question. Kramnik has also accused a list of other strong players, including world number-three Nakamura.

As the American streamer and commentator acknowledged on Take Take Take, his play over the five days was going to come under the microscope of his critics. He took it in his stride, though, telling FIDE, "I am a retired 2600 player, I've got absolutely nothing to prove."

It was his first time ever playing the World Rapid & Blitz, and he told Take Take Take he had "zero" expectations.

I don't train, I don't study, and I'm really proud of the results that I've been showing in the Rapid, online, and over the board. I know that Cindarella runs are probably going to end eventually, so I harbor zero expectations. I'm here to do the best I can, as a commentator and not a player.

On the one hand, Naroditsky had an incredible start to the Rapid and even entered the sole lead briefly after round seven, when he defeated Abdusattorov. On the other, he did finish with two losses and a draw, after a loss to Praggnanandhaa "took the wind out of my sails," at the end and lost 1.9 rating points. He told FIDE he was still happy with the way it went:

I had a very frustrating final day. You know, I think I played well every game. There wasn't a single game where I went, man, I played terribly... I'm thrilled with how I played in the Rapid.

"I'm thrilled with how I played in the Rapid," said Naroditsky. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

In the Blitz, he  was one of 10 players tied on 9.5 points at the end of the Swiss—that is, he finished with the same number of points as Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, and all the others who entered the Knockout. He missed out by tiebreaks. Naroditsky overperformed his 2711 blitz rating and gained 9.5 points.

That being said, blitz and rapid ratings can be unreliable, and we can only read so much into a performance in two tournaments.

12. Lazavik Continues To Impress

Eighteen-year-old GM Denis Lazavik has been the subject of cheating accusations in recent years, even as his over-the-board performances stand in defiance of those accusations. In Chess.com tournaments, he has made a name for himself. He won Titled Tuesday when he was a FIDE Master at the age of 15, and since then he has played in two Champions Chess Tour Finals, which were played in person. While he finished last in the round-robin his first time, the second time around he finished fourth in the Swiss—after winning four matches against super-GM opponents. He was only eliminated in the Survival Stage.

Lazavik is not a new name in elite events. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Lazavik defeated Carlsen in round five of the Rapid, showing he means business, and finished on eight points. He gained 26 Elo in rapid. Meanwhile, in the Blitz, he scored 8.5 points and gained a more modest 6.9 Elo. Other notable wins include beating Praggnanandhaa in round seven of the Rapid and beating Arjun in round 12 of the Blitz. 

Although he wasn't close to winning either event, he still had great tournaments and is another young gun to look out for in the coming years. 

13. Athletes Show Up For Chess 

The chess world is expanding, no doubt about it. As Chess.com events like BlitzChamps (for NFL players) have highlighted, professional athletes play and care about the game of kings as well.

Two famous athletes were looking for some chess action in New York during the championships. In the morning of the rest day, NBA superstar NBA superstar Victor "Wemby" Wembanyama played chess against fans in Washington Square Park, even in the rain.

Victor Wembanyama against Chess.com's Dylan Rittman. Photo: Thomas Tischio/Chess.com
Victor Wembanyama against Chess.com's Dylan Rittman. Photo: Thomas Tischio/Chess.com.

Buffalo Bills Wide Receiver Mack Hollins came to watch the first day of Blitz.

"I've really come to love chess a lot," said Mack Hollins. Photo: Wichal Walusza/FIDE.

As the game grows, it's exciting to see what other professional athletes, and stars of all kinds, show an interest in our beloved game.

That wraps up our coverage of the 2024 FIDE Rapid & Blitz Championships, and with that the year 2024! We wish all our readers a Happy New Year and may we see great chess in the year 2025.

How to rewatch?
You can rewatch the tournaments on Chess24's YouTube or Twitch channels. You can also revisit the action with GM Hikaru Nakamura's recaps on YouTube and his stream on Kick. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.

GM Jan Gustafsson and FM James Canty III hosted the broadcast on the final day.

The 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships decided the world champions of rapid and blitz chess in Open and Women's sections. For the rapid championships, the Open was a 13-round Swiss; the Women's was an 11-round Swiss. The time control for both tournaments was 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The Blitz championships were the same number of rounds followed by a Knockout played by the top-eight finishers, with a time control of 3+2 for all games. The prize fund was $1.5 million.

Previous Coverage

AnthonyLevin
NM Anthony Levin

NM Anthony Levin caught the chess bug at the "late" age of 18 and never turned back. He earned his national master title in 2021, actually the night before his first day of work at Chess.com.

Anthony, who also earned his Master's in teaching English in 2018, taught English and chess in New York schools for five years and strives to make chess content accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages. At Chess.com, he writes news articles and manages social media for chess24.

Email:  [email protected]

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