Everything is ready in Astana for a spectacular five-day chess event where top world players and amateurs will play side by side for the titles of World Rapid and World Blitz Team champions

“We have been preparing this event for a while and are very grateful for the support we have had from Freedom Holding Corp., KazChess, and local organizers here in Kazakhstan. With elite international players and non-professionals in each team, this promises to be a very exciting and dramatic event for the chess world,” said Pavel Tregubov, tournament director.

Altogether, 350 players representing 39 teams are taking part. Leading the lineup are world champion Ding Liren and top-rated player Magnus Carlsen. The competition also includes current and former Open and Women’s world champions in different categories and many of the world’s strongest players, all vying for a prize fund of €350,000.

The event will be broadcast live on FIDE’s YouTube channel, and the competition schedule can be found here.

The Top Teams

Last year’s winners, WR Chess, return with an even stronger lineup. Featuring three former world champions - Magnus Carlsen, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Hou Yifan (pictured below) - as well as two-time world champion candidate Ian Nepomniachtchi and Polish superstar Jan-Krzysztof Duda, they are the favorites. Captained by German GM Jan Gustafsson, the team includes former World Rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, and German talent Vincent Keymer, with non-professional player Wadim Rosenstein.

Photo: Niki Riga

Challenging WR Chess is the team of Chessy, captained by GM Emil Sutovsky. Their roster includes top players Richard Rapport, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Alexey Sarana, Jorden Van Foreest, and top women players Anna Muzychuk and Humpy Koneru.

The third top-rated team is ALAIN ACMG from the UAE, featuring Daniil Dubov (pictured below), Vladislav Artemiev, Parham Maghsoodloo, Dmitry Andreikin, Kateryna Lagno, and Zhu Jiner.

Photo: Lennart Ootes

Last year’s third-place winners, the Indian team of MGD1, return with strong players like Arjun Erigaisi, S L Narayanan, Raunak Sadhwani, and Harika Dronavalli.

The all-Chinese “Decade China Team” boasts World Champion Ding Liren (pictured below), along with 2700+ GMs Wei Yi, Wang Yue, Yu Yangyi, and women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun.

Photo: Stev Bonhage

Other notable participants include super GMs Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Nihal Sarin, Andrei Volokitin, Nigel Short, Zhu Chen, and Victor Bologan. Hans Niemann will play for “GMHans.com”, while “ROYAL CHESS” features all the stars from the young Uzbek Olympic gold-winning team, excluding Abdusattorov.

The full list of registered teams and players can be found – here.

 Championship Format and Regulations

The World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship will consist of two tournaments played over five days.

Teams can be composed of club members, members of different federations, or other chess players. Each team shall consist of six to nine players, including at least one female player and one recreational player who has never achieved a FIDE rating of 2000 Elo points or higher.

Rapid (August 2-4)

· 12-round Swiss tournament

· Time control: 15 minutes with a 10-second increment per move from move one

Blitz (August 5-6)

· Pool stage: Round-robin tournament, no more than seven rounds

·  Knockout stage: Knockout tournament for the top 16 teams

·  Time control: Three minutes with a two-second increment per move from move one

Matches are scored by match points: two points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero for a loss. The team with the highest match points will be declared the winner.

 The venue

The event will take place at the QAZEXPO Congress Center – the main congressional center in Astana. Opened in 2017, it is used for holding international forums, conferences, official events, as well as sports and cultural events.

Photo: qazexpocongress.kz/

Detailed regulations for the event can be found – here.

Website of the event: World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship 2024 (fide.com)
 

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