The FIDE World Rapid Team Championship is a team tournament in chess, played under rapid time controls and organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in collaboration with WR Logistics GmbH. The first tournament took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from August 26 to 28, 2023.[1]
The 2023 edition consisted only of a rapid section, with no blitz section.
The FIDE World Rapid Team Championship followed the Swiss system with 12 rounds. The tournament rules required each team to include at least one female player and at least one player who had not achieved a FIDE Standard, Rapid, or Blitz Rating of 2000 Elo points or was unrated.[2]
The list of participants of the championship included former world champions, such as Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Hou Yifan, Mariya Muzychuk and Alexandra Kosteniuk, as well as World Championships runners-ups, World Cup winners, and former world champions in rapid and blitz chess.[3]
Approximately 300 participants worldwide, including over 15 Olympic champions, formed up 36 teams to compete.[4]
| Achievement | Player | Team | Rating, Rapid (Aug 1, 2023)[5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former worldchampions inclassical chess[6] | Viswanathan Anand | Freedom | 2751 | |
| Vladimir Kramnik | Chess pensioners | 2739 | ||
| Hou Yifan | WR Chess | 2537 | ||
| Alexandra Kosteniuk | WR Chess | 2523 | ||
| Mariya Muzychuk | Ashdod Elit Chess Club | 2470 | ||
| WorldChampionshipsrunners-up | Ian Nepomniachtchi | WR Chess | 2762 | |
| Fabiano Caruana | Kompetenzakademie Allstars | 2763 | ||
| Boris Gelfand | Rishon LeZion Chess Club | 2619 | ||
| World Cupwinners[7] | Levon Aronian | Kompetenzakademie Allstars | 2763 | |
| Peter Svidler | Chess pensioners | 2737 | ||
| Jan-Krzysztof Duda | WR Chess | 2760 | ||
| 2022 Women'sWorld BlitzChampion[8] | Bibisara Assaubayeva | Uzbekistan | 2432 | |
| Former worldchampions in rapid[9] | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | WR Chess | 2724 | |
| Daniil Dubov | Freedom | 2723 | ||
| Former worldchampions in blitz | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | ASV AlphaEchecs LINZ | 2762 | |
| Alexander Grischuk | ASV AlphaEchecs LINZ | 2724 | ||
| Leinier Dominguez | Chess pensioners | 2705 | ||
| Kateryna Lagno | ASV AlphaEchecs LINZ | 2483 | ||
Prior to the start of the tournament, FIDE pointed out the following teams as some of the strongest and clear favorites, due to the squad experience and average team rating[10]
The FIDE World Rapid Team Championship adopted a team-based Swiss tournament format. Teams, consisting of six to nine players, competed against each other in 15-minute games with an increment of 10 seconds per move. The scoring system awarded teams with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss in each round. The team with the highest amount of match points at the end of the tournament was crowned as the World Team Rapid Champion.
The championship offered a total prize fund of €250,000. In case of a tie, the prize money would be shared equally among the tied teams.[10] [11] [12]
| Place | Team prize | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | €100,000 | |
| 2nd | €60,000 | |
| 3rd | €40,000 | |
| 4th | €25,000 | |
| 5th | €12,500 | |
| 1st "Under 2400" | €12,500 | |
| Total | €250,000 |
The tournament spanned over three days.[5]
| Date | Event | Start time |
|---|---|---|
| August 26 | Technical meeting | 10:30 |
| Opening ceremony | 13:00 | |
| Round 1 | 13:30 | |
| Round 2 | 15:30 | |
| Round 3 | 17:30 | |
| Round 4 | 19:30 | |
| August 27 | Round 5 | 13:30 |
| Round 6 | 15:30 | |
| Round 7 | 17:30 | |
| Round 8 | 19:30 | |
| August 28 | Round 9 | 13:30 |
| Round 10 | 15:30 | |
| Round 11 | 17:30 | |
| Round 12 | 19:30 | |
| Closing ceremony | 21:00 |
With a record of two draws and ten wins out of 12 matches, the inaugural FIDE World Rapid Team Championship was claimed by the team WR Chess. Securing a total of 22 matchpoints, they emerged victorious. In the second position was team Freedom with 20 matchpoints, while team MGD1 secured the third spot with 18 match points. The fourth place was clinched by Team Armenia, while a surprising fifth place was attained by Team Germany and Friends.[2] [13]
In the crucial Round 5, team WR Chess defeated the first-ranked team Freedom with a distinguished score of 5:1. While Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Praggnanandhaa, Hou Yifan, and Wadim Rosenstein won their games, Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew their matches versus Vishy Anand and Daniil Dubov, respectively.[2] [13]
The dynamic squad, Columbus Energy KingsOfChess from Kraków, earned the top spot in the under-2400 rating category. Additionally, the eleven-year-old prodigy Christian Glöckler from Hesse won the special prize for the best game by a young player. Ranked fifth globally in his age group, Glöckler showcased his immense talent, adding to the achievements of German chess.[2] [13]
| Team | Games | M. Pts | TB1 | TB2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WR Chess | 12 | 22 | 702 | 51 | |
| 2 | Freedom | 12 | 20 | 582.5 | 46.5 | |
| 3 | Team MGD1 | 12 | 18 | 628.5 | 47.5 | |
| 4 | Armenia | 12 | 17 | 544.5 | 44 | |
| 5 | Germany and Friends | 12 | 15 | 533 | 39.5 | |
| 6 | ASV AlphaEchecs Linz | 12 | 14 | 549 | 45 | |
| 7 | Columbus Energy KingsOfChess Kraków | 12 | 14 | 482 | 41.5 | |
| 8 | Berlin Chess Federation | 12 | 14 | 449.5 | 37.5 | |
| 9 | Six-pack | 12 | 13 | 497 | 39.5 | |
| 10 | Chess Pensioners | 12 | 13 | 485.5 | 37.5 | |
| 11 | KompetenzakademieAllstars | 12 | 13 | 473 | 41 | |
| 12 | Chessbrah OFM | 12 | 13 | 465.5 | 43 | |
| 13 | Ashdod Elit Chess Club | 12 | 13 | 448 | 37.5 | |
| 14 | FIDE Management Board | 12 | 13 | 425 | 38.5 | |
| 15 | Düsseldorfer Schachklub 1914/25 e.V. | 12 | 13 | 414 | 39.5 | |
| 16 | Team Chessemy.com | 12 | 13 | 356 | 35 | |
| 17 | Rishon LeZion Chess Club | 12 | 12 | 451 | 40.5 | |
| 18 | Schachverein Hemer | 12 | 12 | 364 | 34.5 | |
| 19 | Doppelbauer Kiel | 12 | 12 | 353.5 | 37 | |
| 20 | The Sharks | 12 | 12 | 353 | 36 | |
| 21 | Kenya Commercial Bank Chess Club | 12 | 12 | 284 | 37 | |
| 22 | Chess Wizzards | 12 | 12 | 268 | 37 | |
| 23 | Mitropa Chess Association | 12 | 12 | 249.5 | 36.5 | |
| 24 | Blerickse Schaakvereniging | 12 | 12 | 230.5 | 35 | |
| 25 | Deutsche Schachjugend 1 | 12 | 11 | 336.5 | 31 | |
| 26 | Ukrainian Amators | 12 | 11 | 302.5 | 29.5 | |
| 27 | Wensing & Pöbel | 12 | 11 | 286 | 31 | |
| 28 | Aachener Schachverein von 1856 | 12 | 11 | 274 | 33.5 | |
| 29 | PhileKhoob Chess Club | 12 | 11 | 257.5 | 36 | |
| 30 | Africa | 12 | 10 | 338.5 | 33.5 | |
| 31 | Heilbronn Hustlers | 12 | 10 | 289.5 | 33.5 | |
| 32 | École Polytechnique Française de Lausanne | 12 | 8 | 244 | 34 | |
| 33 | Neustadt Weinstraße | 12 | 6 | 190 | 27.5 | |
| 34 | MagdeBurg and Friends | 12 | 6 | 141.5 | 22 | |
| 35 | Deutsche Schachjugend 2 | 12 | 2 | 58 | 10 | |
| 36 | Unischach Bayreuth | 12 | 1 | 148.5 | 17 |
The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships 2024 is a tournament for rapid and blitz chess among club teams, 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.
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.
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 |
Before the championship, based on achievements and the average ratings of team participants in rapid, FIDE identified the following teams as favorites:
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.
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 |
The tournament lasted four days.
| Date | Event | Rounds | Time | |
| August 1 | Opening Ceremony | -|20:00|-|August 2|Technical Meeting|- | 11:00 | |
| World Rapid Team Championship | Round 1 | 14:30 | ||
| Round 2 | 16:10 | |||
| Round 3 | 17:50 | |||
| Round 4 | 19:30 | |||
| August 3 | Round 5 | 14:30 | ||
| Round 6 | 16:10 | |||
| Round 7 | 17:50 | |||
| Round 8 | 19:30 | |||
| August 4 | Round 9 | 14:30 | ||
| Round 10 | 16:10 | |||
| Round 11 | 17:50 | |||
| Round 12 | 19:30 | |||
| August 5 | World Blitz Team Championship – Group Stage | Round 1 | 11:00 | |
| Round 2 | 11:20 | |||
| Round 3 | 11:40 | |||
| Round 4 | 12:00 | |||
| Round 5 | 12:20 | |||
| Round 6 | 12:40 | |||
| Round 7 | 13:00 | |||
| World Blitz Team Championship – Knockout Phase | Round of 16 | 15:00 | ||
| Quarterfinals | 16:30 | |||
| Semifinals | 18:00 | |||
| Final | 19:30 |
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 |
Gold Medalists by Board:
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, Vadim 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Round of 16:
Quarterfinals:
Semifinals:
Final:
As with the rapid tournament, the top three players on all nine boards were awarded prizes.
Gold Medalists by Board: