The International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2024 was held from 26th December to 31st December 2024 in Wall Street, New York, United States of America (USA).Five world champions claimed titles across different categories in this tournament for the year 2024.
- Women’s World Rapid Championship – India’s Koneru Humpy won the women’s championship title with 8.5 points after defeating Indonesia’s Irene Sukandar in the finals.
- World Rapid Championship – In the open section, 18-year-old Russian Volodar Murzin won the World Rapid Championship.
- Blitz Championship – Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi shared the title with after both players after 3 tie breaking matches.
- Blitz women’s category, China’s Ju Wenjun won the blitz title after defeating Lei Tingjie (China) in the finals while Vaishali Rameshbabu (2.5 points) won a bronze.
Note:
- Open Tournaments: The total prize money is USD 1 Million (Rs.8.5 crore), and the winner receives USD 90,000.
- Women’s Tournaments: The total prize money is USD 428,500 (Rs.3.6 crore), and the winner receives USD 60,000.
Key Highlights:
i.This marks Koneru Humpy’s 2nd World Rapid Championship title, her first being in 2019 in Georgia. She is the only player besides China’s Ju Wenjun to win the title more than once.
- She had won a bronze medal in the 2012 edition of the Rapid Chess Championship in Moscow and a silver in 2024 at Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
- China’s Ju Wenjun secured the 2nd spot while Russia’s Kateryna Lagno won the 3rd position.
ii.Murzinhas become the second-youngest FIDE World Rapid Champion, after Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), who claimed the title at 17.
- Russian chess players Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi, both secured on 9.5 points securing 2nd and 3rd spots.
- India’s Arjun Erigaisi finished at the 5th spot with 9 points.
iii.Under the Blitz section, this was the first Blitz title won by Ian Nepomniachtchi.
- Earlier he had won silver medals in the 2013, 2015, and 2021 World Rapid championships, the 2014 World Blitz championship, the 2022 World Fischer Random championship, and secured second positions in the 2021 and 2023 Classical World championships.
iv.This win was Carlsen’s eighth Blitz title (earlier won in 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023) and 18th major championship triumph.
- He already is a five-time World Chess Champion (won in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021) and a five-time World Rapid Chess Champion (won in 2014, 2015, 2019, 2022, 2023).
Winners
Rapid Chess title
| Open Section | Women’s Section | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Winner | Points | Rank | Winner | Points |
| 1 | Volodar Murzin (Russia) | 10 | 1 | Koneru Humpy (India) | 8.5 |
| 2 | Alexander Grischuk (Russia) | 9.5 | 2 | Ju Wenjun (China) | 8 |
| 3 | Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) | 9.5 | 3 | Kateryna Lagno (Russia) | 8 |
Blitz Chess title
| Open Section | Women’s Section | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Winner | Points | Rank | Winner | Points |
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) | 3.5 | 1 | Ju Wenjun (China) | 3.5 |
| 2 | Wesley So (United States of America) | 2 | 2 | Lei Tingjie (China) | 2.5 |
| 3 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) | 0 | 3 | Vaishali Rameshbabu (India) | 1.5 |
