Chess personalities: who will win the Rapid and Blitz World Championships

On New Year's Eve, the traditional and one of the most prestigious tournaments in the chess calendar, the Rapid and Blitz World Championships, which are hosted by Doha this time, will start. A powerful delegation from our country will travel to Qatar — 47 people, including reigning champions Volodar Murzin and Yan Nepomnyashchy, as well as other titled grandmasters who won gold medals at this World Cup in different years: Alexander Grischuk, Ekaterina Lagno, Valentina Gunina, Daniil Dubov and Anastasia Bodnaruk. The chances of our grandmasters to repeat last year's super successes can be found in the Izvestia article.

The main start

At the end of 2024, our chess players made a splash at the Rapid and Blitz World Championships, which were held in New York. Volodar Murzin continued a pleasant tradition when, on the eve of the New Year holidays, a representative of Russian chess makes a big sensation at the Rapid World Cup. In 2023, Anastasia Bodnaruk was seeded only at number 51, but she was able to win the main rapid chess tournament of the year, beating the famous Hampi Konera in a dramatic tiebreak (the representative of India won her second title in 2024). Murzin, who had the 59th position in the starting list, took a clean first place, scoring 10 points out of 13. During the tournament, he managed to beat such world chess leaders as Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Jan Krzysztof Duda and Rameshbaba Pragnanandha.

Compatriots Alexander Grischuk and Yan Nepomnyashchy were half a point behind Volodar (Yan beat Samuel Sevyan in the last round and moved from seventh to third place). Additional figures brought Grischuk a silver medal and $70,000, Nepomnyashchy a bronze and $56,000. Murzin earned $90 thousand for the first place. However, the most important thing is the title, which will forever leave his name in the history of chess. As well as the entire Russian podium (never before have representatives of one country won three prizes at the rapid or Blitz World Championships).

This time, the Russians have a good chance of success again. In addition to last year's top three medalists, it is worth noting Vladislav Artemyev (world number 11), who missed last year's World Cup due to visa problems, Daniil Dubov (won the Rapid World Cup in 2019) and Andrey Esipenko. The latter entered the 2026 Candidates Tournament, taking third place at the 2025 World Cup. In India, Andrey won many important games in short control.

— No, I don't have a feeling that it will be great to perform in Qatar, — Andrey Yesipenko told Izvestia. — To be honest, I never have it. I didn't have any experience before the World Cup either — I didn't feel like it was my tournament at all. So I will play in Qatar with the same mindset as in India. Enjoy the game, and we'll see along the way.

However, our other players can also shoot. From the experienced Dmitry Andreikin and Maxim Matlakov to the young Artem Uskov, Savva Vetokhin, Ivan Zemlyansky. We will pay special attention to 10-year-old Roman Shogdjieff, for whom this will be the second Rapid and Blitz World Championships.

— For me, this is always the most important tournament of the year, — said Alexander Grischuk. — Or at least one of the most important ones.

At the Women's World Cup last year, Ekaterina Lagno was on the podium (third place) half a point behind the winner, Koneru (the reigning world champion in classical control, Ju Wenjun, finished second in terms of additional indicators). Ekaterina took another bronze medal at the Blitz World Cup. The title was won by Chinese women, Ju Wenjun and Lei Tingjie. The more experienced Tszyu outplayed her teammate with a score of 3.5:2:5.

It should be noted that last year the blitz champions were determined for the first time using the knockout system (this year FIDE retained this format). At the end of the first day, only eight players qualified for the second day. And if there were no surprises for the women, then the men's Blitz World Cup went down in history.

Who's the favorite

Yan Nepomnyashchy finished first on the first day. Ten chess players scored 9.5 points each, but Daniel Naroditsky and Daniil Dubov did not qualify for the playoffs.

In the quarterfinals of the open tournament, Nepomniachtchy beat his compatriot Volodar Murzin (2.5:0.5), Wesley So was stronger than Alireza Firuji (3:1), Jan-Krzysztof Duda defeated Fabiano Caruana (2.5:0.5), and Magnus Carlsen beat Hans Niemann with great difficulty (2.5:1.5). After a measured draw in the first game, Hans confidently defeated Magnus in the second, after which Carlsen had to perform a small athletic feat by winning the remaining two games. In the semifinals, Magnus easily beat Duda (3-0), but Nepomnyashchy and So had a dramatic match, which was decided in favor of the Russian in a tie-break.

The decisive confrontation seemed to be developing according to the most predictable scenario. Magnus casually won the opening two games and was half an inch away from his eighth title and third in a row. However, the Russian grandmaster managed to turn the tide of the fight and do the almost impossible — to win two games in a row against the world's strongest chess player (number one in all ratings) and even the score.

According to the rules of the tie-break, the chess players had to play until the first successful game — no armageddon was provided in the position this time. After agreeing to a draw in the third game, Magnus suggested discussing the possibility of a mutual championship, which was eventually approved by both Jan and the organizers. Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the World Blitz Championships. Carlsen and Nepomnyashchy became the 2024 World blitz champions together.

After that success, 2025 turned out to be a bad year for Jan. Therefore, it would be very useful to complete it with a triumph in Doha.

— Hikaru Nakamura, the second number of the world ranking, did not come to the tournament this year, — said Magnus Carlsen. — Previously, there were only a few clear favorites, but now, in fact, they are gone, so I don't know who to single out except myself. Perhaps Alireza Firouja, who is in good shape right now. Perhaps Dubov — although I haven't seen him in action for a long time, Daniil has an impressive list of good results. Nihal Sarin can surprise you too. Who knows?

The Norwegian grandmaster also named the favorites in rapid.

"In rapid chess, the tournament is so short and largely random that many people can really win," Magnus continued. — It's hard not to mention Sindarov among the young ones after his recent performances at the World Cup. It may sound bold, but Gukesh can also hold a great tournament (the 18th world champion is currently on the decline). He's stronger in rapid than in blitz.

Nepomnyashchy (the third seed) and Artemyev (the seventh) were among the Russians in the top 10 in the rapid ranking list. The women's winners are Alexandra Goryachkina (third) and Ekaterina Lagno (sixth). Nepomnyashchy (third) in the blitz, Dubov (fourth) in the open tournament. Among the women — Lagno (third), Goryachkina (fourth), Leia Garifullina (10).

The prize fund of the tournament will be just over $ 1 million.