FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2024: Schedule, venue and everything else you need to know

Only a couple of weeks ago Dommaraju Gukesh clinched a historic World Chess Championship title in Singapore . Now, it’s time for the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships, to determine the champion of the two quicker formats of chess. While Gukesh will give this tournament a miss , there are several other Indians in action, including Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Divya Deskhmukh and Koneru Humpy.

From the format to the schedule, key players and more, here’s all you need to know about the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships.

What is the format of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships?

Both the World Rapid and Blitz Championships will have 13 rounds in the open section and 11 rounds in the women’s section. The Rapid Championships follow a Swiss system. This means that the players do not get ousted after losses, and instead, they would be paired again in each round, where they will take on opponents with similar scores.

The player who scores most points in each of the two categories is determined the winner. While the Blitz Championships have the same number of rounds as the Rapid tournament, there is a Stage 2 after the completion of the rounds. The top eight players after each round make it to Stage 2, which is a knockout round, which will eventually determine a winner when there are just two players remaining.

As far as time controls are concerned, in rapid format, each player will have a time control of 15 minutes, with a 10-second increment per move. For Blitz, every player will have a time control for three minutes with two-second increment.

Who are the Indians competing at the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships

Arjun Erigaisi will lead a strong Indian contingent at the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York. Erigaisi received his US visa only a couple of days ago . R Praggananandhaa is another Indian who is a strong title contender in the open section. Koneru Humpy, Duvya Deshmukh, Vantija Agarwal, D Harika and others headline the women’s section. Viswanathan Anand has won the World Rapid Championships twice whereas Koneru Humpy has won the same tournament once.

Let’s now take a look at the complete Indian lineup for the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships

India Open team: Arjun Erigaisi, Raunak Sadhwani, R Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram, Sandipan Chanda,  Harsha Bharathakoti, Pranav, Bharath Subramaniyam, Karthik Venkataraman, Diptayan Ghosh.

India Women team: Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh, D Harika, Vantika Agrawal, R Vaishali, Sahithi Varshini, Priyanka Nutakki, Padmini Rout.

2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships schedule (All times IST)

World Rapid Championship schedule

26 December/27 December

11/30 pm: Opening

12.30 am: Round 1

1.50 am: Round 2

3.10 am: Round 3

4.30 am: Round 4

5.50 am: Round 5

28 December

12.30 am: Round 6

1.50 am: Round 7

3.10 am: Round 8

4.30 am: Round 9

29 December

12.30 am: Round 10

1.50 am: Round 11

3.10 am: Round 12

4.30 am: Round 13

World Blitz Championship schedule

31 December

12.30 am: Round 1

1.00 am: Round 2

1.30 am: Round 3

2.00 am: Round 4

2.30 am: Round 5

3.00 am: Round 6

3.30 am: Round 7

4.00 am: Round 8

4.30 am: Round 9

5.00 am: Round 10

5.30 am: Round 11

6.00 am: Round 12

6.30 am: Round 13

1 January, 2025

12.30 am: Quarterfinals

2.00 am: Semifinals

3.30 am: Final

Women’s World Rapid Championships schedule

26/27 December

11.30 pm: Opening

12.45 am: Round 1

2.05 am: Round 2

3.25 am: Round 3

4.45 am: Round 4

28 December

12.45 am: Round 5

2.05 am: Round 6

3.25 am: Round 7

4.45 am: Round 8

29 December

12.45 am: Round 9

2.05 am: Round 10

3.25 am: Round 11

Women’s World Blitz Championships schedule

31 December

12.45 am: Round 1

1.15 am: Round 2

1.45 am: Round 3

2.15 am: Round 4

2.45 am: Round 5

3.15 am: Round 6

3.45 am: Round 7

4.15 am: Round 8

4.45 am: Round 9

5.15 am: Round 10

5.45 am: Round 11

12:30 am: Quarterfinals

2:00 am: Semifinals

3:30 am: Final

Where and where will the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship take place? 

The 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship take place will take place from 26 December to 31 December at Wall Street, New York.

How can I watch the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship

Fans can watch the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship games on the official FIDE YouTube channel. However, there won’t be any telecast of the games on TV.