World Blitz Chess Championship

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File:Ju Wenjun in 2024 (cropped).jpg
Current Women's World Blitz Champion, Ju Wenjun

The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships. The current world blitz champion title is shared by the Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi. Ju Wenjun from China is the current women's blitz world champion. Magnus Carlsen has held the title a record eight times.

Time controls

Starting in the early 1900s, chess clubs began to play tournaments played at accelerated time controls; these early games usually required a set number of moves from each player within a certain time interval. One of the earliest examples was the local chess club at Hastings, England, where 10 seconds were allowed per move during a blitz tournament held after the 1904 British Chess Championship. By 1950, the time controls had changed to the more familiar 5 minutes per player (now 3 minutes), hence the "5-minute game" moniker. The term "blitz chess" would not be coined until the 1960s.[1]

FIDE-recognized events

FIDE World Blitz Championship (2006–2010)

The first blitz chess tournament to be recognized by FIDE as a "world championship" took place on 6 September 2006 in Rishon Lezion, Israel. Structured as a 16-player round-robin, the tournament featured seven of the world's top 20 Grandmasters, as well as a young Magnus Carlsen. After 15 rounds, Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler finished atop the leaderboard with 10½/15; Grischuk subsequently defeated Svidler with Black in an armageddon game to win the championship.[2] The following year, the tournament (now branded as the FIDE World Blitz Cup) was held in Moscow, Russia following the Tal Memorial tournament and was re-structured as a 20-player double-round robin with a significantly stronger field. After Ukrainian grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk and Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand entered the final round tied on points, Ivanchuk defeated Anand from a disadvantaged position to win the tournament with 25½/38.[3]

In 2008, the championship reverted to a 16-player round-robin. Despite a late charge from the defending champion Ivanchuk, who won seven of the final eight rounds, the tournament was won by Leinier Domínguez, a 25-year-old GM from Cuba who scored 11½/15 to edge out Ivanchuk by a half-point.[4] In 2009, the championship returned to Moscow, where the format was once again switched to a 22-player double round-robin with revised time controls of 3 minutes per player plus a 2-second increment. The event was won by the young Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen, who finished three points clear of the field with 31/42 and went 8/8 against the 2nd through 5th-place finishers.[5]

2010 would prove to be the final year of the event – hosted again in Moscow, the tournament was dubbed the VI World Blitz 2010 and held immediately after the Tal Memorial tournament. Despite losing both his final games, Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian was able to clinch the title with 24½/38, half a point ahead of Teimour Radjabov.[6] In November 2010, a nine-round Swiss tournament was scheduled for February 17, 2011, to serve as a qualifying event for the World Blitz Championship 2011; however, after no bids for the event were made the tournament was eventually cancelled.[7]

Editions and medallists

Year Host city Champion Runner-up Third place
2006 Template:Flagicon Rishon Lezion Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2007 Template:Flagicon Moscow Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2008 Template:Flagicon Almaty Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2009 Template:Flagicon Moscow Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2010 Template:Flagicon Moscow Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete

World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships (since 2012)

On May 31, 2012, FIDE announced the inaugural World Rapid & Blitz Championships, set to take place in Astana, Kazakhstan, from July 1 to 11. The 2012 tournament consisted of a qualifying round, followed by the rapid and blitz events held consecutively over five days. The championship was originally structured as a 16-player round-robin tournament, set to coincide with the first release of FIDE's rapid and blitz ratings in July 2012; invited were the top 9 players in the FIDE ratings list, the defending champion Levon Aronian, the three medalists of the qualification competition, and three wild-card nominees by the organization committee and FIDE.[8] The event has since been changed to a Swiss tournament with a field of over 100 grandmasters. The top three finishers in the standings are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively; tiebreaks are determined by the average rating of opponents.[9]

The World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2020 was postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] It was planned to be held in Kazakhstan in December 2021; however, due to new regulations imposed by the Kazakh government, which would have required many participants to quarantine, the event had to be cancelled again on December 8, 2021. FIDE was considering to either hold the event in Kazakhstan in 2022, or to move it to a different host country.[11] On December 10, 2021, Warsaw, Poland was announced as the new host city, with the tournament taking place from December 25–30, 2021.[12]

Editions and medallists

Open

World Blitz Chess Championships (since 2012)
Year Host city Champion(s) Runner-up Third place
2012 Template:Flagicon Astana Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2013 Template:Flagicon Khanty-Mansiysk Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2014 Template:Flagicon Dubai Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2015 Template:Flagicon Berlin Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2016 Template:Flagicon Doha[13] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2017 Template:Flagicon Riyadh[14] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2018 Template:Flagicon Saint Petersburg Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2019 Template:Flagicon Moscow Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2020 Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Template:Flagicon Warsaw[12] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2022 Template:Flagicon Almaty Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2023 Template:Flagicon Samarkand Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagicon Daniil Dubov[n 1] Template:Font Template:Flagicon Vladislav Artemiev[n 1] Template:Font
2024 Template:Flagicon New York[15] Template:Flagathlete
Template:Flagathlete 		N/A Template:Flagathlete
Template:Flagathlete
2025 Template:Flagicon Doha[16]

Women

Women's World Blitz Chess Championships (since 2012)
Year Host city Champion Runner-up Third place
2012 Template:Flagicon Batumi[17] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2013 Not held
2014 Template:Flagicon Khanty-Mansiysk[18] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2015 Not held
2016 Template:Flagicon Doha[19][13] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2017 Template:Flagicon Riyadh[20][14] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2018 Template:Flagicon Saint Petersburg[21] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2019 Template:Flagicon Moscow Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2020 Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Template:Flagicon Warsaw[12] Template:Flagathlete File:CFR Russia chess simplified flag infobox.svg Alexandra Kosteniuk[n 2] Template:Font File:CFR Russia chess simplified flag infobox.svg Valentina Gunina[n 2] Template:Font
2022 Template:Flagicon Almaty[22] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagicon Polina Shuvalova[n 1] Template:Font
2023 Template:Flagicon Samarkand Template:Flagicon Valentina Gunina[n 1] Template:Font Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete
2024 Template:Flagicon New York[15] Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagathlete Template:Flagicon Kateryna Lagno[n 1] Template:Font
Template:Flagathlete
2025 Template:Flagicon Doha[16]

Other events

Herceg Novi Blitz Tournament of 1970

On 8 April 1970, following the USSR vs. Rest of the World 'Match of the Century' hosted in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, a blitz tournament was held in Herceg Novi, featuring many of the same participants from the match. The event was a 12-player double round-robin, with no tiebreaks and five minutes per player. Featuring four World Champions, the field was considered the strongest of any blitz tournament in modern history. Heading into the event, two-time World Champion Tigran Petrosian was considered the favorite to win the event, with Mikhail Tal and Viktor Korchnoi also enjoying favorable chances.[23]

It was American grandmaster Bobby Fischer, however, who put up a dominant performance, scoring 19/22 to win the tournament by 4½ points. Fischer scored a staggering 8½/10 against the five Soviet grandmasters in attendance, dropping only one game in the entire tournament and frequently gaining huge time advantages. According to one report, Fischer spent no more than 2.5 minutes on any game.[24] At the end of the tournament, Tal – who had been whitewashed by FischerScript error: No such module "Unsubst". – gave his thoughts on the American's performance.

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"I don’t know what Petrosian, Korchnoi, Bronstein, and Smyslov counted on before the start of the tournament, but I expected them to be the most probable rivals for the top prizes. Fischer had until recently played fast chess none too strongly. Now much has changed: he is fine at fast chess. His playing is of the same kind as in tournament games: everything is simple, follows a single pattern, logical, and without any spectacular effects. He makes his moves quickly and practically without errors. Throughout the tournament I think he did not lose a whole set of pieces in this way. Fischer's result is very, very impressive... We had known, of course, that Fischer is one of the strongest chessplayers in the world. He can defeat Petrosyan, Korchnoi, Spassky, and Larsen. Just as they can defeat him."[25]

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Rk Player Rtg Pts
1 Template:Flagathlete 2720 19
2 Template:Flagathlete 2590 14½
3 Template:Flagathlete 2670 14
4 Template:Flagathlete 2650 13½
5 Template:Flagathlete 2570 13
6 Template:Flagathlete 2610 12
7 Template:Flagathlete 2560 10½
8 Template:Flagathlete 2620 9½
9 Template:Flagathlete 2590 8½
10 Template:Flagathlete 2570 8
11 Template:Flagathlete 2570 7½
12 Template:Flagathlete NR 2

1988 World Blitz Championship

Following the Candidates' matches for the 1988 cycle, a World Blitz Championship was hosted in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on 19 February 1988. The event was a 32-player single-elimination tournament, with pairings determined by best-of-four matches. The field was headlined by long-time rivals Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, with the former considered the favorite to win the tournament. Notable participants included:

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  1. Template:Flagathlete, 2750
  2. Template:Flagathlete, 2715
  3. Template:Flagathlete, 2630
  4. Template:Flagathlete, 2625
  5. Template:Flagathlete, 2625
  6. Template:Flagathlete, 2620
  7. Template:Flagathlete, 2595
  8. Template:Flagathlete, 2595
  9. Template:Flagathlete, 2595
  10. Template:Flagathlete, 2585
  11. Template:Flagathlete, 2580
  12. Template:Flagathlete, 2560
  13. Template:Flagathlete, 2560
  14. Template:Flagathlete, 2550
  15. Template:Flagathlete, 2540
  16. Template:Flagathlete, 2535
  17. Template:Flagathlete, 2530
  18. Template:Flagathlete, 2525
  19. Template:Flagathlete, 2510
  20. Template:Flagathlete, 2505
  21. Template:Flagathlete, 2505
  22. Template:Flagathlete, 2495
  23. Template:Flagathlete, 2495
  24. Template:Flagathlete, 2480

Former world champion Anatoly Karpov fell out of contention for the championship in just the second round, after dropping his first two games against fellow Soviet grandmaster Alexander Chernin. Reigning world champion Garry Kasparov steamed ahead into the quarterfinals but lost momentum after missing an elementary mate in two against Bulgarian grandmaster Kiril Georgiev, instead blundering stalemate;[26] a stunned Kasparov was subsequently knocked out of the tournament. In the final, Mikhail Tal clinched the championship with a 3½–½ victory over Armenian grandmaster Rafael Vaganian.[27][28]

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Mikhail Tal, the 51-year-old former World Champion, breezed through the final rounds with 5½/6. Joining him in the finals was Rafael Vaganian, who survived a controversial semifinal against Kiril Georgiev; the Armenian nearly punched his clock after making an illegal move in Game 2, an accusation that was eventually refuted after match officials resorted to a video review and found that Vaganian's hand had stopped just short of touching the clock. The final was a one-sided affair, with Tal repeatedly utilizing exchange sacrifices to find winning combinations; down 3–0 after three games, Vaganian offered his hand in the 4th game to concede the match to Tal. After the match, Tal claimed he took the event "none too seriously"; he chain-smoked throughout the tournament, and his "preparation" for the semifinal match against Chernin reportedly consisted of a double scotch.[29][30]

1988 World Blitz Championship – Final
Name Rating 1 2 3 4 Total
Template:Flagathlete 2630 1 1 1 ½ 3½
Template:Flagathlete 2625 0 0 0 ½ ½

2000 World Blitz Chess Cup

The Plus GSM World Blitz Cup was a 367-player Swiss-system tournament held in Warsaw, Poland, on 9 January 2000. Hosted at the Warsaw Polonia Chess Club, the event consisted of 11 rounds, with each match comprising two 5-minute games for a total of 22 games per player. Indian grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand, the tournament's No. 1 seed, triumphed over a strong field that included 70 Grandmasters[31] and nine of the world's top-20 ranked players with a 17½/22 score. Anand's run saw him pick up 14 wins, 7 draws, and only 1 loss, highlighted by a 43-move win with the black pieces against Anatoly Karpov.[32] The tournament's sponsor, Plus GSM, set aside a $30,500 prize fund for the event as well as Nokia mobile communicators to be given to the top four finishers and the two top Polish players.[33][34]

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Rk Player Rtg Pts TB1 TB2 TB3
1 Template:Flagathlete 2769 17½ 137½ 166 114½
2 Template:Flagathlete 2692 17 136½ 166 110
3 Template:Flagathlete 2696 17 136 164 114½
4 Template:Flagathlete 2660 17 132½ 160½ 108
5 Template:Flagathlete 2709 17 132 160 105½
6 Template:Flagathlete 2715 17 129 154 102½
7 Template:Flagathlete 2667 17 125½ 152½ 104
8 Template:Flagathlete 2670 16½ 134½ 164 107½
9 Template:Flagathlete 2597 16½ 133 160 105½
10 Template:Flagathlete 2672 16½ 132½ 162 107½
11 Template:Flagathlete 2751 16½ 132½ 160 109½
12 Template:Flagathlete 2509 16½ 128½ 157½ 101
13 Template:Flagathlete 2469 16½ 128 156 104
14 Template:Flagathlete 2618 16½ 125½ 153 99
15 Template:Flagathlete 2528 16½ 125½ 149½ 102
16 Template:Flagathlete 2477 16½ 122 150½ 103
17 Template:Flagathlete 2677 16 134½ 161 105
18 Template:Flagathlete 2606 16 124 152½ 104
19 Template:Flagathlete 2465 16 123 150½ 96½
20 Template:Flagathlete 2494 16 123 149 101½

Records

Titles (open)

Most Times Champion (including 1970, 1988 and 2000 events)
Times won Player Year(s)
8 Template:Flagathlete 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 (shared)
3 Template:Flagathlete 2006, 2012, 2015
1 Template:Flagathlete 1970
Template:Flagathlete 1988
Template:Flagathlete 2000
Template:Flagathlete 2007
Template:Flagathlete 2008
Template:Flagathlete 2010
Template:Flagathlete 2013
Template:Flagathlete 2016
Template:Flagathlete 2021
Template:Flagathlete 2024 (shared)

Titles (women)

Most Times Champion (including 1992 and 2010 events)
Titles won Player Year(s)
3 Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Kateryna Lagno Template:Font 2010, 2018, 2019
2 Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Anna Muzychuk Template:Font 2014, 2016
Template:Flagathlete 2021, 2022
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Valentina Gunina[n 1] Template:Font 2012, 2023
1 Template:Flagathlete 1992
Template:Flagathlete 2017
Template:Flagathlete 2024

See also

Notes

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  1. ↑ a b c d e f Dubov, Artemiev, Nepomniachtchi, Shuvalova, Gunina and Lagno are Russians, but they competed under the FIDE flag due to the organization's ban of the Russian and Belarusian flags as part of its response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  2. ↑ a b Kosteniuk and Gunina are Russians, but they competed under the Chess Federation of Russia flag, due to WADA sanctions against Russia.

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References

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  15. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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