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 tournament took place in Dusseldorf, Germany, from August 26 to 28, 2023.[1]
Overview
The FIDE World Rapid Team Championship followed the Swiss system with 12 rounds. The tournament rules ensured inclusivity, diversity, and fair representation by requiring each team to include at least one female player, and at least one player in each team, who has not achieved a FIDE Standard, Rapid, or Blitz Rating of 2000 Elo points or be unrated.[2]
Participants
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Former world
champions in classical 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 | |
| World
Championships runners-up[6] |
Ian Nepomniachtchi | WR Chess | 2762 |
| Fabiano Caruana | Kompetenzakademie
Allstars |
2763 | |
| Boris Gelfand | Rishon LeZion
Chess Club |
2619 | |
| World Cup
winners[7] |
Levon Aronian | Kompetenzakademie
Allstars |
2763 |
| Peter Svidler | Chess pensioners | 2737 | |
| Jan-Krzysztof Duda | WR Chess | 2760 | |
| 2022 Women’s
World Blitz Champion[8] |
Bibisara Assaubayeva | Uzbekistan | 2432 |
| Former world
champions in rapid[9] |
Nodirbek Abdusattorov | WR Chess | 2724 |
| Daniil Dubov | Freedom | 2723 | |
| Former world
champions in blitz[8] |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | ASV AlphaEchecs LINZ | 2762 |
| Alexander Grischuk | ASV AlphaEchecs LINZ | 2724 | |
| Leinier Dominguez | Chess pensioners | 2705 | |
| Kateryna Lagno | ASV AlphaEchecs LINZ | 2483 | |
Favorites and standouts
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]
- Freedom (Richard Rapport, Viswanathan Anand, Daniil Dubov, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Evgeniy Najer, Polina Shuvalova, Alexander Shapiro);[4]
- WR Chess (Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa R, Hou Yifan, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Wadim Rosenstein);[4]
- Kompetenzakademie Allstars (Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Gukesh D, Sebastian Siebrecht, Nino Batsiashvili, Keti Tsatsalashvili, Rainer Becker, Manfred Schneider);[4]
- Chess Pensioners (Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, Leinier Dominguez, Darmen Sadvakasov, Jovanka Houska, Kristof Barati, Dennis Koenig, Miron Ananiev, Yaroslav Ananiev).[4]
Format and rules
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.[2]
Prize fund
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 |
Schedule
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 |
Results
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 |
References
- ↑ International Chess Federation (FIDE), 2023. Inaugural World Rapid Team Championship: Registration open for all. Available at: https://www.fide.com/news/2354]
- 1 2 3 4 5 International Chess Federation (FIDE), n.d. Regulations for the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship 2023. Available at: https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WRTC2023Regulations.pdf [Accessed on August 05, 2023]
- ↑ ChessBase, 2023. Star-studded World Team Rapid Chess Championship. Available at: https://en.chessbase.com/post/star-studded-world-team-rapid-chess-championship
- 1 2 3 4 5 Chess-Results.com, n.d. 2023 World Rapid Team Championship. Available at: https://chess-results.com/tnr802387.aspx [Accessed on August 16, 2023]
- 1 2 International Chess Federation (FIDE), n.d. Top chess players. Available at: https://ratings.fide.com/ [Accessed on August 1, 2023].
- 1 2 Green, N., 2023. All The World Chess Champions. Available at: https://www.chess.com/article/view/world-chess-champions
- ↑ McGourty, C., 2021. Jan-Krzysztof Duda wins the FIDE World Cup. Available at: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/jan-krzysztof-duda-wins-the-fide-world-cup
- 1 2 Harding, T., 2016. A Brief History of Fast Chess. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20170103172317/https://worldchess.com/2016/12/25/a-brief-history-of-fast-chess/
- ↑ International Chess Federation (FIDE), 2016. The winners of FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships. Available at: https://old.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/9975-the-winners-of-fide-world-rapid-a-blitz-championships.html
- 1 2 International Chess Federation (FIDE), 2023. Düsseldorf hosts the inaugural World Team Rapid Championship. [Online] Available at: https://www.fide.com/news/2548
- ↑ Schach in Deutschland, 2023. FIDE World Rapid Team Championship in Düsseldorf: Freiwillige gesucht! - Deutscher Schachbund. Available at: https://www.schachbund.de/news/fide-world-rapid-team-championship-in-duesseldorf-freiwillige-gesucht.html [Accessed on August 16, 2023]
- ↑ English Chess Federation, 2023. World Rapid Team Championship. Available at: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/new-world-rapid-team-championship [Accessed on August 16, 2023]
- 1 2 3 International Chess Federation (FIDE), 2023. WR Chess triumphs as inaugural FIDE World Rapid Team Champions. Available at: https://www.fide.com/news/2616