FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships 2024 kick off in Astana
The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships 2024 kicked off at the QazExpo Congress Center in Astana today. The tournament that will run for four days brought together 315 chess players competing in 39 teams, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The FIDE World Rapid Team Championships 2024 that will run through August 4 is held on the Swiss system in 12 rounds with a time control of 15 minutes per game plus a 10-second increment per move.
The Blitz tournament will follow on August 5 and is set to be held in two stages, with the first stage played in a round-robin system in groups featuring 7-8 teams. 16 best teams are to meet in stage two (playoff) to play knockout rounds with a time control of 3+2.
Team vs team matches are set to be played on six boards both in rapid and blitz, including a female player (5th board) and an amateur player with a ranking below 2,000 (6th board).
40% of all the participants of the tournament make up Kazakhstani teams. We have very strong teams, who will fight nobly. For many of the players, this is the only chance to play with the world’s top chess players during this tournament, said Timur Turlov, President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation.
The WR Chess Team will include 16th world chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, former world chess champions Alexandra Kosteniuk of Switzerland and Hou Yifan of China.
The tournament will also feature a Super Grandmasters Quintet made up of world vice champion Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, 44th Chess Olympiad winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa of India, 2021 Chess World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda and 2022 World Championships silver medalist Vincent Keymer of Germany.
Decade China Team features defending world champions Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun, Yu Yangyi and Wei Yi.
Kazakhstan’s team Kazсhess will include two-time blitz world champion Bibisara Assaubayeva, Alisher Suleimenov, Aldiyar Ansat, Darmen Sadvakassov, as well as star guests Shakhdiyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grishchuk, and Petr Svidler.
