Holiday blitz: New York to host world's strongest chess championship
FIDE announces the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships will be held in New York City from December 25 to 30. The event is going to feature a record-breaking lineup of international chess stars, Kazinform News Agency reports.
The Rapid Championship (December 26–28) features 15-minute games across 13 Open and 11 Women’s rounds. The Blitz Championship begins on December 30 with 3-minute games and concludes on December 31 with knockout quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
According to the organization, over 300 participants have already registered, including 180 in the Open section and 109 in the Women’s section, with more names expected to join.
Magnus Carlsen, the world’s highest-rated player and former classical World Champion, leads the Open competition as the top seed. He is joined by three former World Championship challengers: current U.S. champion Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, and Israel’s Boris Gelfand. The U.S. will field a strong contingent, including Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, and Levon Aronian, alongside Grandmasters from India, China, and France.
Among the women’s section are current World Champion Ju Wenjun and former champions Tan Zhongyi, Mariya Muzychuk, and Alexandra Kosteniuk. Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, recently crowned the world’s best under-20 player, also joins the field. Assaubayeva has achieved notable success this year, leading 3 of FIDE’s global rankings in Rapid and Blitz within her age group and earning top-10 spots in both disciplines overall.
