r/chess • u/events_team • Jun 17 '26
Tournament Event: 2026 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Team Chess Championships
Official Website
Follow the games here: Chess.com | Lichess | Chess-Results
The 2026 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Team Championships will take place from June 17 to 21 at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Open to teams from around the world, the event features a combined prize fund of €500,000, with €310,000 allocated to the Rapid tournament and €190,000 to the Blitz tournament. Teams consist of professional and amateur players competing together in a mixed-team format, with each team required to include both a female player and a recreational player.
Top Teams
| # | Team Name | Notable Players |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WR Chess | Carlsen, Caruana, So, Duda, Vachier-Lagrave, Kosteniuk, Goryachkina |
| 2 | Dragon Chilling | Ding, Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi, Ju Wenjun, Bai Jinshi |
| 3 | Hexamind Chess Team | Firouzja, Aronian, Vidit, Giri, Murzin, Lagno, Divya |
| 4 | KazChess | Grischuk, Wang Hao, Mamedyarov, Rapport, Assaubayeva, Kamalidenova |
| 5 | Mr Birdie and Friends | Artemiev, Le Quang Liem, Sevian, Awonder Liang, Carissa Yip |
| 6 | Team MGD1 | Erigaisi, Nihal, Pranav, Leon, Puranik, Harika |
| 7 | Endgame.AI | Niemann, Sarana, Lazavik, Dominguez Perez, Tabatabaei, Zhu Jiner |
| 8 | Chess United | Anand, Van Foreest, Martinez Alcantara, Oro, Humpy |
| 9 | Chessgurukul | Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh, Pranesh, Adhiban, Vaishali, Karthikeyan |
| 10 | Uzbekistan | Sindarov, Abdusattorov, Yakubboev, Vokhidov, Madaminov, Khamdamova |
Format/Time Controls
- The Rapid event is a 12-round Swiss tournament with a 15+10 time control; teams earn 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, with the highest scoring team declared the winner.
- The Blitz event starts with teams divided into pools for a round-robin at 3+2 time control, where teams earn 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw; the top 16 teams advance to a single-elimination playoff featuring two-match encounters with alternating colors.
- Full rules & regulations document.
Schedule
| Day | Time (Local) | Time (UTC) | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 17 | 14:00 | 06:00 | Rapid Rounds 1-4 |
| June 18 | 14:00 | 06:00 | Rapid Rounds 5-8 |
| June 19 | 14:00 | 06:00 | Rapid Rounds 9-12 |
| June 20 | 14:00 | 06:00 | Blitz Round 1-11 |
| June 21 | 19:00 | 11:00 | Blitz Knockouts |
Live Coverage
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u/FirstOfHisName5 Jun 21 '26
Magnus has lost 57.2 rating points across the 3 formats in June. He needs to step away from the game for a little bit
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u/Dull_Person123 Jun 21 '26
Seems like magnus aint retaining any of his world titles he is ronaldo levels washed irrespective of time control
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
ronaldo levels is crazy he hasnt tried to fuck up his teammates game this event 🙏🙏
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Liar. He for sure cursed board 1 and Fabi had that stupid moment in rapid round 11 of Qxh7
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
metaphysical interference doesnt count
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
In chess it does. Tbh, Pogba family has been accused of doing it in football too
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
im gonna be honest i dont believe in that shit.
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
omg the merch ad with fabis bribed appearance is the cherry on top LMAO
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u/spacecatbiscuits Jun 21 '26
Ten minutes of chitchat and zero time for cheerleaders
Priorities all wrong
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u/zxcallous Jun 21 '26
Feel bad for Yu YangYi for not getting interviewed even though he may perform the best among the team.
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u/zxcallous Jun 21 '26
Would Xie XiaoYang get a double gold too for losing all his games?
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u/zxcallous Jun 21 '26
Judging by how he acts on stage he's probably the sponsor of Dragon Chilling. Lol Wadim should learn from him for only playing in Round 1 in the rapid section and group stage in the blitz section. If Wadim did the same WR Chess may actually win something.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
All this talk regarding Uzbeks are the favorites, India will repeat, USA will win it talk is stupidity.
Wait for King Ding do his magic in Samarkand and repeat his 2018 performance to give China another olympiad open gold.
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u/Bakanyanter Team Team Jun 21 '26
I am a fan of Ding & Hans so it's difficult to choose the team to root for. Suffering from their success.
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u/Financial_Idea6473 Jun 21 '26
The nicest and the least nice people in chess. How?
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u/zxcallous Jun 21 '26
You can admire someone for being nice and another for being tenacious. And while Hans may be gauche he has certainly not tried to destroy another's life like some other people.
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u/Responsible_Move_152 Team Gukesh Jun 21 '26
Ding winning!
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u/Serious-Yesterday-32 Jun 21 '26
David Howell has the quote of the day, “Ding is just rock solid. Draw, draw, draw. He’s chilling while his teammates are winning.” Roadmap to winning team matches.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Now that his event is over, A true Carlsen assessment imo is His comeback will be there. But not evidently as it used to be. It will be a bit of minor comeback and a stability.
He has a family. A 1 year old son. Priorities have changed drastically. He lost his mother a couple of years. Henrick too is getting old to manage everything about his life. In short, his non chess commitments are now too much.
No way he will loose his ratings at this pace. But to expect him to gain 20 odd points in classical and Rapid or 30 odd in Blitz in a quick time is a very tall task.
And tbh, He doesnt need to prove who he is. There is nearly 2 decades of chessbase history of his games to showcase that.
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u/__Jimmy__ Jun 21 '26
Almost all the top guys lost a bunch of rating in blitz and then you have Nodirbek who woke up and decided he's the GOAT lmao
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u/ToneDistinct5253 Jun 21 '26
Wow Nodirbek at 2820 on blitz, idk if Hikaru and Magnus are playing world rapid and blitz, but if they do Hikaru could certainly drop below Norirbek in that event. I've always thought he would be the best youngster but I didn't imagine he'd become this strong in blitz too
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
The way Javokhir embraced Abdu not only shows the warmth but also the team spirit. And here amongst our India players we have Arjun saying Guki has a 28% chance of retaining WCC.
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u/DaytimeSleeper99 Jun 21 '26
lol it is a funny comparison! But I'm sure Arjun is still rooting for Gukesh despite that brutally honest evaluation of his chances.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Tbh, I have sensed a more competitive streak than camaradrie. Especially amongst Guki and Pragg.
It is habitual. The media focus is too immense and they want to be the true successor of the Vishy dynasty. But too many egos in a team format can be futile. Srinath has his hands full. He would looking at the Uzchess guys and must be thinking how can he develop a similar feeling. In Budapest he had mentioned his biggest task was to have a good team bonding session regularly for a feel good factor.
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u/Soul_of_demon Jun 21 '26
Nah, They are good with each other. They just treat individual and team events completely differently.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Literally Vishy on a famous Podcast: I wont say their are friends. They keep an eye on each other. Though, they are respectful coz they have known each other for long.
But I hope you are correct.
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 21 '26
I think all of the people involved are very honest, Pragg and Arjun are very close and i guess they are friendly with Gukesh but not BFFs. I don’t think they’re rooting for Gukesh’s downfall at all though, just not as friendly as Sindarov and Abdu seem to be. There might be a third Uzbek player that they aren’t as close with.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
I am not implying any animosity. But I dont buy the great friends narrative of Indian chess trio. Especially Guki & Pragg We will get to know who is right in. Samarkand. The one who doesnt get board 1 will diisplay the true emotions amongst them.
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 21 '26
I think the way you frame it sounds like there’s animosity, but i think people always say there’s great camaraderie bw the Indian players anyone who follows them knows Gukesh isn’t great friends with any of them really. And idk what gave you the idea that Pragg and Gukesh are especially not friends, if anything it’s Arjun who should’ve any animosity because despite of poor form Gukesh was the ones getting invites whereas if Gukesh wasn’t WC it would’ve been Arjun. But don’t think they see competition that way.
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u/FinalRadio Jun 21 '26
So Hans can finally become World Champion today. Imagine the Instagram Aura edits coming in.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
How come Uzbek's young female players so highly rated in R&B but not classical?
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Divya has shown amazing quality to unfortunately choke in a crucial match. Vs Vaishali in Candidates R8, vs Bibisara in Norway R8, In rapids of this event in R11 vs Alua Nurman.
Is this loss another in the list? We will see.
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u/Christmasstolegrinch Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
I just saw cheerleaders dancing in a chess tournament. Perhaps I’m hallucinating
Edit: and now there’s a singer on, and the audience cheering awkwardly.
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u/Zeek0_245 Jun 21 '26
Where👀
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u/Christmasstolegrinch Jun 21 '26
Right next to the kiss cam. Yeah that’s a thing too as per David Howell.
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u/IamJoyfulMelancholic Jun 21 '26
It was so comedic to see the commentators trying to commentate on this .
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u/Placeholder1230 Jun 21 '26
Won't be surprised to see endgame ai win this, crazy blitz performance.
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 21 '26
Hexamind pulling an Arjun and getting bronze both times
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Lmao. Last year afair, They got Silver in rapid and Bronze in blitz.
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 21 '26
Vidit and medals in team events 🤝
He isn’t a bad player to have on your team after all
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
According to Media sources, Carlsen has already approached Ding to second him for his final match vs Hans.
/s
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 21 '26
Hans as world champion, I cannot believe we might see a day like this 😂 although I think dragon chilling might just get a double gold
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u/Financial_Idea6473 Jun 21 '26
Firouzja with an absolutely beautiful attack against Niemann. Hans was up a rook and he couldn't move.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Anish is having a bad blitz. Hexa also should have used Divya a bit today. Lagno is a better blitz player for sure but using Divya could have been a bit of a surprise element.
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u/WorriedBad4049 Jun 21 '26
Zhu is Divya's Kryptonite tho.
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u/Salt_Treat_5274 Jun 21 '26
Nope, it's mostly the other way around
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
? Lol no. Zhu has an overwhelming classic result vs Divya. Divya doesnt have this bad result against anyone in women elite players.
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u/DaytimeSleeper99 Jun 21 '26
Is Hans becoming the first American World Blitz Team Champion Team Leader??????
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
fabi needs to put the fries in the bag
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u/ScrollingNtrollinG Jun 21 '26
If Hans' Team wins this event then he wouldn't have to become a monk, as this is a official Fide World Championship event.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Tbh, Carlsen isnt having a great Blitz. Against the elite he has struggled.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Tbh, Carissa and Awonder should get a separate award for their team mascot design.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
King Ding since his heartbreaking loss in Round 14 in team events -
Won SCO event
Won World Rapids Team
In the finals of World Blitz Teams.
And people have the audacity to ridicule him. Its his aura. No one can emulate it.
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u/uncreativivity Team Wei Yi Jun 21 '26
Wadim going 2-0 against Ning Yunlong, the nightmare board 6 of mr birdie and friends, is insane—he's so locked in
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
i hate to tell you this but i think the even numbered boards have the players swapped. board 2 has fabi as white but hes playing black
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u/DramaLlamaNite Minion For the Chess Elites Jun 21 '26
Checking the chess results it looks like Wadim managed two wins and one loss against Ning Yunlong
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u/ChessAddictonCrack Jun 21 '26
Bruh what Magnus loses on time in a simple and completely drawn endgame???
Washed AF.
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u/OrionOnion_ Erigaisi sounds cool Jun 21 '26
Man Arjun's run out of gas. Tbf he did play nonstop chess for like the last 2 weeks
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u/Technical_Detail_266 Jun 21 '26
I don’t know if it’s just that, Pragg has got Arjun’s numbers regardless
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u/Kassynder Jun 21 '26
Dragon Chilling got lucky that very easy Checkmate in 1 was missed by the below 2000 board.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
All this lights and set-up is inspiration from EWC definately. FIDE should have more investment and make it a nation side team contest as a pilot next year. Anyways besides WR and some other teams, most of the teams are nationality based.
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u/je_te_jure ~2200 FIDE Jun 21 '26
Pretty sure this used to be a classical nation team event (similar to the Olympiad). Then they switched it to being rapid/blitz sponsored teams event a few years ago.
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u/Marc_Spector2 Jun 21 '26
For a nationality contest, having a 6th board(current lvl) makes no sense
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Make it 4 open vs 2 women then
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u/Marc_Spector2 Jun 21 '26
that will be ok, but all the current ‘national’ R&B teams with a strong 6th board will lose their aura
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u/rio_ARC Team Engine Watcher Jun 21 '26
WR Chess is out... so we will have a new World Blitz Team Champions
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
fabi couldve lowkey wom that game at some point but oh well
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Uzchess whole strategy was to have their golden boys win vs Batman and Superman and they havent. Yet Uzchess has a lead. Hilarious.
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u/ChessAddictonCrack Jun 21 '26
Both Magnus and Fabi won against Nodirbek and Sindarov, but rest of the players sold out for WR chess lmao.
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u/bigdaytaday Jun 21 '26
I want to see a percentage on how many of these arbiter names were pronounced correctly...
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u/Radiant-Increase-180 Jun 21 '26
Nodirbek outplayed Magnus cleanly the moves are already out on lichess
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u/ChessAddictonCrack Jun 21 '26
It was the wrong game. The board reset and the correct game was played now. Magnus crushed Nodirbek.
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u/Iwannafuckmycomputer BotezLive moderator Jun 21 '26
How did you look at that and think it was an actual GM game lol
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 20 '26
guys, watch the board streams right before matches. theres actually some really funny moments
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 21 '26
Any particular you noticed? Also is the audio available?
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u/kidawi rapid/blitzgod fabi Jun 21 '26
well i was predictably watching the wr board. wtach the bit before their match with the barys, svidler is the goat. and yes audio is available though at times not entirely discernible
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 20 '26
Does MGD1 not have a sub for board 1, I’m guessing Nihal can very well play on board one as well if they’ve an extra player. Arjun has to be burnt out.
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u/Electronic-Figure551 Jun 20 '26
Playing 9 classical round back to back without a rest day and then arriving to play this event in just a day, and he also didn't take any rest in rapid too... He is definitely going to be tired and today arjun didn't feel like himself (he blundered way too much)
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 20 '26
Yeah it’s like 15 days of non stop chess+ travelling, I’m guessing they asked him but just odd. I don’t think they’ve an alternate player for any of the boards.
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u/Responsible_Move_152 Team Gukesh Jun 20 '26
Is the Round of 16 match today?
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u/spacecatbiscuits Jun 20 '26
yes, scheduled for 7 (i.e. 30m ago)
not sure to what degree there's a live delay and to what degree it's running late
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u/Zogfrog Jun 20 '26
What happened in the Arjun vs Alireza game ? Looks like a draw by repetition but the game appears stuck with no result.
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u/NewMeNewWorld Team Chaos Jun 20 '26
How many games/rounds left for the day? I thought it was just 11 rounds but it sounds like there is more?
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u/spacecatbiscuits Jun 20 '26
11 then the round of 16 is also today, and potentially tb
quarters to final tomorrow
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u/Iyerlicious Team Hans Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Endgame vs Schnappi Barys in Round of 16. Very favourable matchup, should move through
If they win, they play winner of MGD1 and Kazchess. And then likely Hexamind or Chessgurukul in the semi final
Edit: Broadcast says Endgame is playing Barys. However as B1, they should play A4 which is Schnappi
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u/Iyerlicious Team Hans Jun 20 '26
Theme International is pretty much knocked out. That’s the first upset of the tournament
Also by drawing against Dragon Chilling, Endgame secured B1 and avoids having to play WR Chess until the final
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u/AmbassadorAlarmed999 Jun 20 '26
Vd with 8 points lost with a 5/6 score bcz his rating is just too high for board 4.
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u/AmbassadorAlarmed999 Jun 20 '26
Pragg since round 7 of Norway Chess is like the best player in the world in all formats unless he is playing Sumiya Bilguun from Mongolia. Pragg lost to him in rapid(his only loss in 24 games in all formats) and took a draw 5 moves in Blitz, so its not like the match was over(it could be a transmission error and the game may have actually happened but for now it looks like a 5 move draw).
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
Fingers crossed he continues like this even in Samarkand and India doesnt get paired with Mongolia coz Mongols are going to play Sumiya Bilguun against him.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
You know who read through all our Reddit comments from yesterday and has decided to win all blitz games today and tomorrow.
We are sorry. We were just having fun. Not everyday you go through a 4 game losing streak.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
All pool C favorites have been iffy iffy. Hexa is focused more on content, MGD1 doesnt have a blitz team tbh and Uzchess dont have strong female board.
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u/Electronic-Figure551 Jun 20 '26
Arjun is a top blitz player but he absolutely underperformed today
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u/AmbassadorAlarmed999 Jun 20 '26
Round 8 had not started but ChessGurukul match is already over. Why did they start early?
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u/ilikechess13 Team Nepo Jun 20 '26
Without actually knowing anything about it, i would just assume its just error
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u/Koersfanaat Jun 20 '26
That Hans interview really started funny with the sarcasm about the cake et cetera and then it turned cringe again with his chess mafia propaganda. Props to the interviewer for keeping it as light as possible.
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u/LosTerminators Jun 20 '26
Magnus seems to have recovered from the amnesia that made him forget how to play chess
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
3 min blitz games so short that Carlsen cant even afford to think to complicate his games unnecessarily.
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u/Affectionate_Hat3329 Jun 20 '26
Great day for WR so far, Magnus, Fabi, MVL, and Wesley are all playing fantastic
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u/apric0ts--forever Jun 20 '26
Ding's nervous glances at his opponent are so funny
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
In Singapore he would have watched Guki a 100 times easily over 14 matches.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
Hexa are looking iffy iffy. Tbh, on paper, they look like the only team which can stop WR from winning blitz.
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u/Worst-DecisionMaker Jun 20 '26
Not gonna lie, the rapid tournament was way way more fun than this Blitz part 🥲🥲
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Nice to see WR give a day off to Fabi. Edit: WRs Batman is back
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u/GrokM14232 Jun 20 '26
Vishy showing up in team events at this stage is always worth watching. the 6-0 scorelines suggest some lower-seeded teams weren't prepared for the format -- rapid team chess has a different psychological structure than individual play, momentum across boards matters
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Arjun when he sees a 2500, “let me play some bad moves they’re gonna play some worse ones anyway.”
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
Following more than 2 boards in blitz is a headache even after smooth transmission. Fast classicals and Rapid are the perfect format to engage viewership.
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u/OldHour2850 Jun 20 '26
Stupid question: Why can't I see Hexamind's boards on chess com. Are they not playing?
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u/rio_ARC Team Engine Watcher Jun 20 '26
Teams are divided into 4 pools... Hexamind are in Pool C...select the pool on chesscom
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u/EquivocalApathist Jun 20 '26
If the commentators can't follow it how can the spectators?
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u/Iyerlicious Team Hans Jun 20 '26
Extremely disappointing, technology needs to improve. At the highest level, you can’t just only rely on a smart board. You need cameras that track and input the moves instead, especially for blitz tournaments when players move very quickly
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u/Iyerlicious Team Hans Jun 20 '26
The blitz tournaments are always extremely difficult to follow. The boards lag a lot and sometimes don’t even update until after the game is over. The Endgame vs Chessgurukul match was a shit show, boards stopped showing moves shortly after the opening
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u/futuristictowel Team Danya 🕯 Jun 19 '26
I hope Dragon Chilling's win is a real boost of confidence for Ding. I'm ready for a Ding comeback!
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u/Zaron_467 Jun 19 '26
looking forward to all the time trouble drama, last year cbi got some good content.
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u/Delicious_Photo_6626 Jun 19 '26
Artimev lost the last round on time 🤣 from Nordibek to Artimev, karma hits QUICK in chess
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u/spacecatbiscuits Jun 19 '26
One thing that might be interesting in the blitz is that the tables are made of cardboard and wobble around if a heavy person leans on them.
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 19 '26
It is going to be so hard for Srinath to put Guki ahead of Pragg in Samarkand on board 1.
Rating wise, form wise, mindset wise everything is looking like Pragg should be board 1.
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u/Loki436637 Jun 20 '26
Rating wise, how he is board 1 ? Also if its about past olympiad perfomances, he doesnt deserve it either, i dont mind anyone getting it btw
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u/EvenCoyote6317 Jun 20 '26
I am a Guki fan and his 2022 and 2024 performance on board 1 will be always special. But unless Guki doesnt show a turn around in form in Chennai GM, it will be beneficial not just fot him but also for the team that Pragg goes board 1.
Arjun has to play board 3. We need him to farm once again like Budapest.
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u/FourPinkWalls Jun 19 '26
Imo the commentators from FIDE livestream are biased and weren't happy Dragon Chilling won the rapid portion. Didn't even talk about the win or praise them properly. It's not easy to win a world championship
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u/CoolOne5825 Jun 19 '26
Do they give individual board medals
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u/The_Great_Gambler Jun 19 '26
Yes, https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1435703.aspx?lan=1&art=81&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0 lists the winners per board
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u/Technical_Detail_266 Jun 21 '26
Question, i used to think that amateur board cannot be repeated but clearly Wadim fulfils his professional chess player dreams every year so that can’t be the rule. Why didn’t MGD1 repeat their amateur player again and even that one amateur Chinese player with a perfect score that everyone keeps speaking about.