2021 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship: All The Information

The 2021 World Rapid & Blitz Championship and Women's Rapid & Blitz Championship are elite events organized by FIDE to determine the best players in fast time controls in the world. The championship gathered national champions and grandmaster-level players from around the globe to compete in two Swiss tournaments for their piece of the $1 million prize fund. The event ran from December 26 through December 30.

The young GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov was crowned the champion of the 2021 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship tournament in the open section. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won her first Women's World Rapid Chess Championship title after coming in second in 2012, 2014, and 2016.

In the faster time control, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won his first world championship title during the 2021 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva also won her first world blitz champion title after winning the Women's World Blitz Championship.

• Broadcast
• Players
• Standings
• Schedule
• Format
• Prizes
• Location
• Previous Champions

Broadcast

The games were broadcast live on Chess.com/TV and on our Twitch and YouTube channels, with legendary GMs Jon Ludvig Hammer and Irina Krush providing expert commentary. You can also check the most important details of the championships by going to our Events page: World Rapid | World Blitz | Women's World Rapid | Women's World Blitz.

Players

The best players in the world gathered to compete for the title of rapid, blitz, women's rapid, and women's blitz world champion. Top players like world champion GM Magnus Carlsen and the young prodigy GM Alireza Firouzja played in the event.

Below you can find the requirements to enter the competition.

Open

• Players rated at least 2550 in any FIDE rating lists (classical, rapid, or blitz) from January 1 to December 1, 2021
• The reigning national champions representing their national federation
• Invitation from the event organizer (up to 15 players)

Women's

• Players rated at least 2250 in any FIDE rating lists (classical, rapid, or blitz) from January 1 to December 1, 2021
• The reigning national champions representing their national federation
• Invitation from the event organizer (up to 15 players)

Standings

Rapid Standings

Blitz Standings

Schedule

The opening ceremony of the event happened on December 25, while games started on December 26 and ended on December 30.

Format

Pairings And Seeding

• The FIDE Swiss pairing system determined the pairings
• Colors for both tournaments were drawn during the opening ceremony

Rapid

• A 13-round Swiss tournament determined the open section champion
• An 11-round Swiss tournament determined the women's champion
• The time control was 15+10
• Players earned 1 point for each win, 0.5 points for each draw, and 0 points for each loss
• The player with the most points by the end of the Swiss tournament became the World Rapid Champion

Blitz

• A 21-round Swiss tournament determined the open section champion
• A 17-round Swiss tournament determined the women's champion
• The time control was 3+2
• Players earned 1 point for each win, 0.5 points for each draw, and 0 points for each loss
• The player with the most points by the end of the Swiss tournament became the World Blitz Champion

Tiebreaks

• If two or more players scored the same amount of points, the following criteria broke the tie (except for first-place ties), in order of priority:
  1. Buchholz Cut 1
  2. Buchholz
  3. Average Rating of Opponents Cut 1 (AROC 1)*
  4. Direct encounter between the tied players
  5. Drawing of lots

First-place Tiebreaks

• If there was a tie for first place, the top two players according to the tiebreak criterion described above would proceed to a play-off mini-match consisting of two 3+2 blitz games to decide the champion, with a draw of lots deciding the colors
• If the score was still tied after the mini-match, players would play 3+2 blitz games until a decisive result occurs. The top player according to the tiebreak criterion described above would start with White, and colors would alternate after each game.

Prizes

The 2021 World Rapid & Blitz and Women's World Rapid & Blitz had a $1,000,000.00 prize fund, distributed according to the tables below:

Open

Women's

Location

Initially planned to be held in Kazakhstan, the 2021 World Blitz & Rapid Championship's location had to be changed to Warsaw, Poland.

Previous Champions

Open Champions (Since 2012)

Women's Champions (Since 2012)