And the night before, several of Charlotte's finest showed up at NYC's historic Marshall Chess Club: GMs Daniel Naroditsky, Oleksandr Bortnyk, FM Peter Giannatos, and WGM Dina Belenkaya. Bortnyk finished first and Naroditsky second in the bi-weekly evening blitz tournament—certainly not a bad test run before the Blitz tournament on Monday.
Going into the final round of both events, the possibility of complicated tiebreaks involving several players loomed large. But in the end, we had two clear winners.
Spectators were captivated on the last day of rapid games. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Open: Murzin Crosses The Finish Line Unscathed
Murzin was in shared first for most of the tournament, except for rounds seven (when Naroditsky took the lead) and eight. He showed he meant business when he beat GM Fabiano Caruana in round two, his favorite game of the tournament, as he told FIDE. He was the 59th seed going in, but he held his own to the very last round against many of the world's strongest rapid players.
Russian players took first, second, and third place this year.
The teenager, who won seven games, drew six, and lost none, is number 66 in the world by live rapid rating, and that's after gaining 49.5 points from this event. He didn't expect to win, but he enjoys playing the world's best, he said at the press conference.
For me, it's easy to play with top grandmasters because it's very interesting to play with them. Before the tournament I didn't know what I can expect... Of course, I wanted to win this tournament, but I didn't expect it.
"I hope this is not a dream. I don't know what to say. I am really happy." - Volodar Murzin, after becoming the 2024 FIDE World Rapid Champion. #RapidBlitzpic.twitter.com/wmfL0IGARL
He was actually the top scorer (by tiebreaks) from Russia the year before as well. GM Magnus Carlsen won with 10/13, but Murzin was in a giant group of players with nine points. The game plan this year was to play solid, he said at the press conference, and pounce on mistakes when they happened. He said:
In classical sometimes I try to play aggressive, in blitz maybe as well, but in rapid I try to play solid. Position may be equal, but I just try to play, play, play, and maybe my opponent will make a mistake and I will use it.
Position may be equal, but I just try to play, play, play, and maybe my opponent will make a mistake and I will use it.
—Volodar Murzin
Murzin at the press conference. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Murzin, GM Alexander Grischuk, and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi topped the standings after each had won their first games on Saturday—with Murzin and Grischuk on 8/10 and Nepomniachtchi the only player on 7.5/10 behind them.
GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who didn't lose a game before round 10, had a complicated rook endgame that was close to a draw. But after Murzin's 58.Rg7+ the Polish number-one put his king on the wrong square, and suddenly White's pawns just sailed through like leaves in a river.
Grischuk outplayed GM Arjun Erigaisi, who mounted a powerful comeback after his round-three loss, with an interesting fianchetto system against the Sicilian Defense. 21.Rb2! is a strong rook lift that announced attacking intentions. Although that rook seemed destined for the f-file, it was the b-file that won the game for White after the queens were traded.
Grischuk outplayed the rising star Arjun. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Finally, Nepomniachtchi won a quick game after an early blunder by GM Javokhir Sindarov, who also hadn't lost before this round. 17.Ncd5?? Qg3 was a cold shower for the Uzbek 2022 Olympiad gold medalist, as there was just no good way to deal with the threat of mate on h2.
Grischuk drew the rest of his games—against Murzin, Nepomniachtchi, and GM Leinier Dominguez—while Nepomniachtchi outplayed GM Sam Sevian in a final-round endgame. Both finished with 9.5/11 for shared second-third.
Nepomniachtchi finished strong. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Nepomniachtchi "still wanted more," as he posted on the platform X. He'll have two days to show what he's got in Blitz.
After the first day, of course, it would be a sin to complain about such a result, but I still wanted more. Congratulations to Volodar and Sasha! Tomorrow I will rest, and the day after tomorrow there will be a blitz tournament.
Murzin said at the press conference that his most difficult game was the last one against GM Karen H Grigoryan but just because of the nerves. The game itself was unspectacular, and he held a pawn-down endgame with no difficulty.
But the game before, against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who impressively drew just one game in 13 rounds, may have been his most critical. It was the closest Murzin came to losing in the last three days.
A close call for Murzin. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
The Indian superstar creatively allowed his f-pawns to be doubled but understood his king wasn't really weak and played to bury Black's bishop on b6. Murzin, who was losing at one point, went for a Hail Mary king march that confused his opponent and, ultimately, won the game.
The black king ended up on White's first rank and helped weave the checkmate. GM Dejan Bojkov annotates the Game of the Day below.
It was a disappointing conclusion for several pre-tournament favorites, like GM Hikaru Nakamura. He was still in contention until round 10, when he suffered his second loss in the tournament, against GM Brandon Jacobson. The 21-year-old New Yorker played his signature 1.a4 move, though he didn't follow up with 2.Ra3 as he'd done in the past.
Nakamura went on to beat GM Daniel Dardha, draw GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac, and then lose to GM Hans Niemann in the final round. Speaking to IM Levy Rozman for Take Take Take after round 10, Nakamura said he was disappointed with his event because he usually "bombs" on the first day and is no longer competitive. This time, he was unexpectedly in contention for a long time, which made day three that much more painful.
Not his day. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.
No matter, he told Chess.com because he considers himself "one of the two favorites," along with GM Alireza Firouzja, in the Blitz segment that starts on Monday. You can listen to more of his thoughts in the video recap below.
Most players in the top-20 lost rating. GM Wesley So took the biggest hit, with a 7/13 final score after scoring three wins, eight draws, and two losses. Arjun, who nevertheless finished on nine points, had the greatest gain.
Caruana may have finished with 8.5/13, but he's won the FIDE Circuit, part of the qualification cycle for the next classical world championship. This is because Arjun, the only player who could have caught him, needed to win this event to overtake him in the leaderboard. We will see Caruana at the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament.
It wasn't exactly Caruana's tournament, but it could have been worse. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Murzin picks up a nice paycheck of $90,000 for his work in the last three days. Others, all the way down to 40th place, also earn prizes.
That's it for the Rapid, and the players will start with a clean slate in the Blitz, that begins on Monday.
Player Thoughts About Carlsen's Withdrawal
Murzin won the tournament of a lifetime, after having faced many of the world's best players, but he didn't play the best one, Carlsen. The defending champion was on 5/8 points before he quit playing, and it's possible they wouldn't have been paired even if Carlsen did stay through to the end. Murzin said he'd hope to win, and maybe they can play next year.
Rapid World Champion Murzin at the press conference: "Of course I want to play with Magnus because he's a really strong player. Of course, I want to win. But maybe next year I will play with him."#RapidBlitzpic.twitter.com/Xe6ujC0ToH
Will Carlsen return to FIDE events in 2025? FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich answered optimistically on Take Take Take, "Maybe it's a big mistake I'm making now in saying that, but I think yes."
Several players spoke about Friday's fallout between the former world champion and FIDE. Nakamura told Rozman, "It's not really about the jeans or the attire; it's about a much bigger situation that's brewing regarding Freestyle Chess. I think it would've happened one way or another."
It's not really about the jeans or the attire; it's about a much bigger situation that's brewing regarding Freestyle Chess.
—Hikaru Nakamura
Niemann said in his interview with Rozman that this was a bomb waiting to explode: "He now has the perfect excuse to completely challenge FIDE in a way he's wanted to do for a very long time."
Niemann said he does not even own a pair of jeans. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.
Nakamura went on to say that jeans weren't a problem six to eight years ago, and he believes the dress code isn't in line with modern, business-casual fashion. He also advocated for the top-20 players to form a union so that their demands hold more weight.
"It's just very sad for chess overall," Norwegian GM Aryan Tari told Chess.com about Carlsen's withdrawal. He didn't expect the dress-code disagreement to spiral out of control the way it did.
None other than former World Champion Garry Kasparov, who has had his own rift with FIDE that started in the 1990s, simply posted a question:
There are certainly more opinions, and we will continue reporting on this story as it develops.
Women's: Humpy Overcomes Self-Doubt
Humpy, who is also the first Indian woman to earn the grandmaster title, won the world rapid title five years ago. She has returned as the only player besides GM Ju Wenjun to win it more than once.
Like Murzin, Humpy surprised even herself by winning the world championship, as she shared at the press conference: "I didn't expect it at all because I lost my first-round game and I never imagined that I could finish the tournament as a world champion." She lost just one game and won seven, with three draws.
This tournament victory was different than the first, she said, because she felt she was on a downward spiral this year. "I didn't do well in any of the tournaments" that came after she finished second in the 2024 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament. She continued:
In reality, I was in a very low state, like I was even thinking myself whether I deserved to continue playing or not, whether it's time to retire or something like that.... This victory is very special, like when I'm on my lowest, this gave me the boost again to fight, again to work on chess.
This victory is very special, like when I'm on my lowest, this gave me the boost again to fight, again to work on chess.
—Koneru Humpy
Humpy reinvigorated herself. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Seven players were tied for first place going into the final round, and tiebreaks could have been a logistical Rubik's cube to organize. In the end, however, no playoff was required—but it was very close.
The following players all reached round 11 with 7.5 points.
IM Irine Sukandar lost two out of her first six games, but then she won four consecutive times and was, incredibly, within reach of winning it all. She defeated, in order, IMs Gulnar Mammadova, Alice Lee, defending champion Anastasia Bodnaruk, and Stavroula Tsolakidou. Her final test was playing the white pieces against Humpy.
It was equal almost the entire way through, but the Indonesian IM had to defend a rook endgame down a pawn. Nine times out of 10, Sukandar would have defended this, and we can only imagine the nerves. The sad thing is that after Black's 47...h5, most White moves draw. But after 48.Kf4??, Black fixed the kingside pawns, activated her king, and marched the d-passer down the board.
A tough resignation to see. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
The other three boards ended in draws, all of them in under 30 moves.
Eight players finished tied with 8 points. Humpy takes the $60,000 first prize, with others down to 20th place also earning prizes.
Fifteen-year-old Uzbek WIM Afruza Khamdamova deserves a special mention, as she finished the event on 8/11 and gained 218 rating points, with a performance of 2577. On the last day, she drew IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (two-time women's blitz world champion), beat GMs Zhu Jiner and Elisabeth Paehtz, and drew Lagno in the last round.
An incredible performance by Khamdamova. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.
She is certainly one to watch out for. Her classical rating ballooned from 1771 in April 2022 to the current 2354, and it's rising. Her rapid and blitz ratings have followed the same trend.
All that's left is a rest day, followed by the two days of Blitz. On the rest day, FIDE will host the Wall Street Gambit, a conference that connects the worlds of chess and finance.
The tournament directors running the show. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.
A Note On Improved Transmission Of Moves
As a follow-up message to our note in the previous news report, we are thrilled and grateful to share that FIDE provided Chess.com with the LiveChess Cloud link for day three, and the resulting feed was smooth.
The 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships decide the world champions of rapid and blitz chess in Open and Women's sections. For the rapid championships, the Open was a 13-round Swiss; the Women's was an 11-round Swiss. The time control for both tournaments was 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The Blitz championships are the same number of rounds followed by a Knockout played by the top-eight finishers, with a time control of 3+2 for all games. The prize fund is $1.5 million.
NM Anthony Levin caught the chess bug at the "late" age of 18 and never turned back. He earned his national master title in 2021, actually the night before his first day of work at Chess.com.
Anthony, who also earned his Master's in teaching English in 2018, taught English and chess in New York schools for five years and strives to make chess content accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages. At Chess.com, he writes news articles and manages social media for chess24.
