TWIC is 31. First issue 17th September 1994.
World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2025 ()
Magnus Carlsen claims his 6th World Rapid title
Mark Crowther - Wednesday 31st December 1969
Magnus Carlsen during his game against Niemann. Photo: | https://fide.com
Magnus Carlsen won the World Rapid Chess Championships in Doha, Qatar. He finished with a score of 10.5/13, a point clear of silver medalist Vladislav Artemiev, bronze medalist Arjun Erigaisi, Hans Moke Niemann and Leinier Dominguez Perez.
In the women's event Aleksandra Goryachkina won the first of two blitz tie-break games against Jiner Zhu and drew the second to take the title, these two players and Humpy Koneru all finished with 8.5/11 after a dramatic final round.
World Rapid Championship 2025
Magnus Carlsen looked very determined from the very start of the rapid tournament, he beat Lorenzo Lodici, David Paravyan, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli and David Anton before having to settle for a draw in the final game of day 1 against Arjun Erigaisi.
Carlsen's only shaky moments came on day 2. Carlsen got a very nice advantage against MVL but then threw this away with the careless 22...a5?! which lost a pawn and obviously upset him as his position deteriorated further rather quickly, Carlsen did however fight back from a lost position to draw. With two draws in a row Carlsen faced Vladislav Artemiev who was quickly down to a minute after 15 moves, but threatened to force a draw, Carlsen tried to avoid this but blundered the exchange and the game away, he was obviously quite furious with himself. Crisis was averted when Carlsen steadied the ship with wins against Shant Sargsyan and Ray Robson to finish the day and overnight was only half a point behind the leaders Artemiev and Hans Moke Niemann.
On the final day Carlsen beat Alexey Sarana, Niemann and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (the 14 year old lost his final two rounds but even so finished 15th, this was really impressive) before securing the title with a solid draw against Anish Giri. Artemiev finished second on tie-break but after beating Carlsen the energy seemed to go out of his play and he drew all his remaining games.
In the women's event there were three leaders going into the final round, and they didn't play each other, they all drew in the end, but all the games could have had different results. Ekaterina Atalik was winning against the eventual winner Aleksandra Goryachkina but frittered away her advantage. Humpy Koneru failed to win a won position which would have given her the title (and what would have been a record third championship) alone, instead she didn't even get the chance to play for the title (only the top two by Buchholz coefficient got to play). Jiner Zhu was winning out of the opening against Tan Zhongyi following a terrible blunder (13...Ng4? 14.Nd5!) but Tan kept fighting and eventually saved the game. In the end it was Goryachkina who took the title from Jiner in the tie-breaks.
The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships as we know it now started in 2012 and after finishing a runner up in 2012 Carlsen has won six rapid titles, in 2014, 2015, 2019, 2022, 2023 and now 2025. The blitz where Carlsen has 8 titles (the only other player to have won the title more than once is Grischuk with 3 titles) starts on Monday and runs for two days.
| World Rapid 2025 Doha QAT Fri 26th Dec 2025 - Tue 30th Dec 2025
Leading Final Round 13 Standings: |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | SNo | Name | Ti | FED | Rtg | Pts | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | GM | NOR | 2824 | 10.5 | 99 | 105.5 | 2639 |
| 2 | 7 | Artemiev, Vladislav | GM | FID | 2727 | 9.5 | 105.5 | 111 | 2666 |
| 3 | 9 | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | IND | 2714 | 9.5 | 98 | 104.5 | 2608 |
| 4 | 48 | Niemann, Hans Moke | GM | USA | 2612 | 9.5 | 97.5 | 103.5 | 2593 |
| 5 | 13 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | GM | USA | 2703 | 9.5 | 95.5 | 100 | 2562 |
| 6 | 6 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | GM | FRA | 2730 | 9 | 100 | 105.5 | 2655 |
| 7 | 12 | Sindarov, Javokhir | GM | UZB | 2704 | 9 | 93.5 | 99.5 | 2603 |
| 8 | 15 | So, Wesley | GM | USA | 2702 | 9 | 93 | 98 | 2592 |
| 9 | 18 | Giri, Anish | GM | NED | 2685 | 9 | 92.5 | 98 | 2575 |
| 10 | 30 | Esipenko, Andrey | GM | FID | 2649 | 9 | 91.5 | 97 | 2563 |
| 11 | 27 | Sevian, Samuel | GM | USA | 2658 | 9 | 90.5 | 96 | 2571 |
| 12 | 17 | Dubov, Daniil | GM | FID | 2686 | 9 | 90.5 | 96 | 2552 |
| 13 | 11 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | GM | AZE | 2707 | 9 | 90 | 95.5 | 2558 |
| 14 | 85 | Shimanov, Aleksandr | GM | FID | 2554 | 8.5 | 98.5 | 103.5 | 2634 |
| 15 | 156 | Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan | GM | TUR | 2446 | 8.5 | 98 | 101 | 2660 |
| 16 | 62 | Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. | GM | IND | 2590 | 8.5 | 96 | 101.5 | 2566 |
| 17 | 74 | Lazavik, Denis | GM | FID | 2576 | 8.5 | 96 | 100.5 | 2646 |
| 18 | 5 | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | USA | 2751 | 8.5 | 95.5 | 102 | 2579 |
| 19 | 24 | Nihal, Sarin | GM | IND | 2664 | 8.5 | 94.5 | 100.5 | 2532 |
| 20 | 16 | Gukesh, D | GM | IND | 2692 | 8.5 | 92.5 | 98.5 | 2606 |
| 21 | 203 | Meng, Yihan | IM | CHN | 2355 | 8.5 | 92.5 | 98 | 2619 |
| 22 | 47 | Lu, Shanglei | GM | CHN | 2616 | 8.5 | 92 | 97.5 | 2490 |
| 23 | 8 | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | UZB | 2717 | 8.5 | 92 | 96.5 | 2581 |
| 24 | 22 | Maghsoodloo, Parham | GM | IRI | 2669 | 8.5 | 91 | 96 | 2544 |
| 25 | 122 | Gurel, Ediz | GM | TUR | 2502 | 8.5 | 90 | 93.5 | 2629 |
| 26 | 21 | Andreikin, Dmitry | GM | FID | 2671 | 8.5 | 89.5 | 97.5 | 2527 |
| 27 | 20 | Grischuk, Alexander | GM | FID | 2677 | 8.5 | 89.5 | 95 | 2547 |
| 28 | 25 | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | IND | 2663 | 8.5 | 88.5 | 94 | 2555 |
| 29 | 55 | Motylev, Alexander | GM | ROU | 2603 | 8.5 | 87 | 92.5 | 2491 |
| 30 | 4 | Firouzja, Alireza | GM | FRA | 2754 | 8.5 | 87 | 91.5 | 2525 |
| 31 | 77 | Bjerre, Jonas Buhl | GM | DEN | 2570 | 8.5 | 85.5 | 90 | 2523 |
| 32 | 107 | Sahidi, Samir | IM | SVK | 2524 | 8.5 | 85.5 | 89 | 2535 |
| 33 | 65 | Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal | GM | CHI | 2586 | 8 | 97.5 | 103 | 2612 |
| 34 | 36 | Sarana, Alexey | GM | SRB | 2641 | 8 | 95 | 101 | 2616 |
| 35 | 52 | Mamedov, Rauf | GM | AZE | 2610 | 8 | 95 | 100 | 2560 |
| 36 | 106 | Makarian, Rudik | GM | FID | 2524 | 8 | 94.5 | 98.5 | 2648 |
| 37 | 138 | Amar, Elham | GM | NOR | 2482 | 8 | 92.5 | 99 | 2604 |
| 38 | 51 | Sargsyan, Shant | GM | ARM | 2611 | 8 | 92.5 | 97.5 | 2569 |
| 39 | 19 | Yu, Yangyi | GM | CHN | 2680 | 8 | 92 | 97.5 | 2550 |
| 40 | 2 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | GM | FID | 2762 | 8 | 91.5 | 98 | 2585 |
| 41 | 126 | Mendonca, Leon Luke | GM | IND | 2498 | 8 | 90 | 94.5 | 2586 |
| 42 | 144 | Karthik, Venkataraman | GM | IND | 2467 | 8 | 89 | 94.5 | 2606 |
| 43 | 120 | Sanal, Vahap | GM | TUR | 2504 | 8 | 89 | 91.5 | 2599 |
| 44 | 86 | Chanda, Sandipan | GM | IND | 2553 | 8 | 88.5 | 93.5 | 2554 |
| 45 | 72 | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | GM | IRI | 2579 | 8 | 88.5 | 93 | 2543 |
| 46 | 176 | Ibrahimli, Murad | IM | AZE | 2411 | 8 | 88.5 | 92.5 | 2575 |
| 47 | 60 | Kozak, Adam | GM | HUN | 2593 | 8 | 87.5 | 93 | 2471 |
| 48 | 3 | Aronian, Levon | GM | USA | 2756 | 8 | 87 | 92.5 | 2514 |
| 49 | 53 | Moussard, Jules | GM | FRA | 2609 | 8 | 87 | 91.5 | 2478 |
| 50 | 37 | Keymer, Vincent | GM | GER | 2640 | 8 | 83 | 88.5 | 2502 |
| 247 players | |||||||||
| World Rapid Women 2025 Doha QAT Fri 26th Dec 2025 - Tue 30th Dec 2025
Leading Final Round 11 Standings: |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | SNo | Name | Ti | FED | Rtg | Pts | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 10 | Zhu, Jiner | GM | CHN | 2435 | 8.5 | 72.5 | 77.5 | 2410 |
| 2 | 3 | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | GM | FID | 2505 | 8.5 | 71.5 | 77 | 2360 |
| 3 | 8 | Koneru, Humpy | GM | IND | 2448 | 8.5 | 69 | 74 | 2335 |
| 4 | 67 | Savitha, Shri B | IM | IND | 2238 | 8 | 70.5 | 73 | 2380 |
| 5 | 25 | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | GM | IND | 2359 | 8 | 65 | 69.5 | 2319 |
| 6 | 33 | Atalik, Ekaterina | IM | TUR | 2328 | 8 | 62 | 66.5 | 2274 |
| 7 | 4 | Lei, Tingjie | GM | CHN | 2496 | 7.5 | 71.5 | 77 | 2354 |
| 8 | 13 | Divya, Deshmukh | GM | IND | 2419 | 7.5 | 71 | 75.5 | 2318 |
| 9 | 6 | Lagno, Kateryna | GM | FID | 2452 | 7.5 | 68.5 | 73 | 2303 |
| 10 | 2 | Tan, Zhongyi | GM | CHN | 2507 | 7.5 | 68 | 72 | 2340 |
| 11 | 7 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | GM | SUI | 2450 | 7.5 | 67 | 72.5 | 2286 |
| 12 | 31 | Arabidze, Meri | IM | GEO | 2333 | 7.5 | 66.5 | 71 | 2353 |
| 13 | 24 | Shuvalova, Polina | IM | FID | 2360 | 7.5 | 65 | 69.5 | 2286 |
| 14 | 14 | Muzychuk, Anna | GM | UKR | 2398 | 7.5 | 63 | 67.5 | 2307 |
| 15 | 29 | Batsiashvili, Nino | GM | GEO | 2346 | 7 | 74 | 79 | 2413 |
| 16 | 50 | Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene | WIM | MGL | 2288 | 7 | 70.5 | 74.5 | 2376 |
| 17 | 96 | Chen, Yining | FM | CHN | 2143 | 7 | 70 | 75.5 | 2386 |
| 18 | 12 | Muzychuk, Mariya | GM | UKR | 2421 | 7 | 69.5 | 73.5 | 2344 |
| 19 | 9 | Dronavalli, Harika | GM | IND | 2435 | 7 | 67.5 | 73 | 2305 |
| 20 | 18 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | GM | BUL | 2379 | 7 | 67 | 72 | 2297 |
| 21 | 11 | Dzagnidze, Nana | GM | GEO | 2425 | 7 | 66 | 71 | 2293 |
| 22 | 22 | Khamdamova, Afruza | WGM | UZB | 2365 | 7 | 64 | 68 | 2288 |
| 23 | 19 | Song, Yuxin | IM | CHN | 2375 | 7 | 63.5 | 68 | 2295 |
| 24 | 44 | Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra | IM | POL | 2293 | 7 | 63.5 | 65.5 | 2275 |
| 25 | 20 | Khotenashvili, Bella | GM | GEO | 2373 | 7 | 62 | 66.5 | 2263 |
| 26 | 34 | Vantika, Agrawal | IM | IND | 2321 | 7 | 62 | 65.5 | 2247 |
| 27 | 40 | Preobrazhenskaya, Diana | WFM | FID | 2306 | 7 | 59 | 63 | 2243 |
| 28 | 32 | Munkhzul, Turmunkh | WGM | MGL | 2330 | 7 | 56.5 | 60.5 | 2236 |
| 29 | 41 | Mkrtchian, Lilit | IM | ARM | 2300 | 7 | 56.5 | 60.5 | 2203 |
| 30 | 27 | Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | IM | ESP | 2356 | 6.5 | 70 | 75.5 | 2373 |
| 31 | 51 | Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim | IM | UZB | 2286 | 6.5 | 67 | 70.5 | 2343 |
| 32 | 47 | Padmini, Rout | IM | IND | 2290 | 6.5 | 64 | 68.5 | 2288 |
| 33 | 16 | Roebers, Eline | IM | NED | 2392 | 6.5 | 64 | 67.5 | 2226 |
| 34 | 35 | Mammadzada, Gunay | IM | AZE | 2315 | 6.5 | 63.5 | 68 | 2324 |
| 35 | 38 | Salimova, Nurgyul | IM | BUL | 2311 | 6.5 | 63 | 68 | 2255 |
| 36 | 74 | Rudzinska, Michalina | WGM | POL | 2210 | 6.5 | 63 | 67.5 | 2293 |
| 37 | 1 | Ju, Wenjun | GM | CHN | 2530 | 6.5 | 62 | 66 | 2286 |
| 38 | 26 | Krush, Irina | GM | USA | 2358 | 6.5 | 62 | 66 | 2215 |
| 39 | 56 | Kiolbasa, Oliwia | IM | POL | 2270 | 6.5 | 61.5 | 65 | 2320 |
| 40 | 62 | Shukhman, Anna | WGM | FID | 2247 | 6.5 | 59.5 | 64 | 2245 |
| 41 | 86 | Francisco Guecamburu, Candela Be | WGM | ARG | 2175 | 6.5 | 58.5 | 62 | 2254 |
| 42 | 111 | Khafizova, Diana | WFM | FID | 2085 | 6.5 | 58 | 62 | 2291 |
| 43 | 55 | Balajayeva, Khanim | IM | AZE | 2272 | 6.5 | 58 | 61.5 | 2191 |
| 44 | 15 | Kamalidenova, Meruert | IM | KAZ | 2398 | 6.5 | 57.5 | 62 | 2234 |
| 45 | 36 | Pham, Le Thao Nguyen | IM | VIE | 2312 | 6.5 | 55.5 | 60 | 2193 |
| 46 | 92 | Kurmangaliyeva, Liya | WGM | KAZ | 2157 | 6.5 | 55.5 | 58 | 2284 |
| 47 | 64 | Berend, Elvira | WGM | LUX | 2244 | 6 | 65 | 69 | 2316 |
| 48 | 28 | Garifullina, Leya | IM | FID | 2347 | 6 | 62 | 66.5 | 2271 |
| 49 | 71 | Beydullayeva, Govhar | WGM | AZE | 2224 | 6 | 62 | 66 | 2350 |
| 50 | 112 | Rakshitta, Ravi | WGM | IND | 2082 | 6 | 61.5 | 66 | 2292 |
| 141 players | |||||||||
