GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Fabiano Caruana lead the 2025 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship with 10 points out of 13 games, with six rounds left in the Swiss portion. GM Magnus Carlsen, who dominated the rapid world championship, suffered two losses and is a point behind.
IM Eline Roebers leads the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Blitz Chess Championship with 8.5 points out of 10 games. Starting in round five, she won six games in a row, notably with the King’s Gambit against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina in round nine.
This is a flash report. Come back later to read the full article here.
The blitz championships conclude on Tuesday, December 30, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CET / 4:30 p.m. IST. We will see rounds 14-19 in the Open and 11-15 in the Women’s, followed by four-player Knockouts.
Open: Arjun, Vachier-Lagrave & Caruana Lead As Carlsen Falters
Final Open Standings After 13 Rounds | Top 20
| # | Title | Name | Fed | Rating | Points |
| 1 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2749 | 10 | |
| 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2745 | 10 | |
| 3 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2751 | 10 | |
| 4 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | 2795 | 9.5 | |
| 5 | GM | Lu, Shanglei | 2657 | 9.5 | |
| 6 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2704 | 9.5 | |
| 7 | GM | Jobava, Baadur | 2649 | 9.5 | |
| 8 | GM | So, Wesley | 2790 | 9.5 | |
| 9 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2665 | 9.5 | |
| 10 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2768 | 9 | |
| 11 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2881 | 9 | |
| 12 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | 2719 | 9 | |
| 13 | GM | Pranesh, M | 2553 | 9 | |
| 14 | IM | Goutham, Krishna H | 2336 | 9 | |
| 15 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2703 | 9 | |
| 16 | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2649 | 9 | |
| 17 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2801 | 9 | |
| 18 | GM | Narayanan, S L | 2619 | 9 | |
| 19 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2679 | 9 | |
| 20 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2704 | 9 |
GM Rafael Leitao‘s analysis of our Game of the Day will be added soon.
Round 14 Pairings | Top 10 Boards
| Board | Seed | Title | White | Rating | Points | Result | Points | Title | Black | Rating | Seed |
| 1 | 26 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2679 | 9 | 9 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus *) | 2881 | 1 | |
| 2 | 8 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2751 | 10 | 9½ | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2665 | 28 | |
| 3 | 19 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2704 | 9½ | 10 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2749 | 10 | |
| 4 | 34 | GM | Jobava, Baadur | 2649 | 9½ | 10 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2745 | 12 | |
| 5 | 5 | GM | So, Wesley | 2790 | 9½ | 9½ | GM | Dubov, Daniil | 2795 | 4 | |
| 6 | 3 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2801 | 9 | 9½ | GM | Lu, Shanglei | 2657 | 30 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2768 | 9 | 9 | GM | Narayanan, S L | 2619 | 52 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | 2719 | 9 | 9 | GM | Pranesh, M | 2553 | 95 | |
| 9 | 35 | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2649 | 9 | 9 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2704 | 18 | |
| 10 | 208 | IM | Goutham, Krishna H | 2336 | 9 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2703 | 20 |
Women’s: Roebers Wins 6 In A Row
Final Women’s Standings After 10 Rounds | Top 30
| # | Title | Name | Fed | Rating | Points |
| 1 | IM | Roebers, Eline | 2377 | 8.5 | |
| 2 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2439 | 8 | |
| 3 | WIM | Omonova, Umida | 2278 | 8 | |
| 4 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2367 | 8 | |
| 5 | GM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2428 | 7.5 | |
| 6 | IM | Song, Yuxin | 2371 | 7.5 | |
| 7 | WIM | Nurgaliyeva, Zarina | 2209 | 7 | |
| 8 | IM | Yip, Carissa | 2313 | 7 | |
| 9 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2373 | 7 | |
| 10 | WGM | Francisco Guecamburu, Candela Be | 2298 | 7 | |
| 11 | GM | Danielian, Elina | 2373 | 7 | |
| 12 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2397 | 7 | |
| 13 | WGM | Nurman, Alua | 2324 | 7 | |
| 14 | WFM | Khafizova, Diana | 2033 | 7 | |
| 15 | IM | Garifullina, Leya | 2407 | 7 | |
| 16 | WIM | Wang, Chuqiao | 2297 | 7 | |
| 17 | GM | Gunina, Valentina | 2314 | 7 | |
| 18 | WGM | Shukhman, Anna | 2204 | 6.5 | |
| 19 | WIM | Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene | 2329 | 6.5 | |
| 20 | IM | Buksa, Nataliya | 2281 | 6.5 | |
| 21 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 2448 | 6.5 | |
| 22 | WFM | Iudina, Veronika | 2037 | 6.5 | |
| 23 | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | 2336 | 6.5 | |
| 24 | WIM | Kaliakhmet, Elnaz | 2144 | 6.5 | |
| 25 | IM | Arabidze, Meri | 2356 | 6.5 | |
| 26 | IM | Injac, Teodora | 2323 | 6.5 | |
| 27 | IM | Badelka, Olga | 2208 | 6.5 | |
| 28 | IM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2399 | 6.5 | |
| 29 | IM | Kamalidenova, Meruert | 2295 | 6.5 | |
| 30 | GM | Zhu, Jiner | 2425 | 6 |
Round 11 Pairings | Top 10 Boards
| Board | Seed | Title | White | Rating | Points | Result | Points | Title | Black | Rating | Seed |
| 1 | 17 | IM | Roebers, Eline | 2377 | 8½ | 8 | WIM | Omonova, Umida | 2278 | 43 | |
| 2 | 7 | GM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2428 | 7½ | 8 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2439 | 5 | |
| 3 | 21 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2367 | 8 | 7½ | IM | Song, Yuxin | 2371 | 20 | |
| 4 | 64 | WIM | Nurgaliyeva, Zarina | 2209 | 7 | 7 | IM | Garifullina, Leya | 2407 | 10 | |
| 5 | 13 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2397 | 7 | 7 | IM | Yip, Carissa | 2313 | 34 | |
| 6 | 33 | GM | Gunina, Valentina | 2314 | 7 | 7 | GM | Danielian, Elina | 2373 | 18 | |
| 7 | 19 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2373 | 7 | 7 | WGM | Francisco Guecamburu, Candela Be | 2298 | 37 | |
| 8 | 120 | WFM | Khafizova, Diana | 2033 | 7 | 7 | WGM | Nurman, Alua | 2324 | 30 | |
| 9 | 4 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 2448 | 6½ | 7 | WIM | Wang, Chuqiao | 2297 | 38 | |
| 10 | 65 | IM | Badelka, Olga | 2208 | 6½ | 6½ | IM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2399 | 12 |
The 2025 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 is a 13-round Swiss; the Women’s is an 11-round Swiss. The time control for both tournaments is 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The blitz championships feature 19 rounds in the Open and 15 rounds in the Women’s, followed by a Knockout played by the top-four finishers, with a time control of 3+2 for all games. The total prize fund is over €1,000,000.
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