GMs Magnus Carlsen, Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Vladislav Artemiev lead the 2025 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship with 4.5 points out of five games on the first day. The group of 15 players that trails them by a half-point includes two international masters, IM Goutham Krishna and IM Eldiar Orozbaev.
GM Zhu Jiner broke into the sole lead of the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Rapid Championship as the only player on a perfect 4/4. She is trailed by no fewer than seven players a half-point behind, with two more days of rapid chess ahead.
This is a flash report. Come back later for the full article, which will be added to this page.
Day two of the rapid championships, with rounds six-nine in the Open and five-eight in the Women’s, is on Saturday, December 27, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CET / 4:30 p.m. IST.
World Rapid & Blitz Championships Return To Doha, Qatar
The world rapid and blitz championships, which traditionally take place between Christmas and New Year’s, return to Doha, Qatar for the first time since 2016. GM Vasyl Ivanchuk won the rapid title that year and GM Sergey Karjakin won the blitz. The 56-year-old Ukrainian GM, active as ever, is back at it this year and started with 3/5.
The tournaments, featuring Open and Women’s sections, are held at the Sports and Events Complex in Qatar University from December 26-30. Four champions will be crowned—a world rapid, world blitz, women’s world rapid, and women’s blitz champion—and a prize fund of about €1,000,000 will be awarded. The first three days are devoted to rapid chess, with €70,000 awarded to first place in the Open and €40,000 to first in the Women’s.
The format is largely the same as last year—in fact, the rapid tournaments are exactly the same. The notable changes are that there are 19 rounds of blitz in the Open and 15 in the Women’s (increased from 13 and 11). Also, if the score is tied after four blitz games in the Final, just one armageddon game will determine the world rapid blitz champion—a shift from theoretically infinite blitz games, which last year’s regulations allowed.
World number-one Carlsen said, in a recent interview, that his relationship with FIDE wasn’t “great,” but he decided to play in Doha after all. The Norwegian GM holds 13 world titles in speed chess; he has received a medal every year at this event since 2014. Last year was a close call, however, as he controversially agreed with GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (also participating) to split the world blitz title.
Though Carlsen quit the tournament last year after being fined for wearing jeans, this year he will be after the rapid title held by GM Volodar Murzin, who finished the first day with just two points. In all, 247 of the world’s best players participate in the rapid championship.
World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju is in the mix, though he said at the opening ceremony that classical chess is his priority. He said, “I am here to play, to experiment, to enjoy myself, and simply to play chess with the aim of learning and gaining experience.” Gukesh had a great performance in the rapid portion of SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2025, though Carlsen took over and won the event after the blitz section and Gukesh finished in third.
GM Ju Wenjun wears the triple crown, as the women’s world champion in classical, rapid, and blitz. But she said at the opening ceremony, “For me, rapid and blitz are more fun and more exciting,” and will aim to hold onto that triple crown for a while longer.
GM Anna Muzychuk, who won both the women’s rapid and blitz titles in Doha nine years ago, returns to Qatar, as does her sister, GM Mariya Muzychuk. 142 women participate in both events.
Open:
The Game of the Day, analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao, will be added below later.
Open Standings After 5 Rounds | Top 30
| Rank | Seed | Title | Name | Fed | Rtg | Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2824 | 4.5 | |
| 2 | 9 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2714 | 4.5 | |
| 3 | 6 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2730 | 4.5 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2727 | 4.5 | |
| 5 | 16 | GM | Gukesh, D | 2692 | 4.5 | |
| 6 | 45 | GM | Anton Guijarro, David | 2619 | 4 | |
| 7 | 51 | GM | Sargsyan, Shant | 2611 | 4 | |
| 8 | 187 | IM | Goutham, Krishna H | 2392 | 4 | |
| 9 | 180 | IM | Orozbaev, Eldiyar | 2405 | 4 | |
| 10 | 113 | GM | Hovhannisyan, Robert | 2517 | 4 | |
| 11 | 18 | GM | Giri, Anish | 2685 | 4 | |
| 12 | 86 | GM | Chanda, Sandipan | 2553 | 4 | |
| 13 | 12 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2704 | 4 | |
| 14 | 29 | GM | Robson, Ray | 2652 | 4 | |
| 15 | 19 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2680 | 4 | |
| 16 | 24 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2664 | 4 | |
| 17 | 36 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2641 | 4 | |
| 18 | 106 | GM | Makarian, Rudik | 2524 | 4 | |
| 19 | 48 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2612 | 4 | |
| 20 | 56 | GM | Matlakov, Maxim | 2602 | 4 |
Open Round 6 Pairings | Top 10 Boards
The pairings will be added soon, when available.
Women’s:
Women’s Standings After 4 Rounds | Top 36
| Rank | Seed | Title | Name | Fed | Rating | Points |
| 1 | 10 | GM | Zhu, Jiner | 2435 | 4 | |
| 2 | 29 | GM | Batsiashvili, Nino | 2346 | 3.5 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2505 | 3.5 | |
| 4 | 12 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2421 | 3.5 | |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 2435 | 3.5 | |
| 6 | 18 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2379 | 3.5 | |
| 7 | 19 | IM | Song, Yuxin | 2375 | 3.5 | |
| 8 | 27 | IM | Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2356 | 3.5 | |
| 9 | 69 | WGM | Zhapova, Yana | 2227 | 3 | |
| 10 | 20 | GM | Khotenashvili, Bella | 2373 | 3 | |
| 11 | 25 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2359 | 3 | |
| 12 | 4 | GM | Lei, Tingjie | 2496 | 3 | |
| 13 | 11 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | 2425 | 3 | |
| 14 | 7 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2450 | 3 | |
| 15 | 47 | IM | Padmini, Rout | 2290 | 3 | |
| 16 | 14 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2398 | 3 | |
| 17 | 13 | GM | Divya, Deshmukh | 2419 | 3 | |
| 18 | 48 | WGM | Nurman, Alua | 2289 | 3 | |
| 19 | 50 | WIM | Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene | 2288 | 3 | |
| 20 | 67 | IM | Savitha, Shri B | 2238 | 3 | |
| 21 | 2 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | 2507 | 3 | |
| 22 | 22 | WGM | Khamdamova, Afruza | 2365 | 3 | |
| 23 | 24 | IM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2360 | 3 | |
| 24 | 23 | IM | Injac, Teodora | 2360 | 3 | |
| 25 | 80 | WGM | Mamedjarova, Zeinab | 2188 | 3 | |
| 26 | 90 | WFM | Yakimova, Mariya | 2159 | 3 | |
| 27 | 1 | GM | Ju, Wenjun | 2530 | 3 | |
| 28 | 5 | GM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2461 | 3 | |
| 29 | 38 | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | 2311 | 3 | |
| 30 | 8 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2448 | 3 | |
| 31 | 112 | WGM | Rakshitta, Ravi | 2082 | 3 | |
| 32 | 35 | IM | Mammadzada, Gunay | 2315 | 3 | |
| 33 | 31 | IM | Arabidze, Meri | 2333 | 3 | |
| 34 | 84 | WGM | Mamedjarova, Turkan | 2177 | 3 | |
| 35 | 96 | FM | Chen, Yining | 2143 | 3 | |
| 36 | 45 | IM | Mammadova, Gulnar | 2293 | 3 |
Women’s Round 5 Pairings | Top 10 Boards
| Board | Title | White | Rating | Points | Result | Points | Title | Black | Rating |
| 1 | GM | Zhu, Jiner | 2435 | 4 | 3½ | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2505 | |
| 2 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2379 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 2435 | |
| 3 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2421 | 3½ | 3½ | IM | Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2356 | |
| 4 | GM | Batsiashvili, Nino | 2346 | 3½ | 3½ | IM | Song, Yuxin | 2375 | |
| 5 | IM | Arabidze, Meri | 2333 | 3 | 3 | GM | Ju, Wenjun | 2530 | |
| 6 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | 2507 | 3 | 3 | IM | Mammadzada, Gunay | 2315 | |
| 7 | GM | Lei, Tingjie | 2496 | 3 | 3 | IM | Mammadova, Gulnar | 2293 | |
| 8 | GM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2461 | 3 | 3 | IM | Padmini, Rout | 2290 | |
| 9 | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | 2311 | 3 | 3 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2450 | |
| 10 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2448 | 3 | 3 | WIM | Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene | 2288 |
How To Watch
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-eight finishers, with a time control of 3+2 for all games. The total prize fund is over €1,000,000.
Previous coverage:
