World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships head to Hong Kong

Press release by FIDE

Hong Kong will host the fourth edition of FIDE’s World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships, from 17 to 21 June 2026. Bringing together top pros like Magnus Carlsen and amateur players in a fun, high-stakes format, the event is expanding its global reach to East Asia for the first time.

After Düsseldorf in 2023, Astana in 2024 and London in 2025, the World Rapid and Blitz Teams heads to Hong Kong, giving chess a new global stage.

Organised by FIDE, the event features rapid and blitz championships, scored with match points. Each team must include at least one female player and one recreational player, defined as someone who has never reached 2000 Elo in standard, rapid or blitz.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said:

We are proud and delighted to bring the fourth edition of the event to the world. As we have seen in previous WRB Teams, this is more than a tournament. The competition attracts players and fans from different cultural and professional backgrounds, helping build connections and creating opportunities.

A mix of fun and high stakes competition, the tournament attracts teams from the corporate and sports worlds across the globe.

WR Chess which has dominated the event since its launch, has already announced the key players in its team, including Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hou Yifan and others.

In recent years Hong Kong has become a serious international host for large open and regional events. The Hong Kong International Open Chess Championship in 2025 drew more than 400 players, including more than 80 titled participants. Most recently, the city hosted the 2025 Eastern Asia Juniors and Girls Chess Championships at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium.

Dvorkovich added:

This is the first time Hong Kong will host a major global chess event, and it is important to us to use the opportunity to promote the tournament, chess and the host city to a new audience.

Winners of previous editions

In 2023, the inaugural FIDE World Rapid Team Championship featured rapid chess only, with no blitz. It was a 12-round Swiss event, won by WR Chess Team.

In 2024, the event expanded to include blitz. The rapid remained a 12-round Swiss and was won by Al Ain ACMG from the UAE, while the blitz debuted in a two-stage format, with pool round robins, followed by a 16-team knockout. WR Chess won the blitz.

In 2025, the structure stayed the same. The rapid stage was a 12-round Swiss, won by Team MGD1. The blitz section followed the same format of a pool stage and a 16-team knockout, and was again won by WR Chess Team.

More details about the regulations, prize fund and competition will be announced in due course.