As is traditional in the chess world, the World Rapid & Blitz Championship takes place in the holiday season, with the best players of the game flying to Kazakhstan this time to face off against each other over the board in a faster time control.
The tournament is played in a 15+10 time format, meaning fifteen minutes of starting time with ten seconds added per move.
Last year, Carlsen lost his crown in a narrow tiebreaker affair to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and he’s made it clear that he’s gunning for revenge by beating the title holder in an epic encounter to become just one of four players with 4.5 points out of 5 heading into the second day of play.
With five rounds played and eight still to go, it’s still all to play for in the tournament. Household names like Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana already have a small deficit to claw back, but there’s more than enough time to get it done.
Carlsen will face Jorden Van Foreest in the sixth round. On board 2, the other two players with 4.5 points will lock horns: Vladimir Fedoseev with the White pieces against Arjun Erigaisi.
Hans Niemann is also participating in the event, and he’s currently on 3 points, sitting on the 32nd board, far from the real action for now.
After the three-day Rapid tournament is concluded, the World Blitz Championship follows, a two-day affair with even faster time controls.
