King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships Open in Riyadh

Magnus Carlsen and Kateryna Lagno take part in the drawing of lots.

The King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships were opened on December 25 at the iconic Apex Convention Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

The opening ceremony was attended by Excellency Turki bin Abdel Muhsin Al-Asheikh, Chairman of the General Sports Authority, Mr Georgios Makropoulos, FIDE Deputy President, Excellency Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa al Nehyan, President of the Asian Chess Federation, Mr Jorge Vega, President of Confederation of Chess for Americas, Mr Al Sulaiman Mottaz Abdulrahman, President of the Saudi Arabia Chess Federation, and Mr Geoffrey Borg, FIDE CEO.

Prior to the opening ceremony, the chief arbiter IA Takis Nikolopoulos, his deputies, tournament director and members of the Appeals Committee held the arbiters meeting and the technical meeting with the players.

In the drawing of lots for the first round the top rated player, the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen chose white pieces in both events. Kateryna Lagno got black pieces for both women's events.

After the historical agreement with the Organizers there is no need for female players to wear a hijab or abaya during the games or in the hotel, which is a first for any sporting event in Saudi Arabia. Another unprecedented event is that visas for players from Iran and Qatar were secured. The Saudi authorities informed FIDE that the visas for Qatari players will be issued and they also proposed that for security reasons the Qatari players should play under the FIDE flag. This issue was resolved the next day by FIDE, and the Qatar Chess Association was informed that their players would play under their own flag. FIDE, additionally, had accepted the registration of two Qatari players as FIDE nominees, although they had not met the minimum rating requirements. 

The Championships will run between 26th and 30th December offering a record total prize fund of US$ 2,000,000. The games will start daily from 2 p.m. (local and Moscow time). Live broadcast will be available on the official website.

134 men and 100 women are taking part in the World Rapid Championships. 

The starting list of the open event is headed by Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), and Alexander Grischuk (Russia). Our country is also represented by Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladimir Fedoseev, Ernesto Inarkiev, the reigning World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, Sanan Sjugirov, Alexander Riazantsev, Vladimir Malakhov, Denis Khismatullin, Vladislav Artemiev, Boris Savchenko, Evgeny Alekseev, Dmitry Bocharov, Pavel Ponkratov, Dmitry Kokarev, Anton Demchenko, Aleksey Dreev, Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Vladimir Potkin, Sergey Grigoriants, Pavel Tregubov, Vladimir Dobrov, Yan Dzhumagaliev, Andrey Esipenko, and Vladimir Minko.

The Russians Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina are rating favorites of the women’s tournament. Russia is also represented by Anastasia Bodnaruk, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Marina Nechaeva, Daria Voit, Anastasia Savina, Olga Girya, Karina Ambartsumova, Alina Bivol, Daria Charochkina, Baira Kovanova, Polina Shuvalova, Dina Belenkaya, Evgenija Ovod, and Bibisara Assaubayeva.

Tournament on Chess-Results

Official website