Preliminary Lists of Participants of World Rapid and Blitz Championships Published

Players are kindly requested to take note of the dress code.

The lists of the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships participants are published on the official website. The event will be held in the VIP zone of the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow from December 25 (arrival) till December 31 (departure), 2019.

At the moment, 186 participants are registered in the open rapid tournament and 120 in the women's event. The starting list of the open championship is headed by Magnus Carlsen (2886, Norway), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2873, France), Hikaru Nakamura (2819, USA), Anton Korobov (2818, Ukraine), Levon Aronian (2784, Armenia), Vladislav Artemiev (2756, Russia) and other strong and well-known players. The top seeds of the women's event are Anna Muzychuk (2592, Ukraine), Alexandra Kosteniuk (2538, Russia), Kateryna Lagno (2533, Russia), Mariya Muzychuk (2518, Ukraine), Lei Tingjie (2498, China) and others. 

189 and 119 participants are registered in the blitz championships respectively. Rating favourites of the open tournaments are Hikaru Nakamura (2885, USA), Magnus Carlsen (2865, Norway), Sergey Karjakin (2836, Russia), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2826, Russia), Yu Yangyi (2807, China), Peter Svidler (2805, Russia) and others. The 14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik (2748, Russia), who announced his retirement earlier this year, will take part in the blitz event as well. The starting list of the women's blitz championship is headed by Kateryna Lagno (2606, Russia), Lei Tingjie (2543, China), Alexandra Kosteniuk (2521, Russia), Anna Muzychuk (2504, Ukraine), and other well-known players. 

Participants are kindly requested to pay attention to the dress code, which will be strictly observed during the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships

Men: Shoes: Oxfords, loafers, leather shoes or boots, classic suit shoes; Pants: Solid darks: black, navy, grey, beige, brown, in any case unicolourous; Shirt: Long-sleeved shirts in light shades (white, light blue, beige, brown, etc.), as well as blue and black. No bright colours, in any case unicolourous. Jacket: solid darks: black, navy, grey, beige, brown. No bright colours, in any case unicolourous. With or without a tie. The jacket or cardigan with buttons is mandatory.

Women: classic shoes, formal trouser or skirt, suit or dress, preferably unicolour, but not mandatory.

No players with t-shirts, jeans, shorts, sneakers, baseball caps or inappropriate dress are allowed in the playing area. Any requests to wear national or traditional dress must be approved by GSC.

Official website