Carlsen, Anand To Defend Rapid, Blitz Titles In St. Petersburg

Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, the winners of last year's world rapid (Anand) and blitz (Carlsen) championships, will be defending their titles this year, from December 26–30. Although the main sponsor didn't change, the tournament was moved from Saudi Arabia to St. Petersburg, Russia.

It was a controversial championship last year in Riyadh, where the total prize fund was a record U.S. $2 million, but players from Israel (due to visa issues) and Iran did not participate, and players from Qatar only in the blitz. The general consensus was that, even though a three-year contract had been signed, the Saudis couldn't organize a second event without the guarantee that players from all countries would be welcome.

For this year's edition, the new FIDE leadership seems to have reached a compromise solution: The tournament has been moved to Russia, but is still sponsored by the Saudis. The official name remained "King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships."

The opening ceremony will be in the evening of Christmas Day, December 25. After that, there will be three days of rapid and two days of blitz, so everything will be on the same dates as last year. The organization will be in the hands of the Russian Chess Federation.

The rapid games will be played at 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, and the format is a 15-round Swiss. The blitz games will be played at three minutes plus two seconds increment, and the format is a 21-round Swiss.

FIDE has already announced a number of big stars that have signed up such as reigning world champion and world blitz champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Anish Giri (Netherlands), reigning world rapid champion Viswanathan Anand (India), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Peter Svidler (all Russia).

More top players are expected to participate; for instance Hikaru Nakamura said he would go to the Russian embassy in London on the rest day of the London Chess Classic to try and obtain his visa for Russia. Players can register until December 22.

World Rapid & Blitz | Prize Fund

Thanks to the combined prize fund, the total amount a player can win is U.S. $140,000 if he finishes in sole first place in both tournaments.

In a recent Chess24 chat with Jan Gustafsson, Carlsen said the following when he heard of the participation of Giri in St. Petersburg:

"Wow! I’m looking forward to that. That’s going to be great fun! He’s going to regret it. He’s never going to play again after this one. He’s going to lose to Artemiev, Bocharov, all of the Russian guys!"

Carlsen and Giri have a history of teasing each other—mostly via Twitter—and it didn't take long for the Dutch GM to give a response:

Now that we're talking about Carlsen, some other news tidbit cannot remain unmentioned. On Friday, a rap song in Norwegian was released on Spotify in which Carlsen can be heard rapping, starting from 6:20. Here's the song:

In the women's world rapid and blitz tournament, we'll also see most of the strongest players, e.g. reigning women’s world champion Ju Wenjun (China), Anna and Mariya Muzychuk (both Ukraine), Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Valentina Gunina, Olga Girya (all Russia), Humpy Koneru (India), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) and Tan Zhongyi (China).

Women's World Rapid & Blitz | Prize Fund

The venue will be the Manege, which is the largest exhibition space in central St. Petersburg on St. Isaac's Square.

The playing hall this year. | Photo courtesy FIDE.

From the advance announcements, it's already clear that the organization by the Russian Chess Federation will be of its usual high standards. For instance, an extensive additional program will be in place, including side tournaments for children and adults, solving contests, simultaneous exhibitions, master classes, an exhibition from the Russian Chess Federation's Chess Museum and other activities. To top it off, the entrance for guests will be free.