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Carlsen, Goryachkina Win 2025 World Rapid Championships

Carlsen, Goryachkina Win 2025 World Rapid Championships

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NM AnthonyLevin
| 107 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Magnus Carlsen has won his sixth world rapid championship title after winning the 2025 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship a full point ahead of the field with 10.5/13. It's his 19th world championship title across three time controls and he earns €70,000. GM Vladislav Artemiev finished second and GM Arjun Erigaisi third.

After a number of dramatic twists, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated GM Zhu Jiner in blitz tiebreaks to win her maiden world rapid championship title and €40,000. Zhu finished second and GM Koneru Humpy, who also finished in the three-way tie for first, got third. 

The blitz championships begin, with rounds 1-13 in the Open and 1-10 in the Women's, on Monday, December 29, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CET / 4:30 p.m. IST.

Open: Carlsen Dominates

Carlsen achieved his highest score ever in the event with this format—nine wins, three draws, and one loss. He nearly clinched it with a round to spare, as even a loss in the last round would have guaranteed him tiebreaks.

Final Open Standings After 13 Rounds | Top 32

# Title Name Fed Rating Points Rp
1 GM Carlsen, Magnus 2824 10.5 2875
2 GM Artemiev, Vladislav 2727 9.5 2827
3 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2714 9.5 2770
4 GM Niemann, Hans Moke 2612 9.5 2749
5 GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2703 9.5 2728
6 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2730 9 2784
7 GM Sindarov, Javokhir 2704 9 2735
8 GM So, Wesley 2702 9 2705
9 GM Giri, Anish 2685 9 2702
10 GM Esipenko, Andrey 2649 9 2691
11 GM Sevian, Samuel 2658 9 2703
12 GM Dubov, Daniil 2686 9 2686
13 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2707 9 2686
14 GM Shimanov, Aleksandr 2554 8.5 2721
15 GM Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan 2446 8.5 2728
16 GM Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. 2590 8.5 2660
17 GM Lazavik, Denis 2576 8.5 2721
18 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2751 8.5 2683
19 GM Nihal, Sarin 2664 8.5 2632
20 GM Gukesh, D 2692 8.5 2700
21 IM Meng, Yihan 2355 8.5 2723
22 GM Lu, Shanglei 2616 8.5 2594
23 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2717 8.5 2680
24 GM Maghsoodloo, Parham 2669 8.5 2643
25 GM Gurel, Ediz 2502 8.5 2675
26 GM Andreikin, Dmitry 2671 8.5 2685
27 GM Grischuk, Alexander 2677 8.5 2645
28 GM Praggnanandhaa, R 2663 8.5 2658
29 GM Motylev, Alexander 2603 8.5 2591
30 GM Firouzja, Alireza 2754 8.5 2621
31 GM Bjerre, Jonas Buhl 2570 8.5 2616
32 IM Sahidi, Samir 2524 8.5 2615

See full standings here.

Since 2014, Carlsen has received a medal at every edition of this event—and he's already secured his for this year. But it's never easy, as he said: "Whenever a tournament starts it doesn't really matter what you've done before and I think, specifically the world rapid championship, it's a very difficult tournament honestly to win," saying that 13 rounds isn't a lot. 

He added, "A serious advantage that I have is that I'm playing for first place when I'm playing here," pointing out that the majority of players vie for prize money and any medal, while he only plays for first.

Carlsen's Freestyle Chess partner Jan Henric Buettner made a ceremonial first move. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

Since his loss against Artemiev in round seven, Carlsen had won every single game until the last round against GM Anish Giri, when a draw was enough to secure the title. That's a rampage of five wins in a row against the world's best players. 

There were four rounds played on Sunday, and his wins came against GMs Alexey Sarana, Hans Niemann, and Yagiz Erdogmus. Carlsen won each one of the games with his signature style, in slow positional squeezes. 

In game one, he outplayed Sarana with two knights against two bishops. And because leaders Niemann and Artemiev made a draw on the board next to him, we saw the encounter Carlsen vs. Niemann in the day's second round.

Carlsen won an important encounter in his third-to-last game. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

That's our Game of the Day, where Niemann soundly sacrificed a pawn, but Carlsen quickly put on pressure. GM Dejan Bojkov analyzes that game below.

You can also watch GM Hikaru Nakamura's recap video below.

Niemann went on to finish strong on 9.5/13, in the pack of four players a point behind the champion. He was helped tremendously in the next round when GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov allowed a forced checkmate in what should have been a holdable position.

As Carlsen defeated Sarana, 14-year-old Erdogmus on a nearby board slayed a giant, GM Arjun Erigaisi, for a true shot at the crown. The Turkish prodigy had an incredible tournament, considering he lost in round one against 2024 Rapid World Champion Volodar Murzin (who finished with eight points).

Erdogmus showed he already belongs among the world's elite in rapid chess. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

It was Carlsen's win against Erdogmus that clinched the tournament, as he would need only a draw with White in the final round. The tiniest inaccuracy, 23.c4?! gave Carlsen something to play for, and he exploited the advantage—the vacated d4-square—to bring home the full point.

Carlsen said at the press conference that he felt a little bad for his opponent and praised him:

He's an incredible player. He's the best 14-year-old that the world has ever seen, but he was visibly very nervous and, yeah, that's the way it's going to be sometimes and, you know, he will get a lot of chances to strike back against probably me and many others as well.

Erdogmus will have more chances in the future. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

A draw with Giri in an Alapin Sicilian meant that Carlsen won the tournament, and smoothly at that. The next goal will be to win the blitz championship; he has held both titles at the same time in 2014, 2019, 2022, and 2023. He said, "I know that tomorrow is going to be very difficult. It's 13 games [out of 19, before the Knockout], it's going to decide a lot."

He also was proud that he didn't let his one loss destroy his event:

If you have a bad day and you cannot stop the trend, then you're going to probably ruin your tournament. That's something that I'm quite proud of, that I managed to reset and play. Not only did I win my last two games yesterday, but I felt that I also found some really good moves in those games.

Artemiev, who co-led the tournament after day two, made all draws on the last day to receive silver. It's the second time he's finished as runner-up, which he also accomplished in 2019 (Carlsen won gold there too).

Artemiev made all draws, with the last one against Wesley So. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

It was Arjun who squeezed into third, thanks to tiebreaks, after recovering from his loss with two wins. In the last round against GM Aleksandr Shimanov, 17...f4? was a big mistake that allowed White to open the g-file and attack, something the Indian grandmaster is exceptional at doing.

GM Leinier Dominguez was the fourth and, by tiebreaks, last player to finish with 9.5 points. He and Artemiev were the only two players in the top five who went undefeated in the 13 rounds, and he defeated Erdogmus in the very last round.

Dominguez had a good event and finished well. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

On top of the prize money, the top three finishers also qualify for the new FIDE Total World Championship Tour, a separate world championship from the 2026 FIDE World Championship. That's Carlsen, Artemiev, and Arjun.

You can check out the pairings for the blitz championship below. 

Day 1 Blitz Pairings | Top 10 Boards

# Seed Title White Rating Result Title Black Rating Seed
1 127 IM Materia, Marco 2510 GM Carlsen, Magnus *) 2881 1
2 2 GM Firouzja, Alireza 2813 IM Saraci, Nderim 2509 128
3 129 GM Rodrigue-Lemieux, Shawn 2506 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2801 3
4 4 GM Dubov, Daniil 2795 GM Gurel, Ediz 2503 130
5 131 GM Volokitin, Andrei 2503 GM So, Wesley 2790 5
6 6 GM Aronian, Levon 2774 IM Oro, Faustino 2503 132
7 133 GM Can, Emre 2502 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2768 7
8 8 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2751 GM Grebnev, Aleksey 2502 134
9 135 GM Lobanov, Sergei 2500 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2750 9
10 10 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2749 IM Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid 2499 136

Women's: Goryachkina Wins, Heartbreaker For Zhu And Humpy

While Carlsen's victory can be described as "smooth" at the end, the same cannot be said for the women's tournament. It was a nailbiter.

Final Women's Standings After 11 Rounds | Top 30

# Title Name Fed Rating Points Rp
1 GM Zhu, Jiner 2435 8.5 2601
2 GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra 2505 8.5 2557
3 GM Koneru, Humpy 2448 8.5 2532
4 IM Savitha, Shri B 2238 8 2494
5 GM Vaishali, Rameshbabu 2359 8 2473
6 IM Atalik, Ekaterina 2328 8 2433
7 GM Lei, Tingjie 2496 7.5 2474
8 GM Divya, Deshmukh 2419 7.5 2435
9 GM Lagno, Kateryna 2452 7.5 2421
10 GM Tan, Zhongyi 2507 7.5 2462
11 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2450 7.5 2406
12 IM Arabidze, Meri 2333 7.5 2465
13 IM Shuvalova, Polina 2360 7.5 2406
14 GM Muzychuk, Anna 2398 7.5 2429
15 GM Batsiashvili, Nino 2346 7 2485
16 WIM Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene 2288 7 2440
17 FM Chen, Yining 2143 7 2478
18 GM Muzychuk, Mariya 2421 7 2432
19 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2435 7 2393
20 GM Stefanova, Antoaneta 2379 7 2379
21 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 2425 7 2376
22 WGM Khamdamova, Afruza 2365 7 2378
23 IM Song, Yuxin 2375 7 2383
24 IM Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra 2293 7 2315
25 GM Khotenashvili, Bella 2373 7 2356
26 IM Vantika, Agrawal 2321 7 2333
27 WFM Preobrazhenskaya, Diana 2306 7 2319
28 WGM Munkhzul, Turmunkh 2330 7 2324
29 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2300 7 2292
30 IM Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat 2356 6.5 2415

See full standings here. 

Round six, out of 11, was the last time that the tournament had a sole leader. By round 10, there were five players tied in the lead, and going into the last round, there were three: Zhu, Goryachkina, and Humpy. Goryachkina won her penultimate game against WIM Bat-Erdene Mungunzul, and she called this her most interesting game of the tournament.

She prefers a slower positional grind, she said, but here she was forced into a tactical skirmish. Goryachkina left her knight hanging on g5 for several moves, and when it was finally taken the position was already desperate for Black.

Mysteriously, the regulations stipulated that in the Women's section only two players would play tiebreaks, even if three or more players tied; conversely, in the Open, all players tied in first would play tiebreaks. With this in mind, each of the three games felt like a must-win situation for the leaders.

Defending champion Humpy would ultimately be left out. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

Nobody could have predicted what happened in the final round. All three games ended in shocking draws, and it transpired that if any one of the leaders had won it would have earned the world title.

Zhu won a clean pawn out of the opening against GM Tan Zhongyi and later failed to convert an advantage of two extra pieces, Humpy let go of a winning advantage with an extra pawn in a bishop endgame against IM Savitha Shri, and Goryachkina saved a lost endgame against IM Ekaterina Atalik.

Zhu's game was the most tragic, and Tan deserves full credit for creating her chances no matter how hopeless it looked.

Goryachkina, outplayed, saved the game with a timely tactic, using the pin on the a-file.

Based on Buchholz scores, reigning champion Humpy was left out of the tiebreaks, which Zhu and Goryachkina contested.

Unlike the Swiss tournament, the tiebreak was relatively smooth for Goryachkina. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

The Chinese grandmaster, perhaps flustered with that game she let slip, dropped a pawn and lost the first game, then was unable to create real winning chances in the second.

Like all three of the players to tie in first, Goryachkina went undefeated in the 11 rounds. Her best result in a rapid world championship before this was bronze in Saint Petersburg in 2018. She described the feeling of winning in so many words: "It's very cool!"

There's no rest, however, as the blitz championships start on Monday. You can check out the pairings for the women's tournament below.

Day 1 Blitz Pairings | Top 10 Boards

# Seed Title White Rating Result Title Black Rating Seed
1 1 GM Ju, Wenjun 2489 WIM Luong, Phuong Hanh 2197 71
2 72 GM Girya, Olga 2195 GM Lei, Tingjie 2478 2
3 3 GM Tan, Zhongyi 2457 WIM Mkrtchyan, Mariam 2193 73
4 74 WGM Priyanka, Nutakki 2191 GM Lagno, Kateryna 2448 4
5 5 GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra 2439 IM Mammadova, Gulnar 2185 75
6 76 Jiang, Tianyu 2183 GM Koneru, Humpy 2430 6
7 7 GM Assaubayeva, Bibisara 2428 IM Gaal, Zsoka 2182 77
8 78 WIM Aydin, Gulenay 2177 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2428 8
9 9 GM Zhu, Jiner 2425 WGM Nandhidhaa, P V 2174 79
10 80 WFM Nguyen, Hong Nhung 2171 IM Garifullina, Leya 2407 10
How To Watch
You can watch the tournaments on Chess24 YouTube or Twitch channels. You can follow the action with GM Hikaru Nakamura's recaps on YouTube and also watch his stream on Kick. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.
GMs Aman Hambleton and Benjamin Bok hosted the broadcast.

The 2025 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships decide the world champions of rapid and blitz chess in Open and Women's sections. For the rapid championships, the Open is a 13-round Swiss; the Women's is an 11-round Swiss. The time control for both tournaments is 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The blitz championships feature 19 rounds in the Open and 15 rounds in the Women's, followed by a Knockout played by the top-four finishers, with a time control of 3+2 for all games. The total prize fund is over €1,000,000.

Previous coverage:

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