FIDE Breaks From World Rapid & Blitz Tradition, Introduces Rest Day
FIDE has announced a significant change to the schedule of the 2024 World Rapid & Blitz Championships, taking place in New York in the last week of December, adding a rest day so that the event ends on New Year's Eve.
FIDE announced in June that the event would take place in New York and, for the first time, on U.S. soil. The exact venue is yet to be announced, but on Monday they revealed that the iconic Wall Street district will be the backdrop of the event.
"This is going to be a unique event in so many ways. Top chess grandmasters will gather at the financial heart of the world, and what fascinates me is the enormous concentration of the sharpest minds and the synergies that will be born," said FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky. "I'm very much looking forward to an event that has everything it takes to become a landmark, 'I-was-there' kind of gathering," he added.
The chess world-governing body also said that the prestigious championships, which since 2016 have been organized in the last week of December, will see a key change in the schedule for 2024.
Instead of the traditional five-day schedule with the rapid event starting December 26, the competition is now extended by one day, lasting six days due to the introduction of a rest day on December 29. The blitz event will begin one day later, on December 30, and end on New Year's Eve.
FIDE says the schedule change is "designed to enhance the experience for players and spectators." The rest day will be dedicated to Chess Davos, a conference "exploring the intersection of chess and finance," according to a post by FIDE on X/Twitter.
🗓️ This year, FIDE has introduced a new schedule! The event kicks off with the Rapid Championship from December 26 to 28, followed by a day off on December 29, which will be dedicated to Chess Davos - an exclusive conference exploring the intersection of chess and finance. The… pic.twitter.com/tUum0WmnUO
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) August 26, 2024
The complete schedule with starting times is yet to be announced. Still, the change has already sparked reactions in the chess community, with several noting that chess fans in Europe and Asia will be busy with New Year celebrations during the last day of blitz.
In addition, many players will also be forced to spend New Year's Eve in The Big Apple, as pointed out by IM Levy Rozman.
Very excited this is in my city.
— GothamChess (@GothamChess) August 26, 2024
However...
In past years it ended on Dec 30, so players can travel home for the New Year celebration.
This year, participants will likely all need to celebrate 2025 after completing the event in NYC.
What do you think? https://t.co/dOIWvbswx7
Renowned photographer David Llada joked that spending New Year's Eve in New York won't be cheap, whether you are a player or spectator.
I hope the conference on finance touches on the topic of "how to improve your credit scores", because booking a room in Manhattan during New Year's Eve will probably require getting a loan. https://t.co/7YknvQWd1d
— David Llada ♞ (@davidllada) August 26, 2024
A preliminary list of registered players is yet to be released, but GMs Magnus Carlsen (defending champion of both rapid and blitz), Hikaru Nakamura, and Fabiano Caruana are expected to take part in the Open events.
FIDE said they'll begin general admission and VIP package ticket sales soon.
Tarjei J. Svensen is a Norwegian chess journalist who worked for some of the country's biggest media outlets and appeared on several national TV broadcasts. Between 2015 and 2019, he ran his chess website mattogpatt.no, covering chess news in Norwegian and partly in English.
In 2020, he was hired by Chess24 to cover chess news, eventually moving to Chess.com as a full-time chess journalist in 2023. He is also known for his extensive coverage of chess news on his X/Twitter account.
