World Blitz Chess Championship 2024 was an over-the-board chess tournament held in New York on 30 and 31 December 2024. It was the 2024 edition of the World Blitz Chess Championship and was held in New York City, USA.
After three drawn tiebreak games in the finals of the Open section, the organizing body, FIDE, controversially agreed with Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi and changed the rules of the tournament to allow them to share first place.[1] The Women's section was won by Ju Wenjun.[2][3]
Details
The tournament was open for players with a rating of 2550 and above, as well as reigning national champions. The total prize fund was $450,000.[4]
The tournament followed a Swiss system consisting of 13 rounds for the Open section and 11 rounds for the Women's section. The top 8 players from the Swiss proceeded to the knockout round, where played four-game matches. The time control is blitz, with each player given 3 minutes plus 2 additional seconds per move, starting from the first move.[4]
Controversies
On 27 December, defending champion Magnus Carlsen declared that he would not participate due to previously having been fined and penalized for violating the dress code by wearing jeans during the World Rapid Chess Championship 2024.[5][6] However, on 29 December, Carlsen reversed his decision and announced that he would indeed take part in the tournament.[7][8]
Daniil Dubov was late to his match against Hans Niemann. He stated he had overslept, but then commented in an interview with a phrase, 'You're not stupid', prompting speculations that he had intentionally forfeited this match.[9] As a result of Dubov missing the game, Niemann was awarded a win and Dubov a forfeit loss.[10] This would prove to be relevant as Dubov would finish the Day 1 Swiss-system tournament in a ten-way tie for first place, with only the top eight players advancing to the Day 2 Knockout stage according to the tournament's tiebreak criteria.[11] Of consequence, the first tiebreak criterion (Buchholz Cut 1) treats forfeit losses different from played losses.[12] As a result, Dubov finished in 10th place by tiebreaks and was eliminated from the tournament. However, if Dubov had played Niemann and lost (rather than receiving a forfeit loss), he would have finished in 8th place by tiebreaks and advanced to the knockout stage.
Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi finished the final round of the Open section tied 2-2, which began a tiebreak phase: first player to win a game would win the tournament. After three tiebreak games ended in draws, Carlsen proposed to Nepomniachtchi that they share the championship, and asked an arbiter if such a thing would be possible. FIDE agreed to the proposal, and both players were declared winner of the Open section, leading to criticism from the chess community.[13][1]
Results
Day 1 - Swiss-system tournament
In the Open tournament, a total of ten players accumulated 9.5 points each. After tie-break rules were applied, the top eight advanced to the knockout rounds, which were held on 31 December.
In the women's section, the top ten players were as follows. After tie-break rules were applied, the top eight advanced to the knockout rounds, which were held on 31 December.
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