GM Magnus Carlsen 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 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.
This is a flash report. Come back later to read about all of the action!
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
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.
GM Dejan Bojkov’s Game of the Day analysis will be added later.
Women’s: Goryachkina Wins In Tiebreaks
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.
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:
