2024 World Rapid & Blitz: Schedule, New Format, and Chessify Prizes

Short games, high drama, and fierce competition among the world’s best players—it’s that time of year again! The 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Championships are here, kicking off on December 26 to bring us an unforgettable chess spectacle to close the year.

As passionate chess fans, we at Chessify are thrilled to celebrate this event by offering prizes totaling $25,000 to the top finishers.

This year, the championships will take place at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, the very venue where Chessify claimed the World Corporate Championship title earlier this year. It was during that proud moment — being awarded the trophy for the smartest company in the world — that we pledged our $25,000 prize fund for this championship.

Photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Now, as the event unfolds, let’s revisit the key details of this prestigious competition and Chessify’s special prizes for the winners.

Overview of the Championship

The 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Championships feature four thrilling tournaments across six days, with a rest day on December 29. The event includes two Open championships and two Women’s championships, with separate titles for rapid and blitz. The Open tournaments will take place at Cipriani Wall Street, while the Women’s tournaments are hosted just across the street at 48 Wall Street.

Schedule

The action kicks off with an opening ceremony on December 25, followed by the first games on December 26. The rapid tournament takes center stage from December 26-28 in both the Open and Women’s sections. After a well-deserved rest day on December 29, players will return to the boards to battle for the Blitz titles on December 30 and 31.

Novel Format for the Blitz Championship

While the rapid tournament retains its traditional format with 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment, the blitz championship introduces a thrilling new twist. The time control remains 3 minutes + 2 seconds, but instead of the usual Swiss format, we’ll witness a knockout competition this year.

On December 30, players will compete to secure a spot in the top eight, which qualifies them for the knockout stage. The final day, December 31, will see the top-eight finishers compete in a single-elimination knockout. Each stage of the knockout will feature four-game matches, making every round a high-stakes showdown.

Defending Champions and Top Seeds

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen returns to defend both his rapid and blitz Open titles, aiming to extend his phenomenal record of five Rapid and seven Blitz World Championships. He’ll face a formidable field, including former World Championship challengers Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and the newly-crowned classical World Chess Champion, Gukesh D.

Photo by Lennart Ootes

India and China will showcase their brightest stars alongside Gukesh and former champion Ding Liren, with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Arjun Erigaisi, and Vidit Gujrathi representing India, and Wei Yi and Yu Yangyi representing China. As the host country, the USA boasts a strong lineup as well, with top GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, and rising talents like Jeffery Xiong, Hans Niemann, and Daniel Naroditsky.

In the Women’s tournaments, reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun leads a stellar lineup featuring former world champions Tan Zhongyi, Mariya Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Zhu Chen. The defending rapid champion Anastasia Bodnaruk and blitz champion Valentina Gunina will face tough competition from the likes of Kateryna Lagno, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Anna Muzychuk, and Nana Dzagnidze, all previous titleholders in their own right.

Chessify’s Prizes

During the closing ceremony of the World Corporate Championship, FIDE announced that, for the first time, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships would be held in New York — at the same venue where Chessify proudly won the title of the “Smartest Company in the World.” As winners of this prestigious event, we wanted to give back to the chess community, which inspired us to offer a $25,000 prize fund for the World Rapid and Blitz winners.

Photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

The prize will be awarded in Chessify coins, which provide access to our most powerful cloud servers for chess engine analysis. Here's how the prize fund will be distributed.

To claim your prize after the event, simply contact us at info@chessify.me or reach out via our social media channels. Our team will also do its best to reach out to the winners directly.

How to Follow the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships

The championships will be broadcast on major chess platforms like Chess.com and Lichess.org, as well as various YouTube and Twitch streams. The games will also feature prominently on Chessify’s livestreaming page—and there’s one feature that sets us apart.

World Rapid and Blitz events often feature multiple critical games happening simultaneously, and fans want to keep up with them all. Chessify’s livestreaming page is designed specifically for this need. You can create a custom grid of up to nine games to follow, with smaller chessboards displayed side by side. Each board includes an evaluation bar, giving you a quick overview of the action without the hassle of switching between games.

Additionally, our livestreaming page offers powerful Stockfish 17 analysis, running at 10 MN/s cloud speed, for accurate evaluations and insights into the games.

Save the date and catch all the action live on Chessify. Follow the games your way and stay connected to every key moment of the World Rapid and Blitz Championships.