Volodar Murzin & India's Koneru Humpy Won 2024 FIDE World Rapid C'ship
Sport
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Koneru Humpy of India and the Russian Volodar Murzin respectively won the women's and Open titles at the 2024 FIDE World Rapid Championships. It was the second FIDE World Rapid Championship for Humpy while the Russian Volodar Muzrin became the second-youngest player to win the Championship in the Open section.
The 2024 FIDE World Rapid Championship was held in New York City, the United States of America 26-29 December 2024.
The 2024 FIDE World Blitz Championship will be held at the same venue on 30 and 31 December 2024.
It has been a wonderful year for India in Chess in 2024 having won the gold in the 2024 Chess Olympiad in both the Open and the Women’s Competition and D.Gukesh won the title of World Champion in classical chess.
The World Chess Championship is held in Classical, Rapid, and Blitz format.
Second World Rapid Title for Koneru Humpy
37-year-old Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, despite losing her first game in the championships emerged as the winner with her second World Rapid Championship title with a score of 8.5 in the 11 rounds.
She won her maiden Rapid title in 2019 in Moscow, Russia.
In the final round of the event, seven players- Ju Wenjhun, Kateryna Lagno, Harika Dronavalli, Afruza Khamdamova, Tan Zhongyi, Irene, and Humpy were tied at the top with 7.5 points in the 10 rounds.
In the final round, Koneru defeated Indonesian International Master Irine Kharisma Sukandar to win the title.
Dronavalli Harika finished at the 5th spot with 8 points.
Maiden title for Russian Volodar Murzin
The 18-year-old Russian chess player Volodar Murzin won his maiden World Rapid Championship by defeating Armenian GM Karen Grigoryan in the final round. He finished at the top of the points table with 10 points in 11 rounds.
Volodar Muzrin is the second-youngest chess player after Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the World Rapid Title in 2021 at the age of 17 years.
The second place was jointly shared by three-time World Blitz Champion Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi, each with 9.5 points.
Russia has been banned by FIDE from participating in its tournament due to its war with Russia. The Russian players compete in the event under the FIDE banner.
Arjun Erigaisi finished the Championship with 9 points in 5th position.
About FIDE World and Blitz Championship
The world chess governing body FIDE organises three World Championships in the individual chess category- Classical, Rapid, and Blitz formats annually.
The World Championship in the Rapid and Blitz category is held simultaneously.
The first FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship in the Open section was held in 2013 at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
The women's FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship was organised in 2012 in Batumi, Georgia.
The Open section was held annually while the Women's section was held after two years.
Since 2017 both the Open and the women's Rapid and Blitz World Championship have been held by FIDE at a single venue simultaneously.
Indian Winners
- No Indian has ever won the title in the Blitz format.
- Viswanathan Anand won the World Rapid Title in the Open section in 2017 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- Koneru Humpy has won the Rapid title twice in 2019 and 2024.
About FIDE
The International Chess Federation popularly known by its French name FIDE, governs the sport of chess worldwide.
Members: 201 countries national chess federation.
Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland
President: Arkady Dvorkovich (Russian)
Also Read: Indian men's & women's teams win gold in the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad.
Also Read: D Gukesh crowned World’s Youngest Chess Champion
