# World Blitz Chess Championship 2024

The 2024 World Blitz Chess Championship was the 4th edition of the annual chess tournament held by FIDE to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held the World Rapid and Blitz Championships at a joint tournament. The tournament was held in New York City, United States, from 30 to 31 December 2024.
After three drawn tiebreak games in the finals of the Open section, Magnus Carlsen proposed and Ian Nepomniachtchi agreed to share first place. FIDE controversially allowed the agreement and changed the rules of the tournament to permit them to do so. After two drawn tiebreak games, the Women's section was won by Ju Wenjun.

## 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.
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 system proceeded to the knockout rounds, where players played four-game matches in quarter finals, semi-finals, and finals. The time control is blitz, with each player given 3 minutes plus 2 additional seconds per move, starting from the first move. Since 2012, FIDE has held the World Rapid and Blitz Championships at a joint tournament.

## 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. However, on 29 December, Carlsen reversed his decision and announced that he would indeed take part in the tournament, after FIDE relaxed its dresscode rules and allowed him to continue wearing jeans, which he did.
Daniil Dubov was late to his match against Hans Niemann. He stated that he had overslept, although later comments made by Dubov in an interview led to speculation that he had intentionally forfeited. As a result of Dubov missing the game, Niemann was awarded a win and Dubov a forfeit loss. 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. Of consequence, the first tiebreak criterion (Buchholz cut 1) treats forfeit losses different from played losses. 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. Even though FIDE's tournament rules called for another tiebreak game in this situation, FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich used his authority to agree to the proposal, and both players were declared winners of the Open section, leading to criticism from the chess community.

## 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.
| Rank | SNo | Player | Points | TB1 |
| 1 | 9 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 9.5 | 102.5 |
| 2 | 5 | Fabiano Caruana | 9.5 | 101 |
| 3 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 9.5 | 101 |
| 4 | 4 | Wesley So | 9.5 | 100.5 |
| 5 | 2 | Alireza Firouzja | 9.5 | 100.5 |
| 6 | 18 | Hans Niemann | 9.5 | 99 |
| 7 | 7 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 9.5 | 97.5 |
| 8 | 41 | Volodar Murzin | 9.5 | 95.5 |
| 9 | 17 | Daniel Naroditsky | 9.5 | 92 |
| 10 | 6 | Daniil Dubov | 9.5 | 91.5 |
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.
| Rank | SNo | Player | Points | TB1 |
| 1 | 21 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 9.5 | 72.5 |
| 2 | 1 | Lei Tingjie | 8.5 | 67.5 |
| 3 | 5 | Kateryna Lagno | 8.0 | 73.5 |
| 4 | 17 | Valentina Gunina | 8.0 | 72.5 |
| 5 | 3 | Ju Wenjun | 8.0 | 72.5 |
| 6 | 42 | Carissa Yip | 8.0 | 69.5 |
| 7 | 6 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 8.0 | 63.0 |
| 8 | 7 | Zhu Jiner | 8.0 | 62.0 |
| 9 | 10 | Koneru Humpy | 8.0 | 57.5 |
| 10 | 27 | Dinara Wagner | 7.5 | 68.5 |

### Day 2 - Knockout stage
#### Open

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2½ | | | | | | |
| 8 | Volodar Murzin | ½ | | | | | | |
| 8 | Volodar Murzin | ½ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3 | | | |
| | | | Wesley So | Wesley So | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Alireza Firouzja | 1 | Wesley So | Wesley So | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Wesley So | 3 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Wesley So | 3 | | | | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3½ |
| | | | | | | Magnus Carlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3½ |
| 3 | Magnus Carlsen | 2½ | | | | | | | Magnus Carlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3½ |
| 6 | Hans Niemann | 1½ | | | | | | |
| 6 | Hans Niemann | 1½ | Magnus Carlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3 | | | |
| | | | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 0 | | | |
| 7 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2½ | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 0 | | | |
| 2 | Fabiano Caruana | ½ | | | | | | |
* Note: After they had played seven games in the final, with the score even, Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi agreed to share the title and both were proclaimed winners.

#### Women's

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 2½ | | | | | | |
| 8 | Zhu Jiner | 1½ | | | | | | |
| 8 | Zhu Jiner | 1½ | Vaishali Rameshbabu | Vaishali Rameshbabu | ½ | | | |
| | | | Ju Wenjun | Ju Wenjun | 2½ | | | |
| 5 | Ju Wenjun | 2½ | Ju Wenjun | Ju Wenjun | 2½ | | | |
| 4 | Valentina Gunina | ½ | | | | | | |
| 4 | Valentina Gunina | ½ | | | | Ju Wenjun | Ju Wenjun | 3½ |
| | | | | | | Lei Tingjie | Lei Tingjie | 2½ |
| 3 | Kateryna Lagno | 2½ | | | | | | | Lei Tingjie | Lei Tingjie | 2½ |
| 6 | Carissa Yip | 1½ | | | | | | |
| 6 | Carissa Yip | 1½ | Kateryna Lagno | Kateryna Lagno | 2½ | | | |
| | | | Lei Tingjie | Lei Tingjie | 3½ | | | |
| 7 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 1½ | Lei Tingjie | Lei Tingjie | 3½ | | | |
| 2 | Lei Tingjie | 2½ | | | | | | |