Magnus Carlsen defends Blitz title, beats Nepomniachtchi in final; Wenjun Champion in Women’s section

In a historic and never-seen-before result, reigning World Blitz Champion Norway’s Magnus Carlsen shared the 2024 World Blitz Championship title with Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi in Wall Street, New York on Wednesday.

The decision to share the title was made after both players played out three consecutive draws in the sudden death. Before this, Carlsen started the final with back-to-back wins and needed just a draw to win but Nepomniachtchi showed an incredible fight and resilience. He won on-demand, not once but twice, forcing sudden death after the final score was tied at 2.0-2.0.

Nothing separated both players in three sudden-death games and Carlsen offered Nepomniachtchi to share the title before FIDE gave the final confirmation.

AS IT HAPPENED | WORLD BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP KNOCKOUTS HIGHLIGHTS

The final was a repeat of the 2021 Classical World Championship match where Nepomniachtchi had lost the match to Carlsen.

Incidentally, Carlsen also broke Nepomniachtchi’s curse of finishing in second place. The Russian had failed to win the title after stumbling in the final on as many as seven different occasions.

He has a silver medal in the 2013, 2015 and 2021 World Rapid Championship, in the 2014 World Blitz Championship, in the 2022 World Fischer Random Championship and a second-place finish in the 2021 and 2023 Classical World Championship.

This is Carlsen’s eighth Blitz title and 18th major Championship triumph after having won five Classical World Championships and as many Rapid World Championships ahead of this shared win.

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The Norwegian didn’t have the best of starts, losing quarterfinal Game 2 against USA’s Hans Niemann to trail the match 0.5-1.5 after the first two games. In his own old-styled come-from-behind fashion, Carlsen made an emphatic comeback, handing back-to-back losses to Niemann to reach the semifinal.

In the semifinal, Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda — one of the Seconds for D. Gukesh during his World Championship win over China’s Ding Liren — was no match for Carlsen. The 32-year-old streamrolled the Pole for a 3.0-0.0 win making his way through in the finals.

In the Women’s section, China’s Ju Wenjun got the better of compatriot Lei Tingjie in the final to be crowned the Women’s World Blitz Champion.

World Blitz Champion Ju Wenjun in action during in New York.
| Photo Credit:
FIDE/Michał Walusza

Just like the Open section, the final was a repeat of the World Championship match between Wenjun and Tingjie played in 2023. And Wenjun completed a double over her Chinese counterpart after drawing five straight games in the final.

India’s lone hope in the knockouts, R. Vaishali started with a loss in the quarterfinal against China’s Zhu Jiner but turned around quickly to win the matchup 2.5-1.5 after four games.

In the semifinal, she was handed a rather one-sided 0.5-2.5 loss by Wenjun.