World Rapid & Blitz Championship 2024: Full schedule, venue, time in IST
The 2024 edition of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships will take place at Wall Street, New York, from December 26 to 31.
With interest in Indian chess at an all-time high following D Gukesh’s win in the World Chess Championship, hopes will be high for India’s top chess talents to compete against the world’s best.
India’s Arjun Erigaisi and USA’s Fabiano Caruana are in a direct fight to qualify for Candidates 2026 through FIDE Circuit Rating 2024 leaderboards. Arjun needs to win either the Rapid or Blitz section of the World Championship to circumvent the American in the leaderboard.
As things stand, Caruana will qualify for Candidates being the leader of FIDE Circuit.
Magnus Carlsen is the defending champion having clinched gold medals in both the Rapid and Blitz sections in Samarkand in 2023.
Here’s the schedule for chess’ last showpiece of the year:
SCHEDULE (ALL TIMINGS IN IST)
World Rapid Championship:
December 26-27:
11:30 PM: Opening
12:30 AM: Round 1
1:50 AM: Round 2
3:10 AM: Round 3
4:30 AM: Round 4
5:50 AM: Round 5
December 28:
12:30 AM: Round 6
1:50 AM: Round 7
3:10 AM: Round 8
4:30 AM: Round 9
December 29:
12:30 AM: Round 10
1:50 AM: Round 11
3:10 AM: Round 12
4:30 AM: Round 13
World Blitz Championship:
December 31:
12:30 AM: Round 1
1:00 AM: Round 2
1:30 AM: Round 3
2:00 AM: Round 4
2:30 AM: Round 5
3:00 AM: Round 6
3:30 AM: Round 7
4:00 AM: Round 8
4:30 AM: Round 9
5:00 AM: Round 10
5:30 AM: Round 11
6:00 AM: Round 12
6:30 AM: Round 13
January 1:
12:30 AM: Quarterfinals
2:00 AM: Semifinals
3:30 AM: Final
5:30 AM: Closing
Women’s World Rapid Championship:
December 26-27:
11:30 PM: Opening
12:45 AM: Round 1
2:05 AM: Round 2
3:25 AM: Round 3
4:45 AM: Round 4
December 28:
12:45 AM: Round 5
2:05 AM: Round 6
3:25 AM: Round 7
4:45AM: Round 8
December 29:
12:45 AM: Round 9
2:05 AM: Round 10
3:25 AM: Round 11
Women’s World Blitz Championship:
December 31:
12:45 AM: Round 1
1:15 AM: Round 2
1:45 AM: Round 3
2:15 AM: Round 4
2:45 AM: Round 5
3:15 AM: Round 6
3:45 AM: Round 7
4:15 AM: Round 8
4:45 AM: Round 9
5:15 AM: Round 10
5:45 AM: Round 11
January 1:
12:30 AM: Quarterfinals
2:00 AM: Semifinals
3:30 AM: Final
5:30 AM: Closing