![Union Square chess with spectators](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Union_Square_chess_with_spectators.jpg)
Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than
normal tournament time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock, ...
s allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players.
The top ranked 2021 world rapid chess player is
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
from
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, who is also the top ranked classical chess player. The top ranked blitz chess player at the beginning of 2022 is
Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura[Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time.](_blank) from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, who is also the top ranked women's classical chess player.
FIDE rules
The
World Chess Federation
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
(FIDE) divides time controls for chess into "classical"
time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock, ...
s, and the fast chess time controls. , for master-level players (with an
Elo of 2200 or higher) the regulations state that at least 120 minutes per player (based on a 60-move game) must be allocated for a game to be rated on the "classical" list;
for lower rated players this can be reduced to as little as 60 minutes.
Games played faster than these time controls can be rated for rapid and blitz if they comply with the time controls for those categories.
Players of fast and blitz chess are exempt from the requirement to record their moves onto a scoresheet (A.2). The arbiter or their assistant is responsible for the recording in competitions (A.3.1.2, B.3.1.2). Electronic recording is preferred.
Overview
A fast chess game can be further divided into several categories, which are primarily distinguished by the selection of time controls. Games may be played with or without
time increments per move.
Rapid (FIDE), quick (USCF), or active
Time controls for each player in a game of rapid chess are, according to
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
, more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes.
Rapid chess can be played with or without time increments for each move. When time increments are used, a player can automatically gain, for instance, ten more seconds on the clock after each move. When time increments are used, the total time per player for a 60-move game must be more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes.
Rapid chess was called ''active chess'' by FIDE between 1987 and 1989.
For the FIDE World Rapid Championship, each player has 15 minutes plus 10 seconds additional time per move starting from move 1.
Blitz
Time controls for each player in a game of blitz chess are, according to
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
, 10 minutes or less per player.
This can be played with or without an increment or delay per move, made possible by the adoption of digital clocks. Three minutes with a two-second increment is preferred. In the case of time increments, the total time per player for a 60-move game must be 10 minutes or less (hence averaging 10 seconds or less per move).
For the FIDE World Blitz Championship, each player has 3 minutes plus 2 additional seconds per move, starting from move 1.
Bullet
A variant of blitz chess, bullet chess games have less than three minutes per player, based on a 40-move game;
some chess servers rate one-minute-per-player games separately.
Lower time controls are called 'hyperbullet' and 'ultrabullet' for 30-second-per-player and 15-second-per-player games, respectively. Other common time-control options for bullet games include two minutes with one-second increment, one minute with a two-second increment, or one minute with one-second increment. The term ''lightning'' can also be applied to this variant. The use of increment in bullet chess is primarily to avoid issues with
latency as well as so-called "dirty flagging".
Online bullet chess avoids practical problems associated with live bullet chess, particularly players accidentally knocking over the pieces. Playing online also allows
premoving, or making a move before the opponent has taken their turn.
Armageddon
A variant of blitz chess where a
drawn game is counted as a win for Black. This guarantees the game ends decisively, so it can be used as a final tiebreaker game. It is used in tournaments such as
Chess World Cup
The FIDE World Cup refers to three different events over the years. Since 2000, it has been a major chess event organized by FIDE, the International Chess Federation. Since 2005, it has been a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, formi ...
as a tiebreaker.
To compensate for giving Black draw odds, White has more time on the clock. Common times are six minutes for White and five minutes for Black or five minutes for White and four minutes for Black. This can also be played with a small increment.
Some tournaments utilise a bidding system for individual players of each match to decide how little time they would be willing to play with as black. The player with the lowest bid for each match receives the black pieces with draw odds. This system minimises the perceived unfairness of Armageddon time controls that are decided in advance before a tournament with colours randomly allocated. Such an idea is reminiscent of the logical use case of
fair cake-cutting
Fair cake-cutting is a kind of fair division problem. The problem involves a ''heterogeneous'' resource, such as a cake with different toppings, that is assumed to be ''divisible'' – it is possible to cut arbitrarily small pieces of it without ...
.
Other terms
;Lightning: An alternative term for either blitz chess, or for extremely fast chess. It can also refer to games with a fixed amount of time (e.g. ten seconds) for each move, or to one-minute games.
History and rules
Before the advent of digital clocks, five minutes per side was the standard for blitz or speed chess. Before the introduction of chess clocks, chess club "rapid transit" tournaments had referees who called out every ten seconds. The Washington Divan (2445 15th St. NW) had regular weekly games and used a special clock that beeped every ten seconds to indicate the time to move. Players had to use their full ten seconds and move on the bell.
In 1988,
Walter Browne
Walter Shawn Browne (10 January 1949 – 24 June 2015) was an Australian-born American chess and poker player. Awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1970, he won the U.S. Chess Championship six times.
Early years
Browne was born to an Am ...
formed the World Blitz Chess Association and its magazine ''Blitz Chess'', which folded in 2003.
In some chess tournaments and matches, the final standings of the contestants are decided by a series of games with ever-shortening control times as tie breaks. In this case, two games may be played with each time control, as playing with black or white pieces is not equally liked among players. The short time controls in fast chess reduce the amount of time available to consider each move, and may result in a frantic game, especially as time runs out. A player whose time runs out automatically loses, unless the opposing player has insufficient material to
checkmate
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess, the king is ...
, in which case the game is a draw. "Losing on time" is possible at even the longer, traditional time controls, but is more common in blitz and rapid versions.
Play is governed by the
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
Laws of Chess, except as modified by a specific tournament. However, in case of a dispute during a tournament, either player may stop the clock and call the
arbiter to make a final and binding judgment.
Chess boxing uses a fast version for the chess component of the sport, granting 9 minutes for each side with no increment.
USCF rules for Quick and Blitz chess
The rules for fast chess differ between
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
and the
USCF.
With the USCF, a game with more than 10 minutes affects the Quick rating, and the upper bounds for this rating is capped at 65 minutes per player.
As 30-minute to 65-minute-per-player time controls are also under the Regular rating system, these games affect both the Quick and Regular ratings
and are known as ''dual-rated'' games. However, the
K factor (a statistic used for ratings) is reduced by comparison, meaning that players will either lose or gain (or rarely both) fewer rating points compared to a solely Quick or Regular game. Any time control over 65 minutes counts under the Regular rating only.
All of these time controls include the delay added to the time control, such as a 60-minute game with a 5-second delay, which is still considered to be a 60-minute game, not a 65-minute game.
As of March 2013, the USCF has also added a separate Blitz class rating for any time control between 5 and 10 minutes per player.
It is not possible for a game to be dual rated as both Blitz and Quick. Unlike Quick chess, 5 minutes can also mean game 3+2 (three minutes with a
two-second increment).
World championships
Both official and unofficial FIDE-sponsored world championships for fast chess have been held since the 1970s.
World Rapid championships before 2012
In 1987,
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...
(the World Champion of classical chess at the time) and
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the w ...
played a 6-game exhibition Rapid match ("Speed Chess Challenge") at the London Hippodrome, won by Kasparov 4–2.
The 1988 victory by
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Ches ...
in
Mazatlan was officially called the ''World Active Championship'', but FIDE changed the word 'active' to 'rapid' soon after.
In 1992, FIDE held the Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Budapest, Hungary. Both Rapid and Blitz Championships were won by
Susan Polgar
Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...
.
The 2001 victory by Garry Kasparov in the FIDE World Cup of Rapid Chess (organized by the French Chess Federation in Cannes) was held contemporaneously to the
Melody Amber The Amber chess tournament (officially the ''Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament'', previously ''Melody Amber'') was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event ...
rapids (thus splitting the top players between the two events), and it is sometimes considered to be official, although it was never named as a "championship" but rather a "world cup".
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...
won the official FIDE 2003 Rapid Championship at the 6th Cap d'Agde event.
After no bids in 2004, FIDE optioned the 2005 Rapid to
Cap d'Agde
Cap d'Agde () is a seaside resort on France's Mediterranean coast. It is located in the commune of Agde, in the Hérault department within the region of Occitanie. Cap d'Agde was planned by architect Jean Le Couteur as part of one of the large ...
, but it was not held.
Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; az, Teymur Boris oğlu Rəcəbov, ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster, ranked number 18 in the world
A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster ...
won the 2006 ''7th Cap d’Agde Rapid Chess Tournament'', but this had no FIDE status.
The yearly
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
or
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
events hosted by the ''Chess Tigers'' (2001–2010) were considered as the traditional rapid chess championship, and it often received world championship billing in the absence of an annual FIDE-recognized championship. In its last two years, the 2009 ''Grenkeleasing World Rapid Chess Championship'' in Mainz was won by
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...
, and the 2010 ''Open GRENKE Rapid World Championship'' in Mainz was won by
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky ( tt-Cyrl, Гата Камский, italics=no; russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion.
Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Cham ...
. The
Association of Chess Professionals
The Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) is a non-profit organisation which aims to protect the rights of professional chess players, address their concerns and to promote chess worldwide through the organisation of high level chess tournament ...
(ACP) also held a World Rapid Cup in some of these years, and the annual
Amber chess tournament (1992 to 2011) also had a rapid segment. There was also occasionally a Eurotel Trophy or Intel Grand Prix event, each of which would be of high stature.
World Blitz championships before 2012
The first unofficial ''Speed Chess Championship of the World'' (or World Blitz Championship) was held in
Herceg Novi
Herceg Novi ( cyrl, Херцег Нови, ) is a coastal town in Montenegro located at the Western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of the Herceg Novi Municipality with around 33,000 in ...
on 8 April 1970. This was shortly after the first
USSR versus the rest of the world match (in Belgrade), in which ten of these players also competed. Eleven
Grandmasters and one
International Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
played a double
round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...
.
Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11 ...
won first place, with a score of 19 points out of a possible 22. Fischer scored seventeen wins, four
draws, and one loss (to
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He ...
).
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...
was a distant second, 4½ points behind. Fischer won both games against each of Tal,
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...
, and
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to ...
; all of them were past
World Champions.
By 1971, the Russian and Moscow five-minute championships had been going several years, with Tal,
Bronstein, and Petrosian all having success. That year, Fischer played in a blitz tournament organised by the
Manhattan Chess Club
The Manhattan Chess Club in Manhattan was the second-oldest chess club in the United States (next to the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco) before it closed. The club was founded in 1877 and started with three dozen men, eventually ...
, and scored 21½/22. There were also strong tournaments in Bugojno (in 1978), which was won by Karpov; and Nikšić (in 1983), which was won by Kasparov.
In 1987, the S.W.I.F.T. super-tournament was held in Brussels, Belgium; first prize was shared by
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...
and
Ljubomir Ljubojević
Ljubomir Ljubojević (; born November 2, 1950) is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the Yugoslav Chess Championship in 1977 (tied) and 1982.
Life and career
Ljubojević was born on 2 November 1950 in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia (now Užice, Se ...
. The first FIDE-sponsored World Blitz Championship was won by
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...
in 1988.
In 1992, FIDE held the Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Budapest, Hungary. Both Rapid and Blitz Championships were won by
Susan Polgar
Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...
.
In 2000, Anand won the ''Plus GSM World Blitz Chess Cup,'' which has since been referred to as a world championship, albeit inconsistently.
The second FIDE-recognized World Blitz Championship was won by
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates T ...
in 2006 in
Rishon Lezion
Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ar ...
, Israel;
the third World Blitz Championship was won by
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...
in 2007.
The 4th World Blitz Championship was held in Almaty in 2008, and it was won by
Leinier Dominguez Pérez of Cuba.
In 2009 and 2010, there was an event called the ''World Blitz Championship'', held after the
Tal Memorial
The Tal Memorial is an annual chess tournament played in Moscow from 2006 to 2018 with the exception of 2015, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal (1936–1992).
Many of the world's strongest players compete. In 2014 it w ...
in Moscow in November. It was won by
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
(in 2009)
and
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...
(in 2010),
with the Women's Championship being won by
Kateryna Lagno
Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno (russian: Екатерина Александровна Лагно, ; born 27 December 1989) is a Russian (formerly Ukrainian) chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, she earned the title Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at th ...
(in 2010).
There is no record of a 2009 blitz event in the FIDE Calendar for that year; however, the October 2009 FIDE Congress discussed whether it should be a "proper" Championship (given the qualification scheme), and it left the decision to the corresponding internal Commission. For 2010, it was organized in conjunction with FIDE from the beginning.
However, in neither case was an arbiter's report presented to the next FIDE Congress or General Assembly, as would be expected for a World Championship, and indeed occurred previously with the 2008 Blitz Championship. The 2012 Arbiter's report refers to ''7th World Blitz Championship'' thus seeming to imply that 2009 and 2010 events were indeed Championships; although this report can be faulted for referring to the rapid championship of 2012 as being the ''1st World Rapid Championship'', which at the very least forgets Anand's official Rapid Championship in 2003. The balance of the evidence favors these Blitz Championships as being counted as official.
In 2011, there was no official blitz championship held, but FIDE was involved with the Sport Accord Mind Games blitz won by
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (; born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest r ...
, with
Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time. winning the women's division.
World Championships since 2012
![15-10-10-Magnus Carlsen-RalfR-N3S 2391](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/15-10-10-Magnus_Carlsen-RalfR-N3S_2391.jpg)
Since 2012 FIDE have held joint World Rapid and Blitz Championships most years, with some years Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championships also being held.
In 2012 the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held at Batumi, Georgia and Astana, Kazakhstan (Women's Championships)
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing Ukraine). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken b ...
won the Rapid Championship.
[ ]Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates T ...
won the Blitz Championship. Antoaneta Stefanova
Antoaneta Stefanova ( bg, Антоанета Стефанова; born 19 April 1979) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and Women's World Champion from 2004 to 2006. She has represented Bulgaria in the Chess Olympiad in 2000 and the Women's Chess ...
won the Women's Rapid Championship. Valentina Gunina
Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina (russian: Валентина Евгеньевна Гунина; born February 4, 1989, in Murmansk) is a Russian chess grandmaster. She has won thrice the Women's European Individual Chess Championship (2012, 2014, ...
won the Women's Blitz Championship.
In 2013 the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the world. ...
won the Rapid Championship. Lê Quang Liêm
Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese chess grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Liêm is the current Asian champion and was the World Blitz Chess Champion in 2013. ...
won the Blitz Championship.
In 2014 the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held at Dubai, UAE and Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (Women's Championships). Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
won both Rapid and Blitz Championships. Kateryna Lagno
Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno (russian: Екатерина Александровна Лагно, ; born 27 December 1989) is a Russian (formerly Ukrainian) chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, she earned the title Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at th ...
won the Women's Rapid Championship. Anna Muzychuk
Anna Olehivna Muzychuk ( uk, Анн́а Оле́гівна Музичу́к; sl, Ana Muzičuk; born 28 February 1990) is a Ukrainian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a F ...
won the Women's Blitz Championship.
In 2015 the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held in Berlin, Germany. Magnus Carlsen won the Rapid Championship. He also received the privilege of playing at a dedicated Board 1 the whole time, not having to move while others did. The given reason was that Norwegian television was sponsoring the event, and moving the heavy cameras around would be too much hassle. After his first-round draw, he should not have been on Board 1 until Round 8 when he caught the leaders. Carlsen himself later called this "weird" that Board 1 would be reserved for him. Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates T ...
won the Blitz Championship.
In 2015, FIDE did not receive the expected 80,000 euros from Agon's organization of the event, causing a budget shortfall of 55,000 euros. It was later announced that approximately 200,000 euros were lost on the event.
In 2016, the World Rapid Championships were held at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena
Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena ( ar, صالة علي بن حمد العطية), is an indoor sports arena in Doha, Qatar. It was built for the Qatar Olympic Committee, in order to host the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship.
After the tourna ...
in Doha, Qatar. Vassily Ivanchuk
Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...
of Ukraine won the 2016 World Rapid Championship, while Carlsen, after defending his title with difficulty in 2015, came in third place. In the Blitz Championship, Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing Ukraine). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken b ...
of Russia and contender in the recently held World Chess Championship 2016
The World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Sergey Karjakin to determine the World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Carlsen had been world champion since World ...
won the championship title albeit due to a better tiebreak over the second place Carlsen. Karjakin defeated Carlsen in their individual encounter. Carlsen was once again reserved board 1 for both championships. Anna Muzychuk
Anna Olehivna Muzychuk ( uk, Анн́а Оле́гівна Музичу́к; sl, Ana Muzičuk; born 28 February 1990) is a Ukrainian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a F ...
also from Ukraine, won both the 2016 Women World Rapid and Blitz Championshipship.
At the FIDE Presidential Board meeting at the end of March 2016, they gave Agon six months to find an organizer for the 2017 event. At the Baku General Assembly in September, it was announced they had extended this deadline until the end of 2016.[2016 FIDE General Assembly Minutes](_blank)
(Items 5.20.16, 9.1) The issue of the non-payment of the players for the IMSA Mind Games was also brought up.
Champions tables for official events
Views on fast chess
Many top chess players do not take rapid, blitz, and bullet chess as seriously as chess with standard time controls. Some quotes from top chess players may serve to illustrate this:
* "Rapid and blitz chess is first of all for enjoyment." — Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...
, although it was noted that Carlsen was "seriously preparing" for the event.
* "Playing rapid chess, one can lose the habit of concentrating for several hours in serious chess. That is why, if a player has big aims, he should limit his rapid play in favour of serious chess." — Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...
* "Yes, I have played a blitz game once. It was on a train, in 1929." — Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess.
Botvinnik ...
* "He who analyses blitz is stupid." — Rashid Nezhmetdinov
Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov (Tatar language, Tatar: , ; russian: Раши́д Гибя́тович Нежметди́нов; December 15, 1912 – June 3, 1974) was a Soviet Union, Soviet chess player, chess writer, and checkers player. Thou ...
* "Blitz chess kills your ideas." — Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11 ...
* "To be honest, I consider ullet chessa bit moronic, and therefore I never play it." — Vladimir Kramnik
* "Blitz – it's just a pleasure." — Vladimir Kramnik
* "I play way too much blitz chess. It rots the brain just as surely as alcohol." — Nigel Short
Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the w ...
* "Blitz is simply a waste of time." — Vladimir Malakhov
* "litz
Litz can refer to:
People
* A. Walton Litz (1929–2014), American historian and educator
* Deacon Litz (1897–1967), American racecar driver.
* John Litz (born 1961), American politician.
* Nadia Litz (born 1976), American actress.
* Thomas L ...
is just getting positions where you can move fast. I mean, it's not chess." — Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura[f classical chess
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...](_blank)
you don't care at all. You can be drunk, you can dance all night, whatever happens you just need to be lucky and it will work." - Daniil Dubov
Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov (russian: Даниил Дмитриевич Дубов; born 18 April 1996) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011. He is ...
[. Quote is at 0:52.]
See also
* World Rapid Chess Championship
The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recognized tourn ...
* World Blitz Chess Championship
The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapid & ...
Notes
References
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*
Further reading
*
External links
USCF rules
FIDE rapid play and blitz rules
Speed Chess Online Example
Online Chess Clock / Chess Timer Example, used for Fast Chess
Videostream: World Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship 2015 in Berlin, Germany
{{Authority control
Chess terminology
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History of chess