Lazavik Beats Carlsen; Murzin, Sargsyan, Dominguez, Naroditsky Lead Open

GMs Volodar Murzin, Shant Sargsyan, Leinier Dominguez, and Daniel Naroditsky lead the 2024 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship after five rounds. GM Denis Lazavik, on 3.5/5, defeated pre-tournament favorite GM Magnus Carlsen, on 2.5/5, in our Game of the Day. 

Fifteen-year-old IM Alice Lee took the sole lead of the 2024 FIDE Women's World Rapid Chess Championship with a perfect 4/4 wins, but is chased by five players a half-point behind. In Lee's dramatic last win of the day, 2023 Women's World Blitz Champion Valentina Gunina found the drawing move but didn't play it fast enough, losing on time.

Day two of the rapid championships, with rounds six-nine in the Open and five-eight in the Women's, is on Friday, December 27, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET/ 20:00 CET / 12:30 a.m. IST (on December 28).

• Who's Playing & What's At Stake?
• Open: Carlsen Suffers Upset, World's Top-10 Start Slow
• Women's: Alice Lee Shines On Home Soil

Who's Playing & What's At Stake?

FIDE's most prestigious tournaments for speed chess are taking place in the United States for the first time, after earlier this year the FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship took place just a seven-minute walk away. Before that, New Yorkers will remember that Carlsen defended his title against GM Sergey Karjakin in the Big Apple at the 2016 World Chess Championship.

The rapid tournaments span three days and the blitz two days, with the Open being two rounds longer than the Women's. On the rest day, FIDE will host the Wall Street Gambit, a conference connecting the worlds of chess and finance.

The Open tournament takes place at Cipriani Wall Street, a luxurious venue built in 1841 in the Greek Revival style that once housed the New York Merchants’ Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the U.S. Customs House, and served as headquarters for the National City Bank. 

The Women's playing hall is no less stunning. Those championships take place across the street, at 48 Wall Street, which previously housed the Bank of New York & Trust Company Building and the Museum of American Finance.

Carlsen, who achieved an unprecedented record in winning both championships two years in a row, started the day looking for the three-peat, but coming back from his current score will be a challenge. Having won the Rapid five times and the Blitz seven, he was the favorite to win both tournaments at the start.

Most of the world's best players are playing, but an important absence is the new World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Although he previously registered, he withdrew after winning the match against GM Ding Liren, who did not register.

Besides the $1.5 million prize fund, with a $90,000 first prize in each of the Open tournaments and $60,000 in the Women's, strong players from all over the world also gain the invaluable experience of playing against the world's elite. The beneficiaries also include several local players, like New York-based GM Aleksandr Lenderman (on 3.5/5, after upsetting GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov), GM-elect Brewington Hardaway (on 3/5 and playing Carlsen in round six), GMs Brandon Jacobson (3.5/5), Andrew Tang (2/5), IM Nico Chasin (2.5/5), FM Tani Adewumi (2.5/5, after winning his first two games against GMs), and older legends Maxim Dlugy (1.5/5) and Joel Benjamin (from New Jersey, just across the river, who is on 1.5/5).

China has the strongest contingent in the Women's tournament. Four of the top five players are Chinese, with reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun headlining the event. The current leader, Lee, was 13th seed going in, and she plays Ju next in Friday's first game.

Top 10 Players In Women's Rapid World Championship

Several U.S. women's champions participate, like New York's GM Irina Krush (2.5/5), Reigning Champion IM Carissa Yip (2.5/4), WGM Jennifer Yu (2.5/4), and WGM Sabina Foisor (1/4). You can read a more detailed summary of highlighted players in our previous article here.

Besides the monetary prize and glory, there is one last thing at stake, but only for two players. GM Fabiano Caruana leads the FIDE Circuit six points ahead of GM Arjun Erigaisi, the only other player in the running. The winner of the FIDE Circuit qualifies for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, which will decide the next world championship challenger.

This is Arjun's last chance, in this year's Circuit, to overtake the U.S. champion and enter the Candidates for the first time. Arjun is on 4/5, while Caruana is on 3.5/5. But just finishing with a better score isn't good enough; Arjun must aim to win the event. 

Open: Carlsen Suffers Upset, World's Top-10 Start Slow

Four players lead the event, and not one of them is a top-10 seed. Dominguez is the only super-GM among the leading pack, though there are several a half-point behind. 

Open Standings After 5 Rounds | Top 30

See full standings here.

Without a doubt, Carlsen will be disappointed with his 50 percent score by the end of the day. GM Aman Hambleton put it this way on the broadcast: "If he [Carlsen] makes this comeback back into the event, we'll all be shocked."

If he makes this comeback back into the event, we'll all be shocked.

—Aman Hambleton on Magnus Carlsen

Besides a win against GM Denis Kadric in round two, the reigning rapid world champion drew three games and lost the last one.  GM Awonder Liang, playing White in the first game, gave him zero chances in a Four Knights Scotch—going straight for the draw. Then Carlsen struck back, with a sparkling exchange sacrifice.

A fine exchange sac by Magnus! https://t.co/xckA5cEZ62#RapidBlitz pic.twitter.com/bixeielUUk

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 26, 2024

But things went sour in games three and four, and Carlsen slipped out of lost positions with draws. Game five, he didn't get away. Facing an Exchange Slav with Black against the super-solid Lazavik, and already with two draws, Carlsen over-pressed with a kingside pawn storm that ultimately backfired. Lazavik won a pawn and converted flawlessly.

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.

Being the underdog can actually be an advantage, as 18-year-old co-leader Murzin told FIDE's WIM Charlize Van Zyl: "For me, it's easy to play with the strongest people because you can always play just quiet and, if you want, you can make a draw. Sometimes you can win." He expanded on that, saying that it's harder to play as the favorite, who has to take risks to avoid a draw.

For me, it's easy to play with the strongest people because you can always play just quiet and, if you want, you can make a draw.

—Volodar Murzin

He's in the lead, after winning his first four games against IM Vuk Damjanovic, Caruana, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Lenderman, before finally drawing GM Levon Aronian. The most impressive win was in round two against the U.S. number-one, who had many chances to hold once the players entered a time scramble. The final mistake was trading queens into a losing endgame, when keeping queens on kept chances alive of achieving a perpetual check.

Naroditsky, another co-leader, told IM Levy Rozman, in their Take Take Take interview, that he slept for 14 hours the night before. It's his first time playing in the World Rapid and Blitz, and he's here for a good time: "No goals. I'm here purely to enjoy myself. I feel like it's the first time in my life when I can play in a tournament for fun... the more games I play with the top guys the better."

I feel like it's the first time in my life when I can play in a tournament for fun.

—Daniel Naroditsky

He scored wins against IM Maksim Tsaruk, GM Aleksey Grebnev (who upset GM Jeffery Xiong in round one), GM Andy Woodward, and GM Brandon Jacobson—and drew Adewumi in round three.

Sargsyan won four in a row before drawing the last co-leader, Dominguez, in round five. Sargsyan defeated two IMs, Rodwell Makoto and Chasin, before slaying two beasts, GMs Vasyl Ivanchuk and Anish Giri. The win against Ivanchuk was the nicer one, where two knights led the way to an attack that the Ukrainian grandmaster failed to repel.

Dominguez defeated GMs Elham Amar, Jose Carlos Ibarra Jerez, Hans Niemann, and Eltaj Safarli before that final draw against Sargsyan. A superb start for the powerful grandmaster who could be seen, from time to time after his games, standing in the spectator area watching along with everyone else.

GM Hikaru Nakamura could have been right there with them in the lead, if not for a miracle for his third-round opponent GM Alexander Donchenko.

The American grandmaster finally made inroads in the rook and bishop vs. rook endgame—a theoretical draw, but not always so easy in practice—but the German player claimed the 50-move draw one move before checkmate.

This was one of the craziest things in day 1 at the FIDE World Rapid Championships. I've never had a 50 move claim save someone from a mate in 1 before. Very Lucky or very unlucky depending on which side you're on 🤯 #RapidBlitz https://t.co/F36cJAkmbB

— Chris Bird (@ChrisBirdIA) December 27, 2024

Perhaps the scales of justice tipped back in his favor, as in the next round Nakamura won the following endgame against GM Luca Moroni Jr. Of course, the position should be a draw with four pawns for both players on the same side of the board, but Nakamura somehow eventually brought his king to e1 and captured the f2-pawn, and White's structure collapsed.

So Nakamura's a half-point behind, along with 10 other players. You can watch his video recap below.

There were also several players who pulled off early upsets and had incredible starts but then slowed down in the last two rounds. We will focus our sights on GM Raunak Sadhwani (now on 4/5), GM Sam Sevian (4/5), Lenderman (on 3.5/5), and Safarli (3/5).

Raunak had an immense start, on 3/3, before making draws with Sevian and GM Ray Robson. He notably beat GM Alireza Firouzja (now on 3.5/5) in round two. After 20.Qg4 Bg6?, Firouzja had the opportunity to play the brilliant sacrifice 21.Nxf7!! for a winning attack. But, instead, 21.Be4? allowed equality, and pretty quickly a losing endgame for the white pieces.

Lenderman started with a perfect 3/3 and in the third game convincingly beat the 2021 Rapid World Champion Abdusattorov (who finished the day on 4/5 anyway). He only lost to Murzin and then drew GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (3.5/5) after that, to finish on 3.5/5 himself. 

Sevian, on the other hand, won his first three games, notably taking down Arjun (who's on 4/5) in round three. His draws against Raunak and GM Javokhir Sindarov in the last two rounds leave him in the giant pack behind the leaders.

Safarli defeated GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (now on 3/5) in just 25 moves. After the impressive 17.Rxb7!!, the only playable recapture was taking with the queen. Praggnanandhaa captured the rook with his king and succumbed to the power of pins—a beautiful miniature by the Azerbaijani grandmaster.

Despite that inspiring win and hot start, however, Safarli went on to lose his next two games, against Dominguez and Arjun. 

Will the leaders maintain their grip, or will the hungry pack behind them catch up? We'll find out tomorrow, after four more rounds, where things stand.

Open Round 6 Pairings | Top 10 Boards

Women's: Alice Lee Shines On Home Soil

Not without a little bit of luck, as she herself said, Lee has taken the lead at her first-ever Women's Rapid Chess Championship. Her greatest test, however, is yet to come, as she's slated to play the top seed in the round that follows.

Women's Standings After 4 Rounds | Top 22

See full standings here.

Lee, in her conversation with WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili after round three, said that "I did get lucky in a couple of the games, but overall I am very happy with the first three rounds." She also added that she played in Chess.com's latest Titled Tuesday to prepare for the fast-paced events this week.

Game one was a blessing, as she won a drawn rook endgame with three vs. two pawns on the same side of the board, against WGM Xeniya Balabayeva. 

She then put on a nice Catalan squeeze against Yu and finished it off tactically, even if there were some objective flaws in her calculations. Her opponent didn't find them.

She was lost for a long time against IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova in round three, but just kept fighting and several times crawled her way back in. A heartbreaking one-move howler ended the game, with White losing a rook in one move. A jaw-dropping turnaround.

The last game, against Gunina, was a rollercoaster. The 2023 blitz champion was in fact much better, or winning, out of the opening, but things spun out of control. Lee was later winning, but several times allowed Gunina to escape. At the very end, Gunina actually found the way to secure a draw, but didn't play 39...Rxf2 in time and lost as her clock hit zero.

🇺🇸 15-year-old Alice Lee claims victory on board 1 as Valentina Gunina loses on time in Round 4 of the FIDE Women's World Rapid Championship. With a perfect score of 4/4, Alice Lee emerges as the sole leader! #RapidBlitz pic.twitter.com/AnRYAau7u0

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 27, 2024

A number of the top-10 seeds suffered upsets on the first day. All in the first round: GM Lei Tingjie lost to WGM Nadya Toncheva, "Chess Queen" GM Alexandra Kosteniuk was taken down by WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan, and GM Humpy Koneru resigned against WIM Amina Kairbekova. GM Zhu Jiner hasn't lost, but she made three draws and only won one game, leaving her on 2.5/4.

Nothing seemed to go right for seventh seed GM Nana Dzagnidze, who made two draws before losing to WGM Priyanka Nutakki and WIM Inna Agrest to finish on 1/4. Although she's the 46th seed, IM Anastasia Bodnaruk is the reigning champion, but she's on 2/4 after losing to GM Tan Zhongyi and making two draws after that.

Will Lee continue her Cinderella story, or will Ju put an end to it first thing on Friday? 

Women's Round 5 Pairings | Top 10 Boards

Previous coverage:

• New Format, New Year: FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships Come To Wall Street
• Wall Street Gambit: $5,000 Tickets, Chess Legends, Financial Elite
• FIDE Breaks From World Rapid & Blitz Tradition, Introduces Rest Day
• 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships To Be Held In New York