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Carlsen Quits Rapid World Championship; Murzin, Duda, Arjun, Grischuk Lead Open
Carlsen is finished with the World Rapid Championship. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

Carlsen Quits Rapid World Championship; Murzin, Duda, Arjun, Grischuk Lead Open

AnthonyLevin
NM AnthonyLevin
Staff
| 459 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Magnus Carlsen will no longer participate in the 2024 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship or the FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship after a dress-code disagreement with FIDE. He finishes the Rapid with a 5/8 score and will not defend his double crown in rapid and blitz this year, which means we are guaranteed to have new champions.

[Edited on 12/29:] After negotiations with FIDE, Carlsen has agreed to return for the FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship. Read more here.

GMs Volodar Murzin, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Arjun Erigaisi, and Alexander Grischuk lead the Open championship with 7/9. Across the street, GMs Ju Wenjun, Harika Dronavalli, and Koneru Humpy lead the 2024 FIDE Women's World Rapid Chess Championship with 6.5/8. 

World champions will be crowned on the last day of the Rapid, with rounds 10-13 in the Open and nine-11 in the Women's. That will be on Saturday, December 28, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET/ 20:00 CET / 12:30 a.m. IST (on December 29).

How To Watch
You can watch the tournaments on Chess24 YouTube or Twitch channels. You can follow the action with GM Hikaru Nakamura's recaps on YouTube; also watch his stream on Kick. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.
GM Aman Hambleton and FM James Canty III hosted the broadcast.

Carlsen Quits

Chief Arbiter Alex Holowczak explained that, after round seven, Carlsen received a $200 fine for wearing jeans, and when given an ultimatum to change before round nine or not be paired, he refused. Holowczak clarified that Carlsen was not kicked out of the tournament and could play in round 10. But the rapid world champion had already made his decision by then.

Holowczak explains the decision. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Speaking to IM Levy Rozman for Take Take Take Carlsen said he was ready to change for the next day, but not in between rounds during the tournament. He will be leaving for somewhere "where the weather is a bit nicer" and will no longer play the remaining rounds or attend the Blitz Championship. He put it in clear and strong terms:

My patience with them was not very big to begin with. and it's OK, like they can enforce their rules, that's fine by me, and my response is that fine, then I'm out, then f**k you.

Carlsen also told NRK, "The way I feel it right now, I am at full war with FIDE," and, "Yes, it has come to a point where I have been involved in this for many years. And I have no desire to have anything to do with them [FIDE]. So I apologize to those at home, it may be a stupid matter of principle to have, but I don't think it is very fun when it has to be like that."

FIDE published an official statement, embedded below, where they stress that the dress code ensures the values of "professionalism and fairness for all players." They also wrote that the dress regulations are drafted by the FIDE Athletes Commission, which is composed of professional players and experts, and that the rules "have been in place for years and are well-known to all participants."

As the statement and Holowczak confirmed, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi also received a $200 fine at the start of the day, for "wearing sports shoes," but he changed after the warning. Posts on Twitter/X have called attention to other players who wore pants that looked like jeans and were not penalized, however, like GM Zaven Andriasian, who said he was wearing trousers, not jeans.

And GM Hikaru Nakamura.

FIDE's CEO Emil Sutovsky justified the decision to Rozman in an interview, saying, "I think the decision of the chief arbiter was fully correct." He repeated that professional players took part in drafting the regulations. Carlsen also had plenty of time to change, he said, and his hotel was just three minutes away from the venue.

It's a question whether Carlsen would have withdrawn if his tournament had been going better. Sutovsky said, "For Magnus, maybe it was out of a combination of frustration of how he played in this tournament and also his general attitude towards cooperation." He added that the dress code has been "softened" since it was introduced in 2018.

For Magnus, maybe it was out of a combination of frustration of how he played in this tournament and also his general attitude towards cooperation.

—Emil Sutovsky, FIDE CEO

Sutovsky also commented on discussions that FIDE has been having with Freestyle Chess (which Carlsen promotes), saying that the dispute was solely about Freestyle Chess using the term "world championship" for their tournament series. FIDE, as the governing body, reserves the right to preside over world championships, but cooperates with private organizations—he gave the Grand Chess Tour as an example—that do not use this terminology. In a follow-up tweet, he wrote "No player was threatened - and to that effect one may ask Gukesh, Fabi, Nodirbek, and others."

Carlsen is out of both championships. He won against GM-elect Brewington Hardaway, drew GM Daniel Dardha, and defeated GM Aryan Tari before making this decision, finishing the Rapid with 5/8.

Carlsen wasn't yet present when US Chess President Kevin Pryor made the ceremonial first move. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Open: Murzin Stays Afloat And Duda, Arjun, Grischuk Join The Lead

Of the four leaders from the previous day, only 18-year-old Murzin has remained in the lead. GMs Leinier Dominguez and Daniel Naroditsky are still half a point behind, while GM Shant Sargsyan lost his last two games to end on 5.5 points.

Open Rapid Standings After 9 Rounds | Top 30

# SNo Title Name FED Rtg Pts.
1 59 GM Murzin, Volodar 2588 7
2 10 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2740 7
3 16 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2694 7
4 20 GM Grischuk, Alexander 2675 7
5 45 GM Sevian, Samuel 2614 6.5
6 14 GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2699 6.5
7 9 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2740 6.5
8 13 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2711 6.5
9 24 GM Sindarov, Javokhir 2655 6.5
34 GM Naroditsky, Daniel 2638 6.5
11 18 GM Giri, Anish 2678 6.5
12 75 GM Lazavik, Denis 2553 6.5
13 5 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2758 6.5
14 31 GM Esipenko, Andrey 2642 6.5
15 58 GM Sadhwani, Raunak 2591 6
16 116 GM Jacobson, Brandon 2459 6
17 8 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2755 6
18 15 GM Yu, Yangyi 2698 6
19 6 GM Aronian, Levon 2757 6
20 36 GM Deac, Bogdan-Daniel 2635 6
21 7 GM Firouzja, Alireza 2756 6
22 19 GM Dubov, Daniil 2677 6
23 113 GM Muradli, Mahammad 2464 6
24 2 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2766 6
25 29 GM Robson, Ray 2645 6
26 17 GM Praggnanandhaa, R 2688 6
27 56 GM Antipov, Mikhail Al. 2591 6
28 65 GM Bu, Xiangzhi 2569 6
29 49 GM Bluebaum, Matthias 2608 6
30 4 GM Wei, Yi 2760 6

See full standings here.

It was a cold winter day, but fans stood outside for more than an hour before the games began, waiting for signatures and pictures with the players as they arrived at the venue. Some grandmasters rushed in, while others briefly stopped. 

Aronian stops for the fans. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

About 20 minutes before the round began, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand also gave fans a warm welcome.

Anand joined the fun, as players walked in behind him. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

18-year-old Murzin has had an incredible tournament with a performance rating of 2885 so far. On day two, he held his own against even tougher pairings. First, he held draws against Dominguez, Arjun, and GM Anish Giri, before finally beating Nakamura in the last round.

Murzin beat one of the greatest rapid chess players out there. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

That win came after a long, balanced game where both sides had chances. But in the endgame Nakamura played two losing moves, and Murzin picked up on the second one, leaving the five-time U.S. champion shaking his head before resigning.

Until that loss, Nakamura was picking up speed and was continuously a half-point behind the leaders. His win against GM Sam Shankland in round eight was shockingly easy, after the latter blundered an early tactic:

After losing, Nakamura is on 6/9 with four rounds to go. You can listen to his video recap below.

Grischuk, now sharing the lead, won four games in a row (if counting his last-round win the day prior) before finally drawing GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the last round. He beat GM Tigran L Petrosian, IM Sugar Gan-Erdene, and GM Pranav Venkatesh.

He could even have taken the sole lead, but settled for a draw in a winning position in that final game against Abdusattorov. The winning attempt would have been 53.Ke1 Rd3 54.b6, and the b-pawn decides. 

A knight on h8 can't be great, but it was good enough for Abdusattorov in this game.

That leaves two co-leaders, Duda and Arjun. Both players ended the previous day trailing by a half a point; Arjun has lost one game, while Duda is still undefeated.

Arjun and Duda share the lead after making a draw in round nine. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

If you're looking for fireworks, you'll often find them in Arjun's games. His round-six battle against GM Ray Robson is our Game of the Day. So if you like sharp openings, tactics, confounding material imbalances, and study-like endgames, look no further.

"A truly wonderful game from start to finish. My thanks to both players for such an amazing fight," writes GM Rafael Leitao at the end of his analysis. He annotates the full game below:

Arjun went on to draw Murzin, beat Sargsyan (who hadn't lost a game yet), and draw co-leader Duda.

The Polish number-one started the day by missing a win against Sevian, but he then defeated GMs Brandon Jacobson and Daniel Naroditsky before making that draw with Arjun in round nine.

Duda had a winning rook endgame, up a pawn, but stepped into a threefold repetition that Sevian immediately and correctly claimed.

Sevian held a losing position. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Two rounds later, the Polish Fighter critically defeated Naroditsky, who was in the sole lead of the tournament by that point. It was a sad loss for Chess.com's lead commentator. In a defensible pawn-down endgame, Naroditsky chose to play actively with the maneuver ...Re5-g5, but that same rook ended up being a poor spectator when the black king ran into trouble. There were also lines where the rook could have been nearly trapped. Duda made the end look easy.

A painful defeat. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Naroditsky's still just a half-point behind. He took the lead in round seven when he took down Abdusattorov and the other top boards drew. 

The commentator and streamer told Levy Rozman on Take Take Take he was expecting to lose after the Uzbek number-one sacrificed the exchange: "I'd already come to terms with the fact that I was going to lose... I truly thought the game was over, he's got passed pawns, I have 10 seconds to a minute... [and] he's one of the trickiest super-GMs," adding, "every time I thought I tricked him, there was a resource."

But suddenly, "He blundered, in this critical moment, Kf2," and Naroditsky realized he was winning.

"I'm punching above my weight. This is what I live for, this is what I'll tell my kids about," Naroditsky also told Rozman.

I'm punching above my weight. This is what I live for, this is what I'll tell my kids about.

—Daniel Naroditsky

Curiously, Abdusattorov is still half a point behind the leaders even after losing twice, and that's because he's had almost all decisive games. He's won five, all against grandmasters, and his only draw was against Grischuk in round nine.

The 2021 rapid champion is a fighter. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Speaking of decisive games, GM Anish Giri, also on 6.5 points, pointed out to Rozman after round six that he'd made zero draws. Giri won five games and only lost to Sargsyan by then. Directly after that interview, however, his next three games ended in draws. 

Giri drew Sevian in round nine. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

It's crunch time, with just four more rounds to go. The four leaders play each other, but there is a hoard of players on 6.5 points breathing down their necks.

Open Round 10 Pairings | Top 10 Boards

Bo. Title White Rtg Pts. Pts. Title Black Rtg
1 GM Murzin, Volodar 2588 7 7 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2740
2 GM Grischuk, Alexander 2675 7 7 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2694
3 GM Sindarov, Javokhir 2655 6½ 6½ GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2758
4 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2740 6½ 6½ GM Lazavik, Denis 2553
5 GM Esipenko, Andrey 2642 6½ 6½ GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2711
6 GM Sevian, Samuel 2614 6½ 6½ GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2699
7 GM Giri, Anish 2678 6½ 6½ GM Naroditsky, Daniel 2638
8 GM Robson, Ray 2645 6 6 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2766
9 GM Deac, Bogdan-Daniel 2635 6 6 GM Wei, Yi 2760
10 GM Antipov, Mikhail Al. 2591 6 6 GM Aronian, Levon 2757

Women's: Grandmasters Rise To The Top

Three grandmasters now lead the field, with five players a half-point behind. In the lead, we have the reigning world champion as well as the first two Indian women to earn grandmaster titles.

Women's Standings After 8 Rounds | Top 30

# SNo Title Name FED Rtg Pts.
1 1 GM Ju, Wenjun 2536 6.5
2 12 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2416 6.5
3 10 GM Koneru, Humpy 2431 6.5
4 8 GM Lagno, Kateryna 2433 6
5 19 IM Yip, Carissa 2389 6
6 4 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2486 6
7 15 GM Paehtz, Elisabeth 2406 6
8 23 IM Tsolakidou, Stavroula 2381 6
9 3 GM Tan, Zhongyi 2502 5.5
10 2 GM Lei, Tingjie 2518 5.5
11 34 GM Batsiashvili, Nino 2333 5.5
12 6 IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara 2444 5.5
13 35 WGM Munkhzul, Turmunkh 2333 5.5
14 30 IM Sukandar, Irine Kharisma 2354 5.5
15 83 WIM Khamdamova, Afruza 2188 5.5
16 33 IM Garifullina, Leya 2336 5.5
17 46 IM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 2302 5.5
18 65 WIM Kairbekova, Amina 2256 5
19 26 IM Kamalidenova, Meruert 2368 5
20 5 GM Zhu, Jiner 2449 5
21 9 GM Zhao, Xue 2433 5
22 11 GM Muzychuk, Mariya 2422 5
23 22 GM Krush, Irina 2382 5
24 18 IM Divya, Deshmukh 2393 5
25 44 IM Sargsyan, Anna M. 2306 5
26 13 IM Lee, Alice 2415 4.5
27 39 IM Mammadzada, Gunay 2319 4.5
28 43 IM Wagner, Dinara 2307 4.5
29 51 IM Injac, Teodora 2295 4.5
30 20 GM Gunina, Valentina 2388 4.5

See full standings here.

IM Alice Lee, who started with a perfect 4/4, scored one draw in four games on day two. She lost the first round against Ju in a queen endgame where she attempted to land perpetual check, but the white king got away.

Friday was just about the inverse of Thursday's success for Lee. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

Ju then defeated GM Tan Zhongyi, who is also her next challenger in the next classical women's world championship match. The exchange sacrifice with 34...Ne7 might remind some readers of Abdusattorov's exchange sac against Naroditsky above, but this time it worked out for the black side. The white king was doomed on the light squares after Tan took the rook. 

She then drew GMs Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno, both former women's world rapid champions and players who are in the chasing pack on six points. Undefeated Lagno has had a stable tournament, but Kosteniuk went on a rampage after losing in round one against WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan. She won every single game after that, before finally slowing down in Friday's last two rounds.

Harika's two wins on Friday came in the last two rounds, against GMs Zhu Chen, with a decisive initiative that started on move 15 and ended on 29, and GM Lei Tingjie, in a pawn-up rook endgame that was objectively defensible. 

Harika would go on to outplay Lei on the left board. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

Humpy had the greatest comeback of the day in this tournament, after she started with 2.5/4 on day one. She won all four of her games on day two.

A great second day for Humpy. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

In order, she defeated WGM Jennifer Yu, IM Vantika Agrawal (who was winning for most of the game but collapsed in mutual time trouble), WGM Turmunkh Munkhzul (who upset GM Valentina Gunina in round five), and GM Nino Batsiashvili.

In the last game, Batsiashvili was much better out of the opening, and had she played the immediate 18.Ng3! her dreams would likely have panned out. But, by including the in-between move 18.a3?, White only chased the black bishop where it wanted to go. The Georgian GM lost control after that, and lost the game with one erroneous capture.

32.Nxc4?? improved Black's pawn structure, opened the bishop, left a weak d4-pawn, and gave Black a queenside majority—more than enough to win.

To shoutout a local, New York player, we turn our attention to 11-year-old WFM Megan Paragua. The niece of GM Mark Paragua, she won double gold in the 2024 World Cadet Girls U12 Rapid and Blitz Championships and is a regular participant in ChessKid tournaments.

After a difficult first day, she defeated the Chinese talent IM Lu Miaoyi and Indian WGM Priyanka Nutakki, who upset GM Nana Dzagnidze in round three, to stay above a 50 percent score and gain a remarkable 120 points.

We will see all GMs on the top three boards on Saturday. Who will take the rapid crown?

Women's Round 9 Pairings | Top 10 Boards

Bo. Title White Rtg Pts. Pts. Title Black Rtg
1 GM Koneru, Humpy 2431 6½ 6½ GM Ju, Wenjun 2536
2 GM Paehtz, Elisabeth 2406 6 6½ GM Dronavalli, Harika 2416
3 GM Lagno, Kateryna 2433 6 6 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2486
4 IM Yip, Carissa 2389 6 6 IM Tsolakidou, Stavroula 2381
5 GM Lei, Tingjie 2518 5½ 5½ GM Batsiashvili, Nino 2333
6 IM Garifullina, Leya 2336 5½ 5½ GM Tan, Zhongyi 2502
7 IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara 2444 5½ 5½ WGM Munkhzul, Turmunkh 2333
8 IM Sukandar, Irine Kharisma 2354 5½ 5½ IM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 2302
9 GM Zhu, Jiner 2449 5 5½ WIM Khamdamova, Afruza 2188
10 GM Krush, Irina 2382 5 5 GM Zhao, Xue 2433

Regarding Transmission Issues Of Live Games

Rozman, among others, pointed out an issue regarding live transmission of the chess games. In an X post, he complained that live boards were "broken" for over 10 minutes on day one, making the viewer experience "frustrating."

The core problem, as understood by Chess.com's broadcast team, is that FIDE insists on distributing a PGN feed instead of a LiveChess Cloud link with the game moves. LiveChess Cloud is a more modern technology that provides seamless move relays in even the most demanding circumstances. Our experience with this technology is excellent.

The one limitation of LiveChess Cloud is that it does not support a delayed move feed. The feed must be delayed by the distributor, something Chess.com and other platforms like Lichess support. Chess.com regularly ingests LiveChess Cloud game feeds, adds a delay to the feed, and shares it with the public as a free service. FIDE is not comfortable with this solution. As a result, for each of their events for many years now they hire contractors on site who provide massive PGN feeds to FIDE, which then delays the moves.

The resulting process is not efficient, and there are many weak points, including the contractor's skillset, internet on site, FIDE's server capabilities, and FIDE's technology to delay the games. The feed particularly struggles in the opening and in time trouble when many moves are made every second.

Our broadcast team has expressed concerns multiple times prior to this event and for many past events, but we have not received a solution and do not anticipate one from FIDE. Our expectation is that the feed will be worse in the World Blitz Championship, which starts on Monday.

The 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships decide the world champions of rapid and blitz chess in Open and Women's sections. For the rapid championships, the Open is a 13-round Swiss; the Women's is an 11-round Swiss. The time control for both tournaments is 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The blitz championships are the same number of rounds followed by a Knockout played by the top-eight finishers, with a time control of 3+2 for all games. The prize fund is $1.5 million.

Previous coverage:

AnthonyLevin
NM Anthony Levin

NM Anthony Levin caught the chess bug at the "late" age of 18 and never turned back. He earned his national master title in 2021, actually the night before his first day of work at Chess.com.

Anthony, who also earned his Master's in teaching English in 2018, taught English and chess in New York schools for five years and strives to make chess content accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages. At Chess.com, he writes news articles and manages social media for chess24.

Email:  [email protected]

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