The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced a series of format enhancements and one million euros prize fund for the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz Championships.
Set to take place in Doha, Qatar, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships have become one of the most prestigious events on the international chess calendar since their official launch in 2012.
Traditionally held in the last week of the year (from 26 to 31 December), the event attracts the best players in the world, including current world champions Gukesh Dommaraju and Ju Wenjun, as well as the world’s top-rated player, Magnus Carlsen, and a host of other heavyweights in both the Open and the Women’s competition.
“We are very much looking forward to hosting the chess world in Doha and are happy to see FIDE has introduced important enhancements to the regulations,” said Mohd Al-Mudahka, President of the Qatar Chess Association.
“We are committed to supporting chess, as we have shown with the Qatar Masters which has become one of the most prestigious chess tournaments globally. Doha also successfully hosted the World Rapid & Blitz Championships in 2016, and we are proud to welcome this flagship event back to our capital, further strengthening our place on the global chess map.”
For the 2025 edition, the prize fund has been set at one million euros (approx. 1.125 million USD), maintaining the high financial standard of recent editions and reaffirming FIDE’s commitment to top level competition.
The total will be split between the Open and Women’s events, with €700,000 allocated to the Open section — evenly divided between the Rapid and Blitz tournaments — and €300,000 for the Women’s section, also split equally.
A new knockout format for the Blitz
The two-day Blitz World Championship is the most watched and the most dramatic chess event of the year. In 2024, FIDE introduced a new knockout format in the Blitz that brought even more excitement to the event.
In a significant structural shift, for 2025 FIDE is introducing a more streamlined knockout stage in the Blitz events in the Open and the Women’s sections. Only the top four players from the Swiss stage of the tournament will advance directly to the knockout semifinals (previously, eight players in both competitions qualified for the knockout).
“The new format is an exciting mix of the Swiss system and knockout. The increased number of rounds in the qualifying part ensures that the strongest players will progress to the knockout. Also, the final match-up is ideally scheduled to suit audiences across all major chess hubs,” FIDE CEO and Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky said.
“We are very excited about the event, and have already started preparations to produce the best quality broadcast for millions of spectators,” Sutovsky added.
The Blitz schedule includes 19 Swiss rounds for the Open and 15 Swiss rounds for the Women, both played over two days, followed by semifinals and finals on December 30.
The format for the Rapid World Championships remains unchanged, with 13 rounds in the Open and 11 in the Women’s competition, culminating in a playoff in case of a tie for first place.
“With rapid and blitz formats gaining global popularity, the field is deeper and more competitive than ever,” said FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. “These format enhancements aim to make the event more dynamic while preserving the sport’s integrity and excitement for both players and fans.”
Regulations for the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz events:
Open – handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/wrbc_regulations_2025_open.pdf
Women – handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/wrbc_regulations_2025_women.pdf