After four rounds in the Rapid segment, India’s MGD1 stands as the sole leader, having secured victories in all four matches. Three teams share second place – the favourites WR Chess and Freedom, as well as the newcomers to the competition, the British team Malcolm’s Mates.
The global chess spotlight converged on the British capital on Wednesday for the start of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships, drawing many strong players and amateurs for a week of intense, fast-paced competition.
The opening ceremony, held at the London’s Novotel Hotel in Hammersmith (close to where the world championship match between Kramnik and Kasparov took place in 2000), underscored the sport’s expanding international footprint and the power of chess in bringing people together.
Dominic Lawson, the president of the English Chess Federation, noted that the World Teams is the first major FIDE event since the Candidates in 2013. He spoke about London’s rich chess history, particularly referencing the great Vera Menchik, the world’s first woman chess champion, who was killed in the German bombardment of London in 1944, noting how war – then and today – has impacted chess.
The President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), Arkady Dvorkovich, stressed the importance of events such as the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Teams in bringing people together.
“From Dusseldorf in 2023, to Astana in 2024 and now London – the event has grown in scale, passion and energy. I am sure this event will also be a great success story,” the FIDE President said.
Dvorkovich also thanked the Scheinberg Family for their generous support for this event and for chess over the years.
Nobel Prize-winning biologist and former Royal Society President Venkatraman Ramakrishnan had the honour of making the first ceremonial move.
Originally from India, he took up chess at 19 after moving to the US and briefly played for Ohio University. “I played so much my studies suffered, so I stopped,” he recalled. In an interview, Ramakrishnan pointed out that “AI has revolutionised chess as much as it has revolutionised science”, citing the influence of Demis Hassabis – a prominent chess player and AI pioneer.
The FIDE World Rapid Teams – first four rounds
The first event underway is the World Team Rapid Championship, featuring 52 participating teams.
While rating favourites generally performed strongly, the Rapid opening day saw notable upsets, with several super-Grandmasters dropping points to significantly lower-rated opponents.
The top-performing team of the day is MGD1 from India, led by Arjun Erigaisi, which has won all four matches, securing eight match points (each match victory brings two points, each draw one point, and a loss – zero points).
They started with a 5:1 victory against MongolZ and continued in the same fashion in round two, against Barys.kz. Round three saw them pitted against Rishon LeZion Chess Club, led by the former world champion candidate, Boris Gelfand. The score in this match was 4.5:1.5 for MGD1. Then, in the final round of the day, the Indian squad narrowly defeated the strong team of Uzbekistan, 3.5:2.5, finishing the day in sole first place.
Second and third place are shared by two top contenders from previous editions – WR Chess and Freedom. Both teams won their first three matches but drew against each other in the fourth round and are on seven match points.
The big surprise of the day is the distinctly named team Malcolm’s Mates (after the ECF chess official and organiser Malcolm Pein), which emerged in shared second to fourth place with WR Chess and Freedom. They drew their second match – against Global Ramblers, led by GM Alexei Shirov – but then went on to win in the next two rounds, to clinch one of the top spots.
Here follows a closer look at developments in the first four rounds:
The first round brought the first surprises! Despite all the favourite teams winning their matches, there were some notable upsets among the top guns. Gawain Jones – one of the strongest British GMs – completely misplayed against a 200-points lower-rated Sumiya Bilguun from the Mongolia-B team and ended up losing. The five-time Kazakh chess champion, 2587-rated Darmen Sadvakasov, lost in time trouble to 2240-rated Lu Miaoyi of the Turkish Airlines Sports Club team.
The Indian Team MGD1 made up of world-class players defeated The MongolZ team from Mongolia, but, had two draws on the top three boards: Harikrishna conceded a draw against FM Sumiya Chinguun, as did Leon Mendonca against Khuyagtsogt Itgelt.
As early as round two, the favourites started to have problems. WR Chess defeated Generation XYZA with 4:2, but Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – the former world blitz champion and a top class player – lost to 16-year-old Turkish star Ediz Gürel.
After creating two runners on the queenside as White, Vachier-Lagrave blundered, having to give up his queen. Also in that match, WR’s Hikaru Nakamura (rated 2734) had a speedy draw with 300-points lower rated Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus.
KazChess pulled off a narrow victory against a significantly weaker team of Duobeniajan Costa Calida ESJ (3.5 vs 2.5), with Grischuk drawing as Black and Esipenko losing with the white pieces. Global Ramblers – which features the 2702-rated Alexei Shirov as the only super-strong player – held the team of Malcolm’s Mates to a draw thanks to the successes on the lower boards.
The other favourites – Uzbekistan, Freedom and MGD1 – continued strong, steamrolling their opponents.
As the World Rapid Team Championship moved into the third round, the stakes escalated, transforming the matches into full hard-fought battles. The Hexamind Chess Team led by Levon Aronian and 18-year-old Volodar Murzin delivered a major upset, defeating the second-seed KazChess. With Richard Rapport losing to Aronian on board one, and Giri defeating Ansat on board three, the final score was 3.5:2.5.
WR Chess was held to a draw by the Ashdod Elit Chess Club on the lower three boards, but managed to swing the match thanks to Duda’s dominant performance against Benjamin Gledura and Firouzja’s managing to eke out a victory against Nihal Sarin on board one.
Despite suffering defeats on the top two boards, Malcolm’s Mates secured a narrow victory against Theme International Trading 3.5:2.5.
In a significant upset, Mongolia’s A team defeated the higher rated Global Ramblers 4:2 with Alexei Shirov completely misplaying a winning position against the 350-points lower rated IM Ganzorig Amartuvshin.
The final round of the day brought the most anticipated derby in the event that sent ripples through the tournament hall: WR Chess were up against their old nemesis – Freedom. In the previous two editions, both teams were neck and neck in the race for first place. On the female board, Freedom’s Teodora Injac held the former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk to a draw, while Alexei Sarana split a point with WR’s Duda. Freedom was the first to score, notching up a win on the non-professional board.
However, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave struck back, prevailing over Le Quang Liem in a tactical endgame. WR then seized the lead with Wesley So defeating Martirosyan, but on board one, Firouzja slipped against Sam Sevian, allowing Freedom to level the match 3:3.
The team of Uzbekistan suffered their first setback, losing to MGD1 3.5:2.5. Hexamind also slipped, losing to Malcom’s Mates. After Aronian blundered on board one against Gawain Jones, things went downhill for Hexamind. Second seed KazChess finished the day with a 4.5:1.5 victory over Mongolia-A team.
The event continues on Thursday, 12th June, with four more rounds in the rapid tournament. The games start at 2 PM London time.
Written by Milan Dinic
Photos: Rafal Oleksiewicz
Official website: worldrapidblitzteams2025.fide.com/
About the event:
The third edition of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships is taking place in London, United Kingdom, between June 10 and 16, 2025.
The event is open to teams from all over the world. Teams can be made of club members, members of different federations, or any other chess players. Altogether, 52 teams are taking part in the Rapid World Championship.
The total prize fund is €500,000 (£421,000), €310,000 will go to the Rapid tournament, €190,000 is earmarked for the Blitz.
