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The world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, recovered from a series of mishaps to win both the World Rapid and Blitz crowns at Doha, Qatar, last weekend. The global victories were the 19th and 20th of the Norwegian’s illustrious career and may give him the edge in the longstanding debate on whether he, Garry Kasparov, or Bobby Fischer is chess’s all-time greatest master.
Peerless endgame technique was central to the 35-year-old Norwegian’s blitz success. He won a knight ending with Black against Nodirbek Abdusattorov from a position which elite grandmasters would normally have instantly agreed to halve, and also scored in other endings of extraordinary subtlety.
In between the moments of sublime elegance, there were some episodes which threatened to derail Carlsen’s campaign. He blundered rook for bishop and the game against Vladislav Artemiev in the rapid, then left the building and swatted the camera of a photographer who approached too near.
Final leading World Rapid scores were Carlsen 10.5/ 13, Artemiev (Russia, silver medal) and Arjun Erigaisi (India, bronze), both 9.5. The Rapid time control was 15 minutes each for the entire game, plus a 10 seconds per move increment. First prize was €70,000.
The World Blitz had 19 rounds of three minutes plus two seconds per move games, followed by semi-finals and final for the top four players. Carlsen blundered a rook against Fabiano Caruana, lost on time to Erigaisi after fumbling a piece, and was on the brink of elimination after round 14, when he spilled several pieces on the board and was adjudged to have forfeited on time to Haik Martirosyan before he could replace them.
Carlsen then needed four wins and a draw to qualify for the knockout stage, yet remained confident and continued his policy of aiming for endgames at every opportunity. He defeated Uzbekistan’s Abdusattorov 2.5-1.5 in their final match, and earned another €70,000.
At the closing press conference, Carlsen stated that he expects to play two or three classical events during 2026. Translated, this probably means Norway Chess at Stavanger, the Olympiad in Uzbekistan, and the European Club Cup or the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis. Asked which of his 20 world titles had been the hardest, he said the match against Sergey Karjakin in 2016.
Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina won the World Women’s Rapid after a tie-break with China’s Zhu Jiner. Bibisara Assaubayeva beat Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk 2.5-1.5 for the World Women’s Blitz. At age 21, it was already the Kazak star’s third world blitz title.
Several blunders in the World Blitz had a common feature – overlooking a backward diagonal capture by a queen or bishop. Remember this technique next time you have a lost position in your chess.com or lichess blitz game – it can save you half a point or more.
There were no British competitors in the World Rapid or Blitz, but an English county champion had a notable result. Talab Rami, who won the Cornwall Championship two years ago aged 10 and represents Syria internationally, scored 5.5/ 13 in the Rapid, defeating two IMs for a TPR of 2325, and 7/19 in the Blitz, defeating three GMs and three IMs, for a TPR of 2350. Both were far above Rami’s official rating in the low 2000s. The Truro schoolboy also performed at 2300+ in the recent Coventry international, so this was no fluke and places Rami up with the best English juniors after GM Shreyas Royal.
4005: 1 Rxc6+! Kxc6 (if Qxc6 2 Qxg8 wins) 2 d5+! and if Qxd5 3 Be4 or Kxd5 3 Bf7 both win Black’s queen.
