16-06-2025
WR Chess claim FIDE World Blitz Team Championship title after controversial replay of lost quarter-final match
After controversially making it to the title round, WR Chess claimed their second title at the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship on Sunday after edging past KazChess in both matches with 4:2 scoreline. This is the team's second blitz crown since the competition began in 2023. Rating favourites Team WR Chess beat KazChess in a tight final, with Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scoring crucial wins in the final match to secure the crown.
There was some controversy in the way WR Chess had claimed the title. In the quarter-finals, WR Chess had been handed a 2-4 defeat by Germany and Friends in the first match. WR's top stars like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura and Firouzja lost their games. But WR then lodged an appeal claiming that they were not informed by the organisers of the exact time when the round was going to start. The team claimed that this made them reach the playing venue two minutes late for the blitz game. After this complaint, the match was replayed, with some reluctantance from Germany and Friends. WR Chess won the replayed match 4.5:1.5 and then claimed a 4:2 victory with colours reversed to enter the semi-finals.
India-based Team MGD1 had claimed the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship title earlier in London after starting the event as the sixth seeds. MGD1 had racked up 10 wins from 12 rounds played over three days to be crowned champions following an intense battle for supremacy with Team Hexamind.
From 53 teams that started the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship on Saturday, 16 made it to the knockout stage (where teams played a round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and the final). In each knockout pairing, teams played at least two blitz matches, where colours were reversed after the first game. If the score was level after two matches, additional games were played until a winner emerged.
Third place in the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship went to the Hexamind Chess Club, who defeated the Uzbekistan team in both matches with 3.5:2.5. The winners of this year's rapid tournament, MGD1, defeated Freedom in the duel for fifth place.
In the round of 16 stage, the WR Chess Team had claimed wins in both matches, as had Freedom and MGD1 Team. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan had one victory and one draw.
(With inputs from FIDE)
