From August 25-28, 2023, German Düsseldorf will host a unique competition, the inaugural edition of the World Rapid Team Championship, organized by FIDE in partnership with WR Group Holding GmbH. The 12-round Swiss tournament with rapid time control will see the squads from all over the world fight for the €250,000 prize fund, with the winners taking home €100,000.
The playing venue is Rheinterrasse located right in the heart of Düsseldorf, directly on the Rhine.
The format
Each team shall be composed of at least six and not more than nine players, and it must include at least one female and one recreational player, who never achieved FIDE rating of 2000.
Each match is played on six boards, with at least one female and one recreational player in every match.
The time control: 15 minutes for the first with an increment of 10 seconds per move starting from move 1.
Matches are scored by match points, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The team with the most match points will become the champion.
The teams
The World Rapid Team Championship attracted several dozen squads, with some of them assembling stellar lineups. Based on average rating, there are as many as four clear favourites: WR Chess (Duda, So, Nepomniachtchi, Abdusattorov, Keymer, Praggnanandhaa R, Hou Yifan and Kosteniuk), Freedom (Rapport, Anand, Dubov, Najer, Shuvalova and Shapiro), Team MGD1 (Erigaisi, Sarin, Harikrishna, Sadhwani, Dronavalli) and Kompetenzakademie Allstars (Caruana, Aronian, Gukesh D, Tsatsalashvili).
Let’s not forget that in team events, average rating often is not as important as team spirit, camaraderie, grit and determination. Take, for example, Armenia’s three gold medals in the 2006, 2008 and 2012 Chess Olympiads. Another critical factor is the participation of recreational players in every match, which can add an element of unpredictability and serve as an equalizer in critical moments.
With this in mind, squads like Ashdod Elit Chess Club (headed by Pavel Eljanov), Armenia (that can easily represent the country in Chess Olympiads), ASV AlphaEchecs LINZ, Uzbekistan (basically the country’s national team minus Nodirbek Abdusattorov) and some other teams also have a shot for the title.
Since this democratic competition is open to all, many teams consisting of low-rated and recreational players will participate. For them, the World Rapid Team Championship is a unique opportunity to face the best players in the world over the board and gain valuable experience.
Given a long 12-round tournament distance, all the top teams are bound to play each other, so we can expect a riveting chess spectacle in Dusseldorf.
Check out all the registered teams and lineups on the official website.
