FIDE World Team Blitz 2026: Dragon Chilling Clinches Double Title

Tournament Information

The FIDE World Team Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship is a six-player team event featuring a star-studded field of the world's strongest players. The first even was held in 2023, with this year's event marking the fourth iteration of the Team Championships. Team MGD1 is the defending champion in rapid, while WR Chess (Team) is the defending champion in blitz.

Team Composition

Each team is composed of six players, with the possibility of three more reserves. The only two stipulations for each team are:

• One female player
• One player who never achieved a 2000 Elo in FIDE Standard, Rapid, or Blitz or equivalent national rating up to and including the March 2026 rating lists

Time control

The time control for the rapid portion is 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment.

The time control for the blitz portion is 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.

Format

Rapid

Swiss, 12 rounds

Blitz

Stage 1: 4 pools, 12 teams each
Stage 2: Top 16 teams play a knockout

Prize Fund

The total prize fund is 500,000 euros.

Lichess Broadcast

The Lichess broadcast coverage can be found here.

Lichess Interviews

Check out our on-site player interviews on YouTube after every round!

Lichess Blogs

Lichess will have recaps for both the rapid and blitz events.

Interviews

Our director of operations, Theo Wait, was joined by Dragon Chilling's GM Ding Liren and caught up with Felipe Hurtado of Chess in Shanghai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHV8D-mvBJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pPRwHAjCkg

Final Standings

Pool Portion (Rounds 1–11): Two Clear Pools, Two Murky Pools

With four teams from each pool of twelve teams advancing to the knockouts stage, a lot was at stake during the first 11 rounds of the Blitz Championship.

Pool A

WR Chess led the pool from start to finish, only dropping a draw against Schnappi Krokodil Team in round 9. Other than that minor hurdle, though, they dominated the field with big score margins. In terms of individual results, after losing four games in a row at the Rapid Championship, GM Magnus Carlsen finally found his form in the blitz, winning eight of his games in the first nine rounds (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9). GM Wesley So (notable game) and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (notable games) went without any losses, with GM Fabiano Caruana (an important round 6 win but a tough round 9 loss) and GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (a round 2 win but a round 3 loss against IM Faustino Oro) also performing rather well.

The other teams that qualified, Chess United, led by GM Viswanathan Anand, Barys, headlined by GM Dmitry Andreikin, and Schnappi Krokodil Team, guided by GM Xu Xiangyu, had comfortable leads going into the final stretch.

GM Xu Xiangyu vs. GM Magnus Carlsen; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Standings after Round 11

Pool B

Pool B saw two dominant teams: Endgame.AI and Dragon Chilling. Their individual matchup was a draw, with wins for GM Hans Moke Niemann against GM Ding Liren (game) and GM Alexey Sarana against GM Yu Yangyi (game) offsetting wins for GM Wei Yi against GM Denis Lazavik (game) and Wang Zihao(Sh) against Anh Dung Nguyen (game). Otherwise, both teams won all their other matches, with one exception: Dragon Chilling dropping a draw against May Wind Newbies, with 2100-rated Li Wenxiang defeating GM Ju Wenjun.

Chessgurukul, headlined by GM R Praggnanandhaa, were down in the standings for a while, but later found their footing, while Indonesia, led by GM Susanto Megaranto, started off well and held on to secure the fourth place spot.

GM Hans Moke Niemann with his birthday cake; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Standings after Round 11

Pool C

Pool C saw a fiveway race for the four qualifying spots, with Red Pseudodragon narrowly missing out on the qualifying spot. Red Pseudodragon started off very strongly, critically defeating Team MGD1 in round 6, with wins by IM Christian Gian Karlo Arca against GM Nihal Sarin (game) and IM Bai Adelard against GM Leon Luke Mendonca (game), draws on the other three boards, and just one loss by CM Jamison Edrich Kao against GM Harika Dronavalli (game). Unfortunately for Red Pseudodragon, a critical loss in the final round to Sky Chess saw them getting leapfrogged by the latter.

Hexamind Chess Team; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Standings after Round 11

Pool D

Pool D saw an even tighter race for the qualifying spots. Mr Birdie and Friends ran away with it, putting up the only perfect score of any pool. Interstellar Club ultimately qualified over ChessNut Nova on tiebreaks, with Farm Valera dangerously close, but drawing two critical matches against 10th seed Blue Bulldog and 12th seed Qatar Chess Team. One critical game for the standings included Gines Perez Epinin's win against GM Raunak Sadhwani (game), a 600-point rating upset which cost Chessnut Nova a draw against Farm - Valera Chess Training, while for Farm - Valera Chess Training, they already did very well considering their average rating, with also an impressive win by WFM Rebeca Jimenez Fernandez against GM Zhu Chen (game).

GM Awonder Liang, captain of Mr Birdie and friends; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Standings after Round 11

Knockouts Format

2 matches for each stage
If tied after two matches, another match is played
If tied, one more match is played
If all four matches end up being tied, an Armageddon game is played between two players who played against each other in the previous (the fourth) match

Round of 16

All of the rating favorites prevailed, with two teams of favorites drawing their first match and then going on to win the second.

After a draw in the first round by Dragon Chilling against Barys, Dragon Chilling went on to win the second match 4-2, with wins by GM Yu Yangyi against GM Denis Makhnev (game), GM Lu Shanglei against GM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov (game), and Wang Zihao (SH) against Ailin Zarkym (game) offsetting a loss by GM Wei Yi against GM Peter Svidler (game).

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan edged out Odlar Yurdu (Azerbaijan) with a 3.5-2.5 scoreline, with wins by GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov against GM Rauf Mamedov (game), GM Javokhir Sindarov against GM Aydin Suleymanli (game), GM Mukhiddin Madaminov against IM Vugar Manafov (game), and WGM Umida Omonova against IM Gunay Mammadzada (game) counteracting wins by IM Khazar Babazada against GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (game) and Murad Hashimov against Akjol Rakhmatullaev (game).

Round 1

Round 2

Quarterfinals

Uzbekistan vs. WR Chess: Uzbekistan With a Narrow Win

WR Chess had to bounce back after losing the first match by half a point, but they only managed to draw the second match, with a critical win by GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov against GM Magnus Carlsen, avenging his previous loss to Carlsen.

Round 1

Round 2

Hexamind Chess Team vs. Chessgurukul

Hexamind Chess Team narrowly won both matches against Chessgurukul, but the first mtach was much different from the seecond. The first match was rather dominant for Hexamind Chess Team, in fact, with msotly one-sided games except for Murat Omarov's loss to B Vishruth.

In contrast, the second match was completely chaotic, with GM Alireza Firouzja and GM R Praggnanandhaa playing a seesaw of a game,

and GM Vaishali Rameshbabu managing to turn it around against GM Kateryna Lagno.

Round 1

Round 2

Endgame.AI vs. Team MGD1

The match between Endgame.AI and Team MGD1 saw a lot of draws, with some of those draws showing tremendous swings. Offsetting GM Hans Moke Niemann's loss to GM Arjun Erigaisi (game), GM Alexey Sarana won both of his games, playing against GM V Pranav and GM Leon Luke Mendonca, who replaced the latter in the second match.

Round 1

Round 2

Dragon Chilling vs. Mr Birdie and friends

Dragon Chilling played a thrilling match against Mr Birdie and friends, the same team that beat the former fire-breathers in the Rapid Championship. One critical game in the first round was a stunning checkmating sequence which GM Yu Yangyi blundered against GM Samuel Sevian after the former had a completely winning position.

Fate was on GM Yu Yangyi's side, however, as he also defeated GM Samuel Sevian after having an absolutely lost position.

In the tiebreaks, GM Samuel Sevian was once again winning but failed to convert, and it was Wang Zihao(SH) who clinched the match for his team after shockingly surviving a mate in 1 against Ning Yunlong.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Semi-Finals

Endgame.AI vs. Hexamind Chess Team

Just like Endgame.AI's quarterfinal match, the semi-final match between Endgame.AI and Hexamind Chess Team saw a lot of draws, but only in the first match. In fact, in a shocking twist and a rarity at the top levels of chess, both the second and third matches were all decisive. In the first match, the draws were not created equally; while some games were quiet, GM Alexey Sarana had a decent pull against GM Anish Giri. Meanwhile, GM Volodar Murzin won the first match for Endgame.AI with a stunning endgame idea, proving just how powerful passed pawns can be.

It was then up to Murat Omarov to hold a draw against Anh Dung Nguyen. With pieces flying all over the board, Omarov managed to hold the draw, missing a couple of forks along the way and helping his team secure the victory.

Round 1

In a crushing turnaround, Endgame.AI won the next match with an astonishing score: 5-1, with all five of the wins being rather one-sided.

Here is Niemann's steel king, which escaped all of Firouzja's threats:

Round 2

Firouzja got his revenge in the third match, defeating Niemann with a very nice attack.

The captain's teammates were able to right the ship, though. One important win was GM Zhu Jiner's against GM Kateryna Lagno whose piece suddenly found itself trapped in a complex Fischer-like Bxh2 trap.

Round 3

Dragon Chilling vs. Uzbekistan

Dragon Chilling and Uzbekistan were after mathematical patterns: the first match went 1.5-4.5 for Dragon Chilling, the second 4.5-1.5, and the third 4.5-1.5. Most games of the match saw advantages converted to their logical conclusion; however, there were of course some discrepancies:

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Placement Matches

In the placement matches, Uzbekistan finished in third place, defeating Hexamind Chess Team, who finished in fourth, in the third tiebreak match. WR Chess took fifth place, defeating Mr Birdie and friends and Team MGD1 along the way.

Finals: Dragon Chilling vs. Endgame.AI

The Finals, while certainly anticlimactic for chess fans, showed superb chess and cemented Dragon Chilling's ferocious fighting spirit.

Round 1 decisive games:

Round 2 decisive games:

Round 1

Round 2