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The World Rapid & Blitz Championship took place on Wall Street in New York 26th to 31st December 2024. Carlsen, Caruana, MVL, Wei Yi, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian, Firouzja, Nakamura, Abdusattorov, Duda, Wesley So etc. In the women's event Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, Kosteniuk etc.

Magnus Carlsen was defaulted in round 9 of the rapid when he didn't change his clothes after being informed they broke the regulations. He stated this was likely his final FIDE event, he would not play the blitz. This seemed very final from Carlsen but then on the rest day a blurred photo emerged of him talking to Viswanthan Anand (I'm guessing there's maybe a story that someone made sure there was a photo) and after some flex in the regulations Carlsen will play the blitz in which he is one of the favourites. Two points occur to me, firstly this isn't over in the sense that FIDE and Carlsen have points of tension over the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam and the Esports World Cup that aren't going to go away, but secondly I highly doubt Carlsen would be playing the blitz without FIDE having Anand for him to talk to, and being able to do this kind of thing is entirely what should qualify a person to be FIDE President somewhere down the line.

The rapid title was taken by 18 year old and 59th seed Volodar Murzin. Whilst the victory can't be described as anything other than a surprise he has been a force in rapid and blitz chess for many years and scored a very respectable 8/15 in this event in 2019. The key moment in his victory was where he hustled Praggnanandhaa to defeat via an objectively lost position in round 12, his only Alexander Grischuk drew quickly in the final round leaving Murzin the task, to which he was equal, of drawing with Karen H. Grigoryan for the title.

Humpy Koneru won the women's rapid title for the second time, she was the 10th seed. In spite of being India's number one women's player she can be seen as a bit of an outsider due to her fractious relationship with the Indian Chess Federation. She is always an interesting player to follow as she has a solid positional style which she scores well with.

The final blitz had a Swiss section on the 30th and a knockout on the 31st for the medals among the top players. Ju Wenjun won the women's title. Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi agreed to draw their match after 7 games. Nepomniachtchi came from 2-0 down to take the match into a tie-break. Whether you think the players should have been able to agree to share the title is going to be a matter of opinion and it's been a divisive move. I believe you should stick to regulations and rewrite them afterwards if they turn out to be misguided. Clearly, at least in December 2024, this isn't the way. I was very much surprised at the open ended nature of "play until there is a decisive result" as written in the regs for the tie-break and I doubt this will happen again. I'm open to this format being repeated but many of the ordinary players who make this the event it is want a return to a straight Swiss. They pay to play in the event, without much hope of prizes, but they don't want to pay for an extra day (including accommodation) they almost certainly won't be playing any chess on and would prefer the extra rounds.

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World Rapid 2024 New York USA Thu 26th Dec 2024 - Mon 30th Dec 2024 Leading Final Round 13 Standings:
Rk	SNo	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	59	Murzin, Volodar	GM	FID	2588	10	100.5	107	2695
2	20	Grischuk, Alexander	GM	FID	2675	9.5	96.5	101	2588
3	5	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	GM	FID	2758	9.5	91	96.5	2591
4	14	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	GM	USA	2699	9	101.5	108	2619
5	16	Erigaisi, Arjun	GM	IND	2694	9	97.5	101.5	2644
6	24	Sindarov, Javokhir	GM	UZB	2655	9	92.5	98	2605
7	7	Firouzja, Alireza	GM	FRA	2756	9	92	97	2606
8	19	Dubov, Daniil	GM	FID	2677	9	92	96.5	2597
9	41	Grigoryan, Karen H.	GM	ARM	2622	9	88.5	93.5	2504
10	45	Sevian, Samuel	GM	USA	2614	8.5	99.5	104.5	2675
11	18	Giri, Anish	GM	NED	2678	8.5	96.5	100.5	2636
12	113	Muradli, Mahammad	GM	AZE	2464	8.5	94	99	2655
13	15	Yu, Yangyi	GM	CHN	2698	8.5	93.5	99.5	2602
14	13	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	GM	AZE	2711	8.5	93	99	2594
15	2	Caruana, Fabiano	GM	USA	2766	8.5	91	95	2591
16	29	Robson, Ray	GM	USA	2645	8.5	91	95	2580
17	17	Praggnanandhaa, R	GM	IND	2688	8.5	88	93.5	2558
18	30	Bortnyk, Olexandr	GM	UKR	2642	8.5	86.5	90.5	2531
19	4	Wei, Yi	GM	CHN	2760	8.5	86	91	2564
20	43	Niemann, Hans Moke	GM	USA	2618	8.5	83.5	88	2546
21	28	Salem, A.R. Saleh	GM	UAE	2647	8.5	79.5	83.5	2505
22	10	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	GM	POL	2740	8	98.5	104.5	2609
23	84	Durarbayli, Vasif	GM	AZE	2531	8	96.5	100.5	2670
24	116	Jacobson, Brandon	GM	USA	2459	8	94.5	101	2668
25	6	Aronian, Levon	GM	USA	2757	8	93.5	99.5	2608
26	52	Sargsyan, Shant	GM	ARM	2601	8	93.5	97	2601
27	75	Lazavik, Denis	GM	FID	2553	8	93	98	2645
28	9	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	GM	UZB	2740	8	92.5	98.5	2616
29	31	Esipenko, Andrey	GM	FID	2642	8	91.5	96	2619
30	83	Theodorou, Nikolas	GM	GRE	2535	8	91	96.5	2550
31	48	Martirosyan, Haik M.	GM	ARM	2609	8	89	94.5	2571
32	88	Bjerre, Jonas Buhl	GM	DEN	2524	8	87	92	2593
33	56	Antipov, Mikhail Al.	GM	USA	2591	8	85.5	89	2600
34	3	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	GM	FRA	2763	8	85	91	2575
35	35	Anton Guijarro, David	GM	ESP	2635	8	83.5	88.5	2495
36	26	van Foreest, Jorden	GM	NED	2651	8	83.5	87.5	2497
37	62	Shimanov, Aleksandr	GM	FID	2578	8	83	88	2507
38	37	Gelfand, Boris	GM	ISR	2630	8	82.5	87.5	2526
39	12	Xiong, Jeffery	GM	USA	2714	8	82.5	87	2508
40	78	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	GM	IND	2546	8	82	85.5	2492
41	22	Le, Quang Liem	GM	VIE	2657	8	80	84	2514
42	36	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	GM	ROU	2635	7.5	96	100	2650
43	34	Naroditsky, Daniel	GM	USA	2638	7.5	95	100.5	2588
44	101	Pranav, V	GM	IND	2497	7.5	93.5	97	2663
45	8	Nakamura, Hikaru	GM	USA	2755	7.5	92	97.5	2581
46	46	Safarli, Eltaj	GM	AZE	2611	7.5	87.5	92.5	2542
47	65	Bu, Xiangzhi	GM	CHN	2569	7.5	87	91.5	2573
48	112	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	GM	UZB	2466	7.5	86.5	91.5	2611
49	71	Tari, Aryan	GM	NOR	2559	7.5	86	90	2549
50	49	Bluebaum, Matthias	GM	GER	2608	7.5	85.5	91	2492
180 players

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World Rapid Women 2024 New York USA Thu 26th Dec 2024 - Mon 30th Dec 2024 Leading Final Round 11 Standings:
Rk	SNo	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	10	Koneru, Humpy	GM	IND	2431	8.5	63	67	2344
2	1	Ju, Wenjun	GM	CHN	2536	8	75	80.5	2414
3	8	Lagno, Kateryna	GM	FID	2433	8	72	77	2381
4	3	Tan, Zhongyi	GM	CHN	2502	8	67	72	2372
5	12	Dronavalli, Harika	GM	IND	2416	8	65	69.5	2373
6	4	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	GM	SUI	2486	8	64.5	68.5	2354
7	83	Khamdamova, Afruza	WIM	UZB	2188	8	64	68	2410
8	6	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	IM	KAZ	2444	7.5	69	73	2328
9	30	Sukandar, Irine Kharisma	IM	INA	2354	7.5	67.5	71.5	2381
10	23	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	IM	GRE	2381	7.5	61.5	65.5	2315
11	70	Cori T., Deysi	IM	PER	2243	7.5	61	61.5	2347
12	11	Muzychuk, Mariya	GM	UKR	2422	7.5	58.5	62	2313
13	35	Munkhzul, Turmunkh	WGM	MGL	2333	7	68.5	72	2340
14	15	Paehtz, Elisabeth	GM	GER	2406	7	67.5	71.5	2319
15	43	Wagner, Dinara	IM	GER	2307	7	63.5	67.5	2362
16	26	Kamalidenova, Meruert	IM	KAZ	2368	7	62	67	2287
17	14	Muzychuk, Anna	GM	UKR	2408	7	61.5	65.5	2324
18	5	Zhu, Jiner	GM	CHN	2449	7	61	65.5	2304
19	9	Zhao, Xue	GM	CHN	2433	7	57.5	61.5	2317
20	16	Huang, Qian	WGM	CHN	2399	7	57	60.5	2270
21	18	Divya, Deshmukh	IM	IND	2393	7	55	59	2262
22	34	Batsiashvili, Nino	GM	GEO	2333	6.5	68	72.5	2359
23	39	Mammadzada, Gunay	IM	AZE	2319	6.5	68	72	2344
24	2	Lei, Tingjie	GM	CHN	2518	6.5	67.5	73	2319
25	19	Yip, Carissa	IM	USA	2389	6.5	65	69	2353
26	61	Padmini, Rout	IM	IND	2267	6.5	61.5	65.5	2310
27	13	Lee, Alice	IM	USA	2415	6.5	61	65.5	2339
28	46	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	IM	FID	2302	6.5	61	65.5	2294
29	25	Kashlinskaya, Alina	IM	POL	2378	6.5	60	64	2308
30	78	Beydullayeva, Govhar	WGM	AZE	2212	6.5	59.5	63.5	2347
31	7	Dzagnidze, Nana	GM	GEO	2436	6.5	53.5	58	2245
32	41	Guichard, Pauline	IM	FRA	2316	6.5	50	53	2168
33	60	Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra	IM	POL	2269	6	67.5	72.5	2406
34	65	Kairbekova, Amina	WIM	KAZ	2256	6	64.5	69	2374
35	51	Injac, Teodora	IM	SRB	2295	6	63.5	67	2339
36	57	Toncheva, Nadya	WGM	BUL	2283	6	63	68	2328
37	74	Mou, Iris	WIM	USA	2226	6	62.5	64	2368
38	72	Balajayeva, Khanim	IM	AZE	2242	6	62	67	2366
39	50	Yu, Jennifer	WGM	USA	2296	6	62	66	2280
40	32	Song, Yuxin	IM	CHN	2347	6	61.5	66.5	2286
41	33	Garifullina, Leya	IM	FID	2336	6	61.5	65	2345
42	44	Sargsyan, Anna M.	IM	ARM	2306	6	59	63	2267
43	45	Abrahamyan, Tatev	WGM	USA	2305	6	58.5	61.5	2278
44	82	Uuriintuya, Uurtsaikh	WGM	MGL	2188	6	57.5	62.5	2337
45	55	Mammadova, Gulnar	IM	AZE	2289	6	56.5	57.5	2279
46	71	Zhukova, Natalia	GM	UKR	2242	6	56	59.5	2264
47	99	Paragua, Megan Althea	WFM	USA	2017	6	55	58	2327
48	79	Sliwicka, Alicja	WGM	POL	2206	6	54.5	58.5	2339
49	27	Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat	IM	ESP	2359	6	54.5	58	2232
50	93	Jarocka, Liwia	FM	POL	2127	6	53.5	57.5	2302
110 players

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World Blitz 2024 New York USA Thu 26th Dec 2024 - Mon 30th Dec 2024 Leading Final Round 13 Standings:
Rk	SNo	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	9	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	GM	FID	2770	9.5	102.5	107.5	2699
2	5	Caruana, Fabiano	GM	USA	2796	9.5	101	107	2721
3	1	Carlsen, Magnus	GM	NOR	2890	9.5	101	107	2715
4	4	So, Wesley	GM	USA	2803	9.5	100.5	107	2697
5	2	Firouzja, Alireza	GM	FRA	2871	9.5	100.5	106	2723
6	18	Niemann, Hans Moke	GM	USA	2709	9.5	99	104.5	2701
7	7	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	GM	POL	2776	9.5	97.5	103.5	2677
8	41	Murzin, Volodar	GM	FID	2629	9.5	95.5	99.5	2639
9	17	Naroditsky, Daniel	GM	USA	2711	9.5	92	97	2593
10	6	Dubov, Daniil	GM	FID	2784	9.5	91.5	101	2648
11	10	Bortnyk, Olexandr	GM	UKR	2762	9	90.5	96	2598
12	48	Bortnyk, Mykola	IM	UKR	2616	9	87	91.5	2594
13	24	Martirosyan, Haik M.	GM	ARM	2692	9	82.5	88	2525
14	13	Aronian, Levon	GM	USA	2737	8.5	104	110	2710
15	23	Sevian, Samuel	GM	USA	2693	8.5	97.5	102.5	2629
16	34	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	GM	USA	2656	8.5	94	99	2602
17	85	Antipov, Mikhail Al.	GM	USA	2545	8.5	94	97	2684
18	26	Grischuk, Alexander	GM	FID	2684	8.5	92.5	97.5	2607
19	37	Lu, Shanglei	GM	CHN	2648	8.5	91.5	98	2568
20	43	Bok, Benjamin	GM	NED	2627	8.5	91.5	96.5	2606
21	3	Nakamura, Hikaru	GM	USA	2860	8.5	91	95.5	2597
22	105	Nogerbek, Kazybek	GM	KAZ	2511	8.5	90	96.5	2681
23	16	Praggnanandhaa, R	GM	IND	2716	8.5	89.5	94	2617
24	32	Oparin, Grigoriy	GM	USA	2659	8.5	88.5	94.5	2537
25	50	Lazavik, Denis	GM	FID	2610	8.5	86	90.5	2548
26	93	Le Tuan, Minh	GM	VIE	2532	8.5	85	88.5	2629
27	68	Lenderman, Aleksandr	GM	USA	2582	8.5	83.5	89	2587
28	57	Suleymanli, Aydin	GM	AZE	2593	8.5	79	82	2489
29	20	Xiong, Jeffery	GM	USA	2707	8	97.5	103.5	2604
30	31	Giri, Anish	GM	NED	2659	8	93.5	99.5	2607
31	135	Lomasov, Semyon	GM	ISR	2445	8	91.5	95.5	2620
32	160	Woodward, Andy	GM	USA	2353	8	87.5	92	2609
33	69	Makarian, Rudik	IM	FID	2581	8	86.5	91.5	2578
34	54	Svane, Rasmus	GM	GER	2597	8	86	90.5	2526
35	30	Sadhwani, Raunak	GM	IND	2663	8	85.5	90	2560
36	58	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	GM	UZB	2593	8	85.5	90	2529
37	42	Sindarov, Javokhir	GM	UZB	2628	8	84.5	89	2541
38	76	Dardha, Daniel	GM	BEL	2563	8	83	87.5	2555
39	19	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	GM	UZB	2707	8	82.5	87.5	2555
40	28	Salem, A.R. Saleh	GM	UAE	2674	8	81.5	86.5	2512
41	53	van Foreest, Jorden	GM	NED	2599	8	81	85.5	2504
42	38	Safarli, Eltaj	GM	AZE	2644	8	75	79.5	2503
43	62	Donchenko, Alexander	GM	GER	2586	8	72.5	77.5	2455
44	66	Gelfand, Boris	GM	ISR	2583	7.5	95.5	101	2671
45	100	Liang, Awonder	GM	USA	2527	7.5	94.5	100.5	2653
46	15	Wei, Yi	GM	CHN	2719	7.5	94.5	100.5	2626
47	121	Lodici, Lorenzo	GM	ITA	2464	7.5	93	99.5	2658
48	88	Amar, Elham	GM	NOR	2538	7.5	92	96.5	2625
49	25	Sarana, Alexey	GM	SRB	2689	7.5	91	95.5	2586
50	86	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	GM	FID	2545	7.5	87.5	92	2540
188 players

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World Blitz Women 2024 New York USA Thu 26th Dec 2024 - Mon 30th Dec 2024 Leading Final Round 11 Standings:
Rk	SNo	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	21	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	GM	IND	2359	9.5	72.5	76.5	2350
2	1	Lei, Tingjie	GM	CHN	2491	8.5	67.5	71.5	2304
3	5	Lagno, Kateryna	GM	FID	2444	8	73.5	79	2354
4	17	Gunina, Valentina	GM	FID	2374	8	72.5	76.5	2351
5	3	Ju, Wenjun	GM	CHN	2480	8	70.5	76.5	2321
6	42	Yip, Carissa	IM	USA	2285	8	69.5	73.5	2341
7	6	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	IM	KAZ	2443	8	63	67	2284
8	7	Zhu, Jiner	GM	CHN	2434	8	62	66	2266
9	10	Koneru, Humpy	GM	IND	2414	8	57.5	60.5	2279
10	27	Wagner, Dinara	IM	GER	2335	7.5	68.5	71.5	2328
11	16	Garifullina, Leya	IM	FID	2382	7.5	68	73	2297
12	39	Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra	IM	POL	2289	7.5	68	72.5	2329
13	24	Narva, Mai	IM	EST	2336	7.5	57	60.5	2243
14	19	Dzagnidze, Nana	GM	GEO	2371	7	75.5	81	2349
15	12	Muzychuk, Anna	GM	UKR	2402	7	70	74.5	2340
16	50	Song, Yuxin	IM	CHN	2271	7	67.5	70.5	2376
17	9	Shuvalova, Polina	IM	FID	2415	7	65.5	69	2270
18	29	Divya, Deshmukh	IM	IND	2333	7	64	68	2279
19	30	Vantika, Agrawal	IM	IND	2333	7	63.5	67.5	2313
20	34	Munkhzul, Turmunkh	WGM	MGL	2317	7	63	67.5	2258
21	26	Danielian, Elina	GM	ARM	2335	7	61	65.5	2291
22	13	Dronavalli, Harika	GM	IND	2400	7	61	65	2227
23	45	Kulon, Klaudia	IM	POL	2276	7	55.5	59.5	2260
24	48	Cori T., Deysi	IM	PER	2273	7	55.5	59.5	2210
25	37	Sargsyan, Anna M.	IM	ARM	2298	6.5	73.5	78.5	2378
26	67	Injac, Teodora	IM	SRB	2212	6.5	68.5	73.5	2348
27	57	Mammadova, Gulnar	IM	AZE	2237	6.5	64	68	2327
28	63	Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene	WCM	MGL	2224	6.5	64	67	2380
29	28	Kamalidenova, Meruert	IM	KAZ	2334	6.5	62.5	65.5	2247
30	47	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	IM	GRE	2274	6.5	62	65.5	2281
31	32	Paehtz, Elisabeth	GM	GER	2321	6.5	62	65	2309
32	64	Yu, Jennifer	WGM	USA	2223	6.5	59.5	63	2310
33	4	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	GM	SUI	2451	6.5	58.5	62.5	2249
34	36	Javakhishvili, Lela	IM	GEO	2311	6.5	57.5	61.5	2236
35	56	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	IM	FID	2242	6.5	52	55.5	2200
36	14	Kashlinskaya, Alina	IM	POL	2392	6.5	48.5	51.5	2211
37	54	Garcia Martin, Marta	IM	ESP	2245	6	63.5	65	2289
38	23	Lee, Alice	IM	USA	2337	6	63	68	2249
39	69	Charkhalashvili, Inga	WGM	GEO	2201	6	63	67	2311
40	31	Huang, Qian	WGM	CHN	2326	6	61	65	2235
41	77	Wu, Rochelle	WGM	USA	2182	6	60.5	64.5	2331
42	59	Batsiashvili, Nino	GM	GEO	2234	6	59.5	63.5	2283
43	73	Sliwicka, Alicja	WGM	POL	2194	6	59.5	62	2334
44	18	Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat	IM	ESP	2373	6	59	62.5	2239
45	2	Tan, Zhongyi	GM	CHN	2486	6	57.5	61.5	2251
46	40	Zhukova, Natalia	GM	UKR	2286	6	55	58.5	2296
47	35	Bulmaga, Irina	IM	ROU	2312	6	51	54	2180
48	60	Khamdamova, Afruza	WIM	UZB	2232	5.5	70.5	76.5	2383
49	49	Melia, Salome	IM	GEO	2272	5.5	68	72	2339
50	52	Kiolbasa, Oliwia	IM	POL	2255	5.5	64.5	67	2296
108 players

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World Blitz Final KO 2024 New York USA Thu 26th Dec 2024 - Mon 30th Dec 2024 Leading Final Round 3 Standings:
Rk	Name	Pts
	Final
1st=	Carlsen, Magnus	3.5
1st=	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	3.5
	Semi-final
1	Carlsen, Magnus	3.0
2	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	0.0
1	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	3.0
2	So, Wesley	2.0
	Quarter-final
1	Carlsen, Magnus	2.5
2	Niemann, Hans Moke	1.5
1	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	2.5
2	Caruana, Fabiano	1.5
1	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2.5
2	Murzin, Volodar	1.5
1	So, Wesley	3.0
2	Firouzja, Alireza	1.0
8 players

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World Blitz Women Final New York USA Thu 26th Dec 2024 - Mon 30th Dec 2024 Leading Round 2 (of 3) Standings:
Rk	Name	Pts
	Final
1	Ju, Wenjun
1	Lei, Tingjie
	Semi-final
1	Ju, Wenjun	2.5
2	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	1.5
1	Lei, Tingjie	2.5
2	Lagno, Kateryna	2.5
	Quarter-final
1	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2.5
2	Zhu, Jiner	1.5
1	Ju, Wenjun	2.5
2	Gunina, Valentina	0.5
1	Lei, Tingjie	2.5
2	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	1.5
1	Lagno, Kateryna	2.5
2	Yip, Carissa	1.5
8 players

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The Doctor.