The 2024 FIDE World Blitz Team Championship in Astana marks the second consecutive world team title for the WR Chess Team after winning the FIDE Rapid Team Championship in 2023.
After Wadim Rosenstein hadn’t been at his best during the Rapid tournament, he returned to great form in the Blitz Championship. In the pool stage, Rosenstein scored 3,5 points out of 6 games, significantly helping his team to become clear first and thus proceed to the knockout.
In the knockout stage, WR Chess continued their dominance, defeating Mongolia’s Hunnu Air easily in the first round. The quarterfinal brought a rematch against GMHans.com, where WR Chess once again prevailed, this time with a decisive 5.5:0.5 win.
The semi-finals presented a grudge match against Chessy. Magnus Carlsen, who joined the WR Chess Team in 2024, led his team to victory, avenging his earlier loss to Richard Rapport and securing a spot in the final.
The final between WR Chess and MGD1 was a dramatic affair. In the first round, Carlsen suffered a rare defeat to Erigaisi. However, WR Chess struck back, winning on three out of the remaining four boards to take the first round 3.5:2.5. The second round was equally tense. Nepomniachtchi gave WR Chess an early lead, and though Narayanan won for MGD1, Alexandra Kosteniuk’s victory over Harika Dronavalli gave WR Chess the edge.