From 26th to 28th of August 2023, Düsseldorf will host a unique competition — the first World Team Rapid Chess Championship organized by FIDE in partnership with WR Logistics GmbH.
The players will meet on August 26th at the Rheinterrasse, located on the banks of the Rhine, in the heart of Düsseldorf.
44 teams from all over the world will compete for a €250,000 prize fund, and the best team will receive the first prize of 100,000 euros.
The team composition consists of 6 main players and up to 3 reserve players. It must include at least one female and one player who has never achieved a FIDE rating of 2000.
Match results depend on all players: 2 match points are given 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 championship will be represented by the world chess elite, including ex-world champions Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Yifan Hou, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Mariya Muzychuk.
Contenders for the world chess crown, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, and Boris Gelfand, World Cup winners Levon Aronian, Peter Svidler, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, as well as ex-world champions in rapid chess Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Daniil Dubov, will also come to Düsseldorf.
The current world blitz champion, Bibisara Assaubayeva, ex-world blitz champions Katerina Lagno and Leinier Dominguez, will take part in the championship.
And finally, more than 15 Olympic champions have been registered. In total, about 300 participants are expected to fight for the world team title. The tournament promises to be phenomenal.
The World Team Rapid Chess Championship has brought together teams with truly stellar lineups.
According to the average rating, clear favorites are:
WR Chess team (Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Yifan Hou, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Wadim Rosenstein),
Freedom team (Richard Rapport, Viswanathan Anand, Daniil Dubov, Evgeniy Najer, Polina Shuvalova, Alexander Shapiro),
Kompetenzakademie Allstars team (Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Gukesh Dommaraju, Keti Tsatsalashvili, Rainer Becker, Manfred Schneider).
Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik will lead the team with the funny name "Chess Pensioners". Peter Svidler, Leinier Dominguez, Darmen Sadvakasov, Jovanka Huska, Christoph Barati, Dennis Koenig, Miron Ananiev, and Yaroslav Ananiev are the members of one of the strongest teams in the championship.
Let's not forget that in team competitions, the average rating is often not as important as team spirit and determination!
Given the long tournament distance of 12 rounds, all the top teams will definitely play against each other, so we are in for an exciting chess spectacle in Düsseldorf!