WR Chess Storms Back in the Blitz, Then Falls in the Quarterfinals

Carlsen Strikes Back

The blitz championship began Saturday with little time to dwell on the rapid result. WR Chess came out with a point to prove and topped Pool A comfortably, drawing just one match across eleven rounds. That single blemish came against the Schnappi Krokodil Team in round nine, where Carlsen, Caruana, and Kosteniuk all lost their individual games, but Wesley So, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and an amateur-board win from chairman Wadim Rosenstein rescued a 3-3 draw.

The WR Chess team in action, lead by Magnus Carlsen.

Carlsen himself was a different player from the one who had struggled through the rapid. He won eight games in a row, including a hard-fought victory over Viswanathan Anand of sister team Chess United, who had revived a sharp 1978 line first played by Garry Kasparov. The streak ended in round nine against Xu Xiangyu, the only loss of Carlsen's day. WR Chess closed the group stage in first place, two points clear of Chess United, the second of the two Rosenstein-backed teams in the field.

Into the Final Eight

Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand shake hands before their pool-stage encounter, in which Anand revived a sharp line first played by Garry Kasparov in 1978.

The Round of 16 brought little drama. WR Chess swept past Indonesia 5-1 and 4-2, with Carlsen winning both his individual games, to book a quarterfinal spot. Seven other teams joined them: Endgame.AI, Hexamind Chess Team, Mr Birdie and Friends, Dragon Chilling, Uzbekistan, Team MGD1, and Chessgurukul.

Stopped by Uzbekistan

From left: team captain Jan Gustafsson, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, chairman Wadim Rosenstein, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, and Magnus Carlsen, as Rosenstein and So slap hands in Hong Kong.

The quarterfinal brought the day's first major shock, as Uzbekistan dealt WR Chess and Magnus Carlsen a surprise defeat. The first match went Uzbekistan's way, 3.5-2.5, despite wins for Carlsen and Caruana on the top two boards. The second match ended 3-3, with Carlsen losing his rematch against Abdusattorov this time, and the deficit from the first match proved decisive. WR Chess's bid for a third straight blitz title was over.

Fighting Back to Fifth

A loss in the quarterfinal meant a place in the playoff for fifth. WR Chess needed extra games to get past their first playoff opponents, then met Team MGD1 for the final placement. Nihal Sarin's win over Caruana forced a decisive third match, which WR Chess won 4-2. "Nerves of steel," the team wrote afterward. "WR Chess survives two tie-breaks to move on for fifth place."

Dragon Chilling completed their golden double in the final, beating Endgame.AI twice, 5-1 in both matches. Former World Champion Ding Liren set the tone with a win over Hans Niemann on board one in the first match, and his teammates closed it out in the second, making Dragon Chilling the first team from China to win the championship.

Next year: "Return to normal, please."

Rosenstein congratulated the Chinese team and took his own team's result in stride.