Latest news with #WorldBlitzTeamChampionship
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Time of India
'Future FIDE President:' Anish Giri involved in an heated argument with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura
Anish Giri was involved in a heated exchange with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura. (Screengrabs) The quarterfinals of the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship in London were marred by controversy after top-seeded WR Chess lost their opening match to Germany and Friends due to a delayed arrival. Star players Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura reached the venue with mere seconds left on their clocks and soon resigned, later claiming they were not informed about the round's start time. Their appeal was upheld — and while other matches moved on, WR Chess was allowed a replay, which they won decisively. Amid the chaos, Anish Giri confronted Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi on camera: 'If you'd won the first time, would you have appealed?' The remark implied WR's protest stemmed from the loss, not principle. Giri's challnge quickly turned into a tense exchange. 'Since when did you become so prominent in law? Future FIDE President!' Nepomniachtchi shot back. While Nakamura didn't respond immediately, once Giri left, he turned to Nepo and asked: 'Why does he care so much?' Nepomniachtchi replied dryly: 'Because it's Anish. That's his job. Whenever he starts talking, he's not as smart as we think he is.' Later, Nepomniachtchi admitted the situation was 'messy,' saying the appeal 'could have gone either way' and that 'there was no good solution.' Despite the drama, WR Chess bounced back with a 4.5–1.5 win in the replay and a 4–2 win in the reverse match. They went on to beat KazChess in the final, clinching their second blitz title.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
WR Chess claim FIDE World Blitz Team Championship title after controversial replay of lost quarter-final match
After controversially making it to the title round, WR Chess claimed their second title at the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship on Sunday after edging past KazChess in both matches with 4:2 scoreline. This is the team's second blitz crown since the competition began in 2023. Rating favourites Team WR Chess beat KazChess in a tight final, with Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scoring crucial wins in the final match to secure the crown. There was some controversy in the way WR Chess had claimed the title. In the quarter-finals, WR Chess had been handed a 2-4 defeat by Germany and Friends in the first match. WR's top stars like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura and Firouzja lost their games. But WR then lodged an appeal claiming that they were not informed by the organisers of the exact time when the round was going to start. The team claimed that this made them reach the playing venue two minutes late for the blitz game. After this complaint, the match was replayed, with some reluctantance from Germany and Friends. WR Chess won the replayed match 4.5:1.5 and then claimed a 4:2 victory with colours reversed to enter the semi-finals. India-based Team MGD1 had claimed the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship title earlier in London after starting the event as the sixth seeds. MGD1 had racked up 10 wins from 12 rounds played over three days to be crowned champions following an intense battle for supremacy with Team Hexamind. From 53 teams that started the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship on Saturday, 16 made it to the knockout stage (where teams played a round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and the final). In each knockout pairing, teams played at least two blitz matches, where colours were reversed after the first game. If the score was level after two matches, additional games were played until a winner emerged. Third place in the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship went to the Hexamind Chess Club, who defeated the Uzbekistan team in both matches with 3.5:2.5. The winners of this year's rapid tournament, MGD1, defeated Freedom in the duel for fifth place. In the round of 16 stage, the WR Chess Team had claimed wins in both matches, as had Freedom and MGD1 Team. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan had one victory and one draw. (With inputs from FIDE)
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First Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
Hikaru Nakamura's WR Chess wins World Blitz Team Championship in controversial fashion: 'This whole appeal thing was a mess'
Hikaru Nakamura's WR Chess won the World Blitz Team Championship for second time in the row but their victory came after an appeal drama which saw one of the ties in the quarter-finals being replayed. read more World No.2 Hikaru Nakamura's WR Chess won the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship on Sunday for a second time in a row. However, their victory didn't come without a controversy as Vincent Keymer's Germany and Friends defeated WR Chess 4-2 in the quarter-finals, with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja and Nakamura all losing, but the result was later annulled after an appeal. WR Chess's appeal was regarding some of their players coming late to the matches, as the organisers forgot to announce the start time. In fact, some of the players from the WR Chess team were almost two minutes late for the three-minute blitz games. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'They always put the start time in this captains' admin group that we have, and this time the last communication was that 15:17 is when the line-ups are due, which was written at 15:15, and after that nothing, so we were waiting for the start time to be in the group. Nothing happened, we went, but you can't put the last communication 15:17, line-ups are due, and then start 15:22 without informing us. It's a fairly obvious case, in my opinion,' said WR Chess team captain Jan Gustafsson, while explaining the whole situation. WR Chess' victory leads to controversy Russian Grandmaster Nepomniachtchi, who represented WR Chess, was relieved that the match was replayed, but he wasn't impressed with how the decision was made. 'This whole appeal thing was a mess, to be honest, and I wasn't sure if the appeal would be successful or not. Eventually they allowed us to replay the match, but I don't think there was a good decision.' Germany and Friends' player Bohdan Lobkin believed the decision would have been different if his team had been the one making the appeal. After Germany and Friends accepted the annulment, WR Chess won 4.5-1.5 and 4-2. They then defeated Hexamind Chess Team in the semi-finals and KazChess in the final to win the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship 2025. Arjun Erigaisi's Team MGD1, who won the World Rapid Team Championship, lost to Hexamind in the quarter-finals. After a 3-3 draw, Hexamind clinched a 4-2 victory in the next round.
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First Post
3 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
'Hikaru has such a bloated ego': Fans celebrate as Nakamura is humbled by 13-year-old at World Blitz Team Championship
Hikaru Nakamura suffered a surprising defeat to 13-year-old Khagan Ahmad from Azerbaijan at the World Blitz Team Championship 2025 on Saturday. A few fans were seen celebrating Nakamura's defeat on social media. read more World No.2 Hikaru Nakamura suffered a stunning loss to a 13-year-old chess player on day one of the 2025 World Blitz Team Championship on Saturday. Nakamura was in top form, winning 6 out of his games as top-seed WR Chess clinched all 12 of their matches on the opening day of the Blitz championship. But the American Grandmaster's only defeat on the day came against International Master Khagan Ahmad from Azerbaijan, who is only 13 years old. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The victory over Nakamura helped Khagan Ahmad (Turkish Airlines Sports Club, 2232) complete a hat-trick of wins. He ended the day with a triple hat-trick – winning nine games in a row. Fans stunned as Nakamura loses to a 13-year-old Nakamura's defeat quickly became a viral discussion topic among the fans as FIDE shared the video on X. One of the fans noted the 'Chess humbles us all,' while another took a dig at the American GM, stating that Hikaru will soon start 'commenting about the quality of Blitz and why it doesn't make sense to play it anymore.' Another chess fan remarked: 'Yess! Hikaru has such a bloated ego and is a cheap braggart. So glad a kid put a checkmate to it.' 🇦🇿 13-year old IM Ahmad Khagan (2290) stuns 🇺🇸 GM Hikaru Nakamura (2837) in Round 5 of the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship! 🔥#FIDERapidBlitzTeams — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) June 14, 2025 Meanwhile, most of the top teams finished in the top four of their groups to qualify for the 16-team knockout on Sunday. In 2024, the World Blitz Team Championship was played on the same day, but in the ongoing edition, the pool stage and knockout rounds have been separated over two days. On Saturday, GM Jan Krzysztof Duda of WR Chess emerged as the best performer among all 53 teams. He registered a score of 11.5/12, while Sarbartho Mani (Freedom), GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Generation XYZA) and GM Arjun Erigaisi (MGD1) scored an unbeaten 11/12 each. GM Andrey Esipenko (KazChess) and Islam Alten (KazChess) also managed a score of 11/12, but after suffering one defeat each. Erigaisi shines as India's MGD1 top Pool D Talking about the Indian team MGD1, which is led by Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi. The Rapid championship winners won all 12 matches to reach the knockouts. Besides Erigaisi, who registered a score of 11/12, the other top performers were IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (10.5/13) and GM Leon Luke Mendonca (9.5/10). World Blitz Team Championship pool stage standings Pool A Rank Team Matches + = - MP BP 1 WR Chess Team 12 12 0 0 24 60 2 Ashdod Elit Chess Club 12 10 1 1 21 56.5 3 Knight Dance 12 9 1 2 19 49 4 FIDE MB Team 12 8 1 3 17 44.5 5 Turkish Airlines Sports Club 12 6 2 4 14 42 6 ¡Ållez-Y Initiative! 12 7 0 5 14 34 7 Global Ramblers 12 6 1 5 13 42 8 The MongolZ 12 5 1 6 11 39.5 9 ChessbrahTV 12 4 2 6 10 29.5 10 Chess Trust Accelerators 12 3 0 9 6 22 11 Satranc Istanbul 12 1 1 10 3 16 12 12 0 2 10 2 18 13 Berlin Lasker Legends 12 1 0 11 2 15 Pool B Rank Team Matches + = - MP GP 1 Freedom 12 11 0 1 22 62 2 Hexamind Chess Team 12 11 0 1 22 57 3 Theme International Trading 12 9 1 2 19 46 4 Malcolm's Mates 12 9 0 3 18 55 5 Wood Green 12 7 1 4 15 39.5 6 Rishon LeZion Chess Club 12 6 2 4 14 41 7 Sharks 4NCL 12 6 1 5 13 33.5 8 Mother Continent 12 3 3 6 9 32.5 9 Sassy Seniors 12 4 1 7 9 29 10 UK Chess Challenge Masters 12 1 3 8 5 22 11 Hammersmith Chess Club 12 2 1 9 5 20 12 Oxbridge 12 1 2 9 4 22.5 13 Desert Penguins 12 0 1 11 1 8 Pool C Rank Team Matches + = - MP GP 1 Uzbekistan 12 12 0 0 24 58 2 Germany and Friends 12 11 0 1 22 55 3 Rookies 12 10 0 2 20 51 4 Generation XYZA 12 8 1 3 17 52.5 5 Duobeniajan Costa Calida ESJ 12 7 1 4 15 46.5 6 Mongolia-B 12 7 1 4 15 41 7 Wood Green Youth 12 4 3 5 11 31 8 e-therapeutics 12 4 1 7 9 29.5 9 Berlin Chess Federation 12 3 1 8 7 20.5 10 ANI 12 3 1 8 7 19.5 11 OlalaStars 12 2 0 10 4 21.5 12 Chess Rising Stars 12 1 1 10 3 23.5 13 Youth KG 12 1 0 11 2 18.5 Pool D Rank Team Matches + = - MP GP 1 Team MGD1 13 12 1 0 25 65.5 2 KazChess 13 12 0 1 24 62.5 3 Hetman GKS Katowice 13 10 0 3 20 52 4 13 9 1 3 19 54.5 5 Team Hungary 13 8 2 3 18 51.5 6 Noval Group Kyrgyzstan 13 8 1 4 17 48 7 Mongolia-A 13 8 0 5 16 44.5 8 English Knightmares 13 6 0 7 12 40.5 9 The London Legends 13 4 2 7 10 35 10 Danish Futures 13 4 0 9 8 26.5 11 Perfect 13 2 2 9 6 29 12 Uppsala SSS 13 2 1 10 5 25 13 Equity Bank, Kenya 13 1 0 12 2 9.5 14 REY AHOGADO 13 0 0 13 0 2
