The group phase
In contrast to the World Rapid Team Championship, which was played according to the Swiss system, FIDE chose a format with preliminary groups and knockout rounds for the World Blitz Team Championship, similar to that of the Football World Cup. The 40 participating teams were divided into five roughly equal groups of eight teams each. The three teams in each group and the best team ranked fourth advanced to the knockout phase.
In Group A, WR Chess won all seven matches and clearly won the group ahead of Hans Niemann’s Hans.com team. The Rookies, with 15-year-old Turkish GM Ediz Gürel on board 1, finished third.
The winner of Group B, also with seven wins, was the Indian team MGD1, ahead of the world champion fast hard team, Al Anin ACMG and Teniz Kasakhstan.
In Group C, the Chinese team Decade qualified. The Chinese also won all seven of their matches. Chinese amateur prodigy Pang Bo, who had already won all eleven of his matches in the fast draw, was entered five times and won all five of his matches.
The Uzbek team Royal Chess took second place ahead of the largely Kazakh Greco team.
The international Chessy team won Group D. Ashdod Chess Club finished second. Third place went to host team Astana 2.
Kazchess, with Grischuk, Svidler and Mamedyarov on the first three boards, won Group E.
Astana 1 and the largely Polish Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow team took the next places.
The Hunnu Air team, which took the best fourth place.
Final Pool A standings
| Rg. | Snr | Team | Gruppe | Anz | + | = | – | Wtg1 | Wtg2 | Wtg3 | Wtg4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | WR Chess Team | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 38 | 84 | 676,8 |
| 2 | 2 | GMHans.com | 1 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 31,5 | 60 | 526,8 |
| 3 | 3 | Rookies | 1 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 27,5 | 40 | 422,5 |
| 4 | 4 | Theme International Trading | 1 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 23,5 | 24 | 308,8 |
| 5 | 5 | Kyrgyz Chess Academy | 1 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 12 | 272,3 |
| 6 | 7 | Chess Empire | 1 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 105,3 |
| 7 | 6 | Storm of Dragons | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 254,3 |
| 8 | 8 | Baiterekchess | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4,5 | 0 | 57,5 |
Final Pool B standings
| 1 | Team MGD1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 36,5 |
| 2 | Al-Ain ACMG UAE | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 35 |
| 3 | Teniz Kazakhstan | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 29 |
| 4 | Egypt | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 19,5 |
| 5 | Helicopter | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 18 |
| 6 | Chess Mates | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| 7 | Chessacademy_pvl | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8,5 |
| 8 | VKO Team | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5,5 |
Final Pool C standings
Final ranking Pool D
| 1 | Chessy | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 33 |
| 2 | Ashdod Chess Club | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 35 |
| 3 | Astana-2 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 25 |
| 4 | Noval Group Kyrgystan | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
| 5 | World Champions Higher School | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 24,5 |
| 6 | Future GM | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11,5 |
| 7 | KRG-Team | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8,5 |
| 8 | Abai’s Gambit Pioneers | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6,5 |
Final Pool E standings
| 1 | Kazchess | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 34,5 |
| 2 | Astana-1 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 30,5 |
| 3 | Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 28,5 |
| 4 | Hunnu Air | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 26,5 |
| 5 | TKM Chess | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 20 |
| 6 | Kazakhstan dream team | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 7 | Abai Chess Team | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 10,5 |
| 8 | ChessStar | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5,5 |
Parts of the group phase
Final phase
In the knockout phase, matches were played over two legs.
Round of 16
WR Chess met the Mongolian team Hunnu Air in the Round of 16 and had no trouble qualifying for the next round with two 4½-1½ times.
Al Ain ACMG defeated Astana 6-0 and 3½-2½.
Decade China won its first match against Greco 4½-1½, then went on to win and 3½-2½.
Chessy won twice 4-2 against Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow.
Kazchess eliminated the Rookies by 2½-3½ and 2-4.
Indian team MGD1 won its first match against Astana2 by 5½-½, and the second by 4-2.
Ashdod Chess Club and Tenis Kazakhstan separated on a score of 3-3 in the first match. The second match ended 5-1 in favor of the Israelis.
Finally, GM Hans.com won against Royal Chess by 3½-2½ and 5-1.
Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals saw WR Chess and Hans.com face off. Board 1 could have been the scene of a duel between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann, but the Norwegian preferred to take a break… Hans Niemann therefore had to settle for Ian Nepomniachtchi as his opponent and won the first game, which ended in a narrow 2½-3½ loss for his team. Nepomniachtchi took his revenge in the second set, which WR Chess won 5½-½.
On chessboard #2, the battle was intense between Rapid Al-Anin and Decade China. The first set ended in a draw, as did the second. The rules provide for a play-off match in this case, which Al Anin won 3½-2½. Daniil Dubov and Vladislav Artemiev secured the decisive victory against Ding Liren and Wei Yi. Although Ding Liren lost this game, the world champion, after the fast section, again made a very good impression.
Al-Ain ACMG clinches victory over Decade China Team in a thrilling tie-breaker, advancing to the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship 2024 semi-finals! 🌟 pic.twitter.com/InlZiOXFdf
– International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) August 5, 2024
Chinese super amateur Pang Bo suffered his first defeat of the event in the second match against his opponent Ibragim Galymzhanuly, otherwise Decade China would have won the match. In the play-off match, Pang Bo lost another half-point by drawing against the same opponent.
Pang Bo
Semi-final
The semi-finals pitted WR Chess against Chessy and Al Anin against the MGD1 team. WR Chess won its first match by the clear score of 4½-1½ and held off the second 3-3.
The former world champion and his challenger on the same team!
In the other semi-final, both matches ended 3-3. The play-off match was narrowly won by the Indians from MGD1 with a score of 3½-2½, which also enabled them to reach the final.
Final
The final match for the title of World Blitz Team Champion took place between the “Düsseldorf” WR Chess team and the Indian MGD1 team. MGD One is the name of a recently founded chess school based in Pune.
WR Chess won the first set 3½-2½, despite Magnus Carlsen losing to Arjun Erigaisi on the main board. Nepomniachtchi, Duda and Abdusattorov provided the decisive winning points. Alexandra Kosteniuk drew with Harika Dronavalli.
In the second set, Magnus Carlsen defeated his young Indian opponent on board 1 to contribute to a 3-3 draw that clinched the final and the title of World Blitz Team Champion.
Wadim Rosenstein and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Final phase games
Links
