10 Observations about the World Rapid & Blitz Debacle

Reflections from attending, and not attending as a media member

(Editorial note- For those expecting a chess news round-up, that will be published later today in a separate post).

Although I have been interviewing top chess players for 8 years now, I had never previously had an opportunity to attend a World Championship event. This year, that changed, as I was offered media access to one of my favorite tournaments, The FIDE World Rapid & Blitz. I love the fast-pace of the games, the potential for Cinderella contenders, and the drama and potential agony that can come with nearly instant decision-making.

Since I live only a 90-minute train ride away from NYC, this was as good an opportunity as I was likely to have to attend a top-tier tournament. Attending it still required some logistical juggling since it is the holiday season, with my kids at home, but getting to Wall Street is a lot easier for me than getting to Kazakhstan, so off I went. Unfortunately, like the tournament itself, attending was largely disappointing. Here are 10 observations from my one day in attendance, as well as my many hours watching the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz at home. (It was great to see GM Jan Gustafsson back in the Chess.com Broadcast booth!)

1. The venue was stunning. It turned out that despite being issued credentials it wasn’t easy for lowly media members to get from within the building to within the actual playing hall. When I managed to do so, at the beginning of Round 3 of the Rapid, it was a magical feeling. The room was eerily quiet but majestic, and even for a jaded person like myself it was a special feeling to see so much intellectual horsepower up close and trained on their respective boards.

   

   Photo of the final day by Lennart Ootes/FIDE

2. But the beautiful venue was not worth the sacrifice of having no “play zone” where like-minded chess fans could fraternize. Obviously, space is at a premium on Wall-Street, and in addition to lackluster media accomodations (although the food was solid), there was no space available for fans to hang out when they were not in the playing hall. This, coupled with the prohibitive cost of the tickets (also likely connected to the location) was the most common complaint I heard from fans.

3. Magnus literally doesn’t care what chess fans think of him, but he wants you to download his app. I have always been a huge fan of Magnus, he is an incredible player, who on his best days casts chess in a cooler light than his recent World Champion predecessors. But starting with the Niemann saga his actions have become increasingly hard to rationalize. Purported reasons aside, he has now withdrawn fron the Sinquefield Cup in a tantrum, withdrawn from the World Rapid in a tantrum, and now has rewritten the World Blitz finals rules on the fly. The first two incidents, while upsetting, were presumably actions taken with emotions boiling over. Since Magnus has offered no real explanation for why he decided to stop competing with Nepo, I can only assume that this time it was out of sheer boredom, or perhaps a New Year’s Eve dinner date. As an avid sports fan, Magnus should appreciate moments of heightened drama, the sanctity of competition, and should know better than to abrubtly end a tournament this way. (FIDE shouldn’t have agreed to it either, of course.)

   

   Via GM Elizabeth Paehtz’s X

4. There are better ways to protest a player’s inclusion in an event than not showing up to play him and smirking while explaining that you “Fell asleep.” What are we doing here? If GM Daniil Dubov has specific, credible accusations to make against GM Hans Niemann maybe he should, I don’t know, say something? As with other actions taken in the tournament, randomly not showing up for a round undermines the competitive integrity of the entire event and should not be brushed aside.

5. Hans had a good point about gate-keeping. We know things have gone awry when I find myself repeatedly agreeing with GM Hans Niemann, as I have in recent days. About 8 minutes into this interview with IM Levy Rozman, Hans mentions that in tennis, if one is skilled enough, he or she can qualify for a major event, perform well, and breakthrough to the professional level. In chess, so many tournaments are invitational that this is much more difficult to do. If newly-crowned 18-year-old champion GM Volodar Murzin had not made the expensive trip to NYC, we might never fully recognize his talent and in the age of digital learning there may be many unrecognized Murzin’s out there. We need a more democratic chess world.

6. It is more fun when the women and men are in the same playing hall. This change from prior years was likely another concession to the space constraints of a Wall Street venue that I would hope won’t be repeated.

   

   Via Begim Tokhirjonova’s X

7. Rules must be enforced, even crappy ones. Yes, the dress code was a terrible idea, and there probably should have been an armageddon provision for the World Blitz final, but rules once agreed to, must be enforced.

   

8. The (non-shared) champions had their spotlights stolen. GM Volodar Murzin’s breakthrough is a great story, and Women’s champions GM Ju Wenjun and GM Humpy Koneru are consummate professionals who just achieved career highlights. I don’t always agree with GM Emil Sutovsky, but he said it well here:

   

   https://x.com/EmilSutovsky/status/1875021654763716626

9. The “Wall Street Gambit” event was not worth forcing hundreds of top chess players to stay in New York City an extra day. After seeing what little access I had to the playing hall, I decided not to attend the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz after Day 1. I could follow it more closely from my home. Out of curiosity, I did return to NYC for the Wall Street Gambit “chess meets finance” shindig on December 30. It had its moments, and I enjoyed the brief talks given by finance big wigs like GM Kenneth Rogoff and NM Boaz Weinstein. Following the talks, Magnus, Fabi and Vishy played blitz with a few VIPs as spectators watched and GM Maurice Ashley deftly emceed. (Magnus was late showing up for that too!) But the inclusion of this event added a “Rest day” in between the Rapid and Blitz tournaments and is what pushed the final day of the blitz back to New Years Eve. In an alternate universe where this event did not take place, the blitz final would not be on New Years eve, and Magnus might not have been so eager to get out of there. Then we might be actually be talking about the tournament rather than the drama!

   

   Not that long ago, GM Brewington Hardaway was playing schlubs like me, now the 15-year old Harlem resident could take the subway from his home to take on Magnus with the chess world watching.

   10. The chess world deserves better! It was inspiring to see so many young talents on the big-stage, including up and coming Americans like GM Brewington Hardaway, IM Carissa Yip, IM Alice Lee, FM Tani Adewumi and GM Andy Woodward. So many young talents, organizers, teachers, chess parents and enthusiastic chess fans give so much to this beautiful game, yet at the professional level it is generating relentlessly negative headlines. I worry about the chess world we are handing to the next generation. As we turn the page to a new year, let’s hope for more positive stories and adult behavior from the supposed adults in the chess room.