Background

For the first time, the World Rapid and Blitz will be held in North America this year, as the chess year will close out on Wall Street in New York. The players will compete in a 13-round swiss, with a time control of 15 minutes + 10 second increment, starting from move one. The highest-scoring player after 13 rounds will be declared the champion, with ties being broken by a single-elimination bracket. Almost 200 players are set to participate in the event, including strong players like Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Gukesh Dommaraju, and others.

Resolution Criteria

This market will resolve based on the official winner of the open section of the 2024 World Rapid Chess Championship, based on reporting by FIDE. If the tournament is canceled or postponed to 2025, the market will resolve as N/A. In the event of a tie for first place after the regular rounds, the market will resolve based on the winner according to the tiebreaking rules used for this tournament.

Considerations

• Magnus Carlsen has won this event five times, including each of the past two years. Other previous winners who are participating this year include Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2021), Vasyl Ivanchuk (2016), and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2013).

• The rapid format often produces more unpredictable results than classical chess, as even top players can make significant mistakes under time pressure

• The tournament typically attracts a large field of strong players, making it more challenging to predict than match-play championships

Notes and Links

• Tiebreaker rules and other info can be found here: https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/wrbc_regulations_2024_open.pdf

• The list of players expected to attend can be found here: https://chess-results.com/tnr1074690.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30

• All players listed as an option at this market's creation are expected to play, but an option won't be "removed" or N/A'd if the associated player drops out.