Players compete during the 2016 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha yesterday. Picture by: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
The 2016 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships kicked off yesterday at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena.
The Rapid event, which began yesterday, will take place over the next two days and the Blitz Championships will continue from December 29 to 30.
The events will be both Swiss pairings tournaments and will be held over two days for Blitz and three days for Rapid. The Blitz will have 21 rounds in open championship and 17 rounds in women’s championship, with a single game for each round, Swiss event.
The Rapid will be 15 rounds for Open and 12 rounds for Women’s championship, with a single game for each round, Swiss event.
The total prize fund for the Open tournament is $400,000 with $40,000 for the winner of each championship and $80,000 in Women Championships with $10,000 for the winner of each championship.
Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin, Viswanathan Anand, Alexander Grischuk, Vassily Ivanchuk, Leinier Dominguez, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and some of the top players who are taking part in the championship.
In the women’s section, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova, Anna Ushenina, Zhu Chen, Kateryna Lagno, Anna Muzychuk, Valentina Gunina and Ju Wenjun will be vying for top honours. The Championship features more than 400 players from 75 countries.
