World champion in rapid chess

The world champion in rapid chess has been determined annually by the World Chess Federation FIDE since 2012 , with the FIDE rapid chess world championship being held in 2003 . The reigning world champion has been Magnus Carlsen since his tournament victory on December 28, 2019 . Prior to 2012, there were various precursor events to the Rapid World Championships that were organized outside of FIDE. The event Chess Classic (1996-2010) and its eleven-time rapid chess winner Viswanathan Anand should be mentioned here in particular .

Overview

The World Chess Federation FIDE recommended the hosting of world and European championships in rapid chess at the Seville Congress in 1987 and issued corresponding tournament rules.

The first tournament called the World Rapid Championship took place in Mexico in 1988 and was won by Anatoly Karpov . In 2003 the first and until 2012 only FIDE- recognized rapid chess world championship was played in Cap d'Agde (France) . It was won by Viswanathan Anand .

As early as 1996, the German Chess Tigers association organized an annual rapid chess tournament as part of the Chess Classic event (initially "Frankfurt Chess Classic", then "Chess Classic Mainz"). The winner, Alexei Schirow (1996), Viswanathan Anand (1997 , 1998, from 2000 up to and including 2008 every year, a total of eleven times), Garri Kasparow (1999), Levon Aronjan (2009) and Gata Kamsky (2010), are now unofficial world champions in rapid chess. From 2005 this tournament was sponsored by the financial company Grenkeleasing and from 2006 it was also publicly titled the Rapid Chess World Championship. In 2010 the last rapid chess world championship of the Chess Classic tournament series was organized.

From 2012, FIDE will again organize the World Rapid Chess Championships, together with the World Rapid Chess Championships . Sergej Karjakin won in 2012 and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in 2013 .

Rapid chess tournaments of world importance were also organized in the early 1990s. These include the Immopar trophy, which was won by Jan Timman in 1991 and Garri Kasparov in 1992 , and in particular the Intel Grand Prix of the Professional Chess Association , a rapid chess tournament series in which Vladimir Kramnik in 1994 and Garri Kasparov in 1995 were the overall winners.

History of the prestigious world tournaments and world championships in rapid chess

The exhibition match between Kasparov and Short

In 1987 a rapid chess exhibition match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short took place in the "Hippodrom", the largest London disco club . Kasparov won 4-2. The six games were broadcast by a television company. As a result, interest in rapid chess grew, so that in the same year at the Seville Congress, FIDE recommended the hosting of European and World Championships in rapid chess and issued corresponding tournament rules.

The first rapid world chess championship in Mazatlán in 1988

61 players took part in the "active chess" world championship in Mazatlán (Mexico) in December 1988. Initially, 13 rounds were played in the Swiss system . The eight best placed should then determine the winner in the co-system . Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Gavrikov reached the final . It ended in a 5: 5 draw after extra time, so that Karpov was world champion due to the better placement in the preliminary tournament.

The Trophée Immopar 1991 and 1992

In November 1991, an international rapid chess tournament was held at the Theâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris. The four-day tournament opened with the music of the founder of the French comic opera and chess genius François-André Danican Philidor . 16 of the world's most famous chess grandmasters competed against each other, including Garri Kasparow , Anatoli Karpow, Jan Timman , Artur Jussupow , Nigel Short and Viswanathan Anand . The prize fund was 1.2 million francs. The spectators were able to register their suggested movements using devices built into the armrests of the armchairs. A chess computer was presented as a prize for most of the correctly foreseen moves.

The winner was determined in the knockout system . In the final, met Garry Kasparov and Jan Timman each other. Timman won the first of the two games, while the second ended in a draw. Jan Timman became the 1991 tournament winner.

In the following year Garry Kasparov only emerged as the winner of the tournament in the blitz chess tiebreak, after it had been 1-1 after the two rapid chess games in the final.

The prize fund of 1.2 million francs attracted the entire world elite, which is why the Immopar Trophy can be seen as a tournament to determine the world's best rapid chess player. However, in the knockout system used there, with only two games per round, the luck factor was a decisive factor. This also applies to the 2003 FIDE Rapid World Championship .

The Intel Grand Prix 1994 and 1995

The Intel Grand Prix of the Professional Chess Association (PCA) was a series consisting of four rapid chess tournaments within one year, the winners of which were determined in a knockout system . The venues were the metropolises of Moscow , New York , London and Paris . As the overall winner of four tournaments with the best players in the world, the Intel Grand Prix winner can be considered the world's best rapid chess player of the year in question.

In 1994 the winners of the individual stages were Viswanathan Anand , Wladimir Kramnik , Vasyl Ivanchuk and Garry Kasparov . Overall winner was Vladimir Kramnik. He managed a respectable victory in the Moscow Kremlin against the then world champion Kasparov.

In the 1995 Intel Grand Prix, the individual winners from Moscow, New York, London and Paris were Vasyl Ivanchuk , Garry Kasparov , Michael Adams and again Garry Kasparov. Overall winner was Garry Kasparow.

The Rapid Chess Festival in Cap d'Agde and the 2003 FIDE Rapid World Championship

The rapid chess tournament in Cap d'Agde (France) began with one round in two groups of eight participants each. The top four in each group made it to the quarterfinals. Here, as well as in the semi-finals and the final, only two games were played. With a score of 1: 1, blitz chess games decided on progress.

In this tournament the players of the closer world elite were only weakly represented. For example, only three players from the top 20 of the world rankings took part in the fifth rapid chess festival in 2002 in Cap d'Agde. Boris Gelfand won the tournament . In the final he defeated Anatoly Karpov 2-0.

In 2003, the World Chess Federation FIDE recognized the rapid chess tournament in Cap d'Agde, which was now taking place for the sixth time, as the rapid chess world championship. As a result, nine of the 16 participants were in the top 10 of the world rankings from October 2003. After the group stage, Viswanathan Anand reached the quarter-finals with a shared third place, where he defeated Ruslan Ponomarjow with 1.5: 0.5. He reached the final with a 1.5: 0.5 victory in blitz chess after the two rapid chess games had not brought a decision. The other semifinals were won by Vladimir Kramnik 2-0 against Alexander Grishchuk . In the final, Anand won the FIDE rapid chess world title with a 1.5: 0.5 victory over Kramnik.

In 2004 and 2005 FIDE announced another rapid chess world championship, but it did not take place. Instead, almost a year later (2006), the rapid chess tournament of the Chess Classic, which had been held in Mainz since 2001 and was already in the reputation of an unofficial rapid chess world championship, was publicly titled and sponsored by the financial company Grenkeleasing as the rapid chess world championship.

The seventh Cap d'Agde Chess Festival, which took place a few months later in the same year, no longer had the status of a FIDE World Championship. Again, only two of the 16 participants had an Elo rating of over 2700; The world champion was also missing with last year's winner. In the final, the highest rated participant, Teymur Rcəbov , won 1.5: 0.5 against Serhij Karjakin .

The Chess Classic 1994–2010 and the Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championships 2006–2010

From 1994 onwards, a rapid chess tournament was held every year as part of the Chess Classic tournament series, up to 2000 in Frankfurt-West (“Frankfurt Chess Classic”), from 2001 to 2010 in Mainz (“Chess Classic Mainz”). The form of tournaments in rapid chess has varied over the years. The previous year's winner often only had to defend his title against an opponent selected by the organizer according to certain criteria, but always strong in a duel . This duel was often referred to as a "duel of the world champions", once as a "duel of the sexes", because in 2003 Anand was challenged by Judit Polgár , the strongest woman in the world by far for many years . This duel remains unforgettable, as it was balanced until the 3: 3, but above all because all eight games were decided. In the end, Anand won 5: 3.

The rapid chess winners in Frankfurt and Mainz were Alexei Schirow (1996), Viswanathan Anand (1997–1998, 2000–2008, eleven times!), Garri Kasparow (1999), Levon Aronjan (2009) and Gata Kamsky (2010).

In 2005 the finance company Grenkeleasing took over the sponsorship of rapid chess at the Chess Classic Mainz. In 2005 the sponsored rapid chess event was still called the "GRENKELEASING Championship". However, there has already been talk of Anand's defense of the world championship title, which means that Anand is also considered to be the rapid chess world champion of the previous year, 2004. From 2006 onwards, the Grenkeleasing Championship was finally held as the "GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship", ie the Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championship . This is justified insofar as Anand was undisputedly recognized as the best rapid chess player in the world due to his rapid chess winning streak at the Chess Classic and also as rapid chess world champion by FIDE, who as such - according to the traditional chess world championship title - only defends his title against a challenger Has. Nevertheless, the Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championship was held from 2007 in a double-round tournament, but only four strong participants, which was then followed by a final duel of four games. It was not until 2009 that Anand lost his world rapid chess title to Levon Aronjan , which Levon Aronjan had to surrender to Gata Kamsky in 2010 ; However, in 2010, due to a lack of sponsors, the rapid chess world champion was determined as the winner of the "Grenke Open" in an 11-round Swiss system with 701 participants. The Grenke Open corresponds to the ORDIX Open, which in previous years was only used to determine title challengers. After 2010 there were no more Chess Classic tournaments, and since 2012 FIDE has been organizing the World Rapid Chess Championship together with the World Blitz Chess Championship .

After his FIDE rapid chess world champion title in 2003, Anand was also allowed to call himself Grenkeleasing world champion in rapid chess from 2006 to July 2009. However, this world championship only gradually became public awareness. For example, on a Chesstigers page, Anand was only referred to as the Grenkeleasing World Champion in rapid chess in 2007 because of his successes, while in 2006 he was only mentioned as the Chess Classic winner in a duel against Rəcəbov . On one Indian side he has been listed as the Grenkeleasing World Champion in rapid chess since 2006, but in 2005 he was still a mere Chess Classic winner.

Today the rapid chess winner from Mainz is called the unofficial rapid chess world champion regardless of the year in which the Chess Classic took place. The rapid chess world championship 2009 won by Lewon Aronjan is called the 14th GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship (14th Grenkeleasing rapid chess world championship), whereby the number 14 can only refer to the thirteenth rapid chess tournament of the Chess Classic. Statements like the one from August 4th, 2008: "Viswanathan Anand has become world rapid chess champion for the ninth time in a row" made the headlines in 2008. His victory at the 2003 FIDE Rapid World Championship is not even counted.

FIDE Rapid World Championships since 2012

Since 2012 FIDE has been organizing the World Rapid Chess Championship together with the World Rapid Chess Championship .

Sergei Karjakin became the first FIDE rapid chess world champion of the post-Chess Classic era . In Astana , Kazakhstan , where the world championship was held from July 1 to 11, 2012, he was able to overtake Magnus Carlsen, who had been leading for a long time, with a strong performance on the third day of the tournament (4.5 points from 5 games) and finally stayed with 11, 5 points from 15 games one point ahead of Carlsen; he finished the tournament in 2nd place, followed by Veselin Topalov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , who finished 3rd and 4th with 9.5 points each.

The second FIDE Rapid World Championship took place from June 6th to 8th, 2013 in Khanty-Mansiysk . After two days of the tournament, Jan Nepomnyashchi was leading by two points. On the third day he only got 2 points from 5 games and had to let Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , who won all five games and thus a total of 11.5 points from 15 rounds, pass.

Carlsen after successfully defending his title in 2015 at Brett Kramnik vs. Botcharov

In Dubai 2014 the Rapid World Championship was held from June 6th to 8th. After the first day there was a leading trio with 4.5 points from five games, which included Nepomnyashchi, Caruana and Karjakin. At the end of the second day, Carlsen, who had won the game against Caruana, was alone ahead with 8 points, now followed by Aronjan with 7.5 points. On the final day, Carlsen lost the 12th round with White against Anand , who remained lossless on all three days and now, like Caruana, overtook Carlsen. After two games won and a draw in the final round, Carlsen was world champion with 11 points, Caruana in 2nd and Anand in 3rd, both with 10.5 points, which Aronjan and Morosewitsch also achieved.

At the Rapid and Blitz World Championships 2015 in Berlin, Carlsen managed to defend his title as rapid world champion on the three days from October 10th to 12th. After Karjakin's sole lead on the first day with 4.5 points, Carlsen, who lost no game overall, worked his way up to the top on the second day together with Sergei Zhigalko (both 8 points) and defeated him in the 11th round at the beginning of the third day. At the end of the 15 rounds he was with 11.5 points ahead of Nepomnjaschtschi and Radjabov with 10.5 points each.

List of world champions and winners of top-ranked world tournaments in rapid chess

As one cannot always clearly distinguish with regard to the Chess Classic whether or from when the corresponding event is to be seen as the rapid chess world championship, and since other tournaments with the best players in the world also served to determine the world's best player, a distinction is made in the list below as follows.

The winners of tournaments that were marked as World Championships from the start are listed in bold on a light gray background.
The winners of those Chess Classic tournaments that were only seen as world championships in retrospect are shown in bold without any background shading.
The winners of tournaments that were never considered a world championship, but were able to determine the world's best player due to their top line-up, are listed in normal print.

event	year	place	World champion / tournament winner	Number of participants	Tournament mode	Summary of results and, if applicable, opponent in the final
Active chess world championship	1988	Mazatlán (Mexico)	Soviet Union Karpov	61	13 rounds in the Swiss system , co-system of the 8 best placed	5: 5 a.d. against Gavrikov , better placement in the preliminary tournament for Karpov
1st Immopar Trophy	1991	Paris	Netherlands Timman	16	Knockout system, 2 games per knockout round	1.5: 0.5 against Kasparov
2. Immopar Trophy	1992	Paris	Russia 1991 Kasparov	16	Knockout system, 2 games per knockout round	1: 1 against Anand , then 2: 0 in blitz chess
1st Intel Grand Prix ( PCA tournament series)	1994	Moscow , New York , London , Paris	Russia Kramnik		Knockout system in each of the 4 tournaments	Individual winners: Anand , Kramnik , Ivanchuk , Kasparow
2nd Intel Grand Prix (PCA tournament series)	1995	Moscow, New York, London, Paris	Russia Kasparov		Knockout system in each of the 4 tournaments	Individual winners: Ivanchuk , Kasparow , Adams , Kasparow
1st Rapid World Championship of the Chess Classic	1996	Frankfurt am Main	Latvia Shirov	4th	Double round , then final of the top two
2nd Rapid World Championship of the Chess Classic	1997	Frankfurt am Main	India Anand	4th	Double round, then final of the top two	3-1 against Karpov
3rd Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	1998	Frankfurt am Main	India Anand	4th	Double round, then final of the top two	5: 4 against Kramnik after "Sudden Death"
4th Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	1999	Frankfurt am Main	Russia Kasparov	4th	Quadruple round (without final)
5th Rapid World Chess Championship Chess Classic	2000	Frankfurt am Main	India Anand	6th	Double round (without final)
6th Rapid World Championship of the Chess Classic	2001	Mainz	India Anand	2	Duel over 10 games	5: 5 against Kramnik , then 1.5: 0.5 in blitz chess
7th Rapid World Championship of the Chess Classic	2002	Mainz	India Anand	2	Duel over 8 games	4.5: 3.5 against Ponomarev
8th Rapid World Chess Championship Chess Classic	2003	Mainz	India Anand	2	Duel over 8 games	5: 3 against Polgár (not a single draw)
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2003	Cap d'Agde (France)	India Anand	16	2 groups, single-round ; Knockout system of the 4 best placed	1.5: 0.5 against Kramnik
9th Rapid World Chess Championship Chess Classic	2004	Mainz	India Anand	2	Duel over 8 games	5: 3 against Schirow (decided after 4.5: 2.5)
10th Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	2005	Mainz	India Anand	2	Duel over 8 games	5: 3 against Grishchuk (decided after 5: 2)
11th Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	2006	Mainz	India Anand	2	Duel over 8 games	5: 3 against Rəcəbov
12th Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	2007	Mainz	India Anand	4th	Double round, then final of the top two	2.5: 1.5 against Aronjan
13th Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	2008	Mainz	India Anand	4th	Double round, then final of the top two	3: 1 against Carlsen (decided after 2.5: 0.5)
14th Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	2009	Mainz	Armenia Aronjan	4th	Double round, then final of the top two	3: 1 against Nepomnyashchi (decided after 2.5: 0.5)
15th Rapid World Chess Championship of the Chess Classic	2010	Mainz	United States Kamsky	701	Swiss system 11 rounds	1. Kamsky : 10; 2. Həşimov : 9.5; 3. Aronjan : 9.5; 4. Bareev : 9.5
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2012	Astana (Kazakhstan)	Russia Karjakin	16	15 rounds, one round	1. Karjakin : 11.5; 2. Carlsen : 10.5; 3. Topalov : 9.5; 4. Mamedyarov : 9.5
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2013	Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia)	Azerbaijan Mamedyarov	58	15 rounds, Swiss system	1. Mamedyarov : 11.5; 2nd nepomnyashchi : 11; 3. Grischuk : 10.5; 4. Lê : 10
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2014	Dubai (UAE)	Norway Carlsen	113	15 rounds, Swiss system	1. Carlsen : 11; 2. Caruana : 10.5; 3. Anand : 10.5; 4. Aronjan : 10.5; 5. Morozevich : 10.5
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2015	Berlin	Norway Carlsen	158	15 rounds, Swiss system	1. Carlsen : 11.5; 2. Nepomnyashchi : 10.5; 3. Rəcəbov : 10.5; 4. Domínguez : 10.5; 5. Botscharow : 10
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2016	Doha (Qatar)	Ukraine Ivanchuk	106	15 rounds, Swiss system	1. Ivanchuk : 11; 2. Grishchuk : 11; 3. Carlsen : 11th Ivanchuk winner after evaluation
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2017	Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)	India Anand	134	15 rounds, Swiss system	1. Anand : 10.5; 2. Fedoseev : 10.5; 3. Nepomnyashchi : 10.5. Anand winner after a playoff against Fedosejew, Nepomnjaschtschi after evaluation in 3rd place
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2018	Saint Petersburg (Russia)	Russia Dubow	204	15 rounds, Swiss system	1. Dubov : 11; 2. Məmmədyarov : 10.5; 3. Nakamura : 10.5; 4. Artemiev : 10.5; 5. Carlsen : 10.5.
FIDE Rapid World Championship	2019	Moscow (Russia)	Norway Carlsen	207	15 rounds, Swiss system	1. Carlsen : 11.5; 2. Firouzja : 10.5; 3. Nakamura : 10.5; 4. Artemyev : 10.5. Firouzja played under the flag of FIDE as it is forbidden for Iranian players to compete against Israeli players.

literature

Artur Jussupow, Harald Fietz, Hartmut Metz: Frankfurt Chess Classic 2000. Premiere of the Top Ten! Edition FCC, 2000.
Isaak and Wladimir Linder: Chess. The lexicon . Sportverlag Berlin , 1996.

Web links

Statistics of all main Chess Classic events 1994 - 2010 (All Mainz Chess Classic tournaments since 2001 can be clicked on the overview bar at the bottom left.)

For the individual years:

Individual evidence

[1] SCHACH 3/1989, p. 40.

[2] Results of the 5th rapid chess tournament in Cap d'Agde

[3] All group results and the first half of the quarter-finals of the 2003 FIDE Rapid World Championship

[4] Second half of the quarter-finals of the 2003 FIDE Rapid World Championship

[5] Semifinals of the FIDE Rapid World Championship 2003

[6] Final of the FIDE Rapid World Championship 2003

[7] Announcement of the FIDE Rapid World Championship 2004

[8] Announcement of the FIDE Rapid World Championship 2005

[9] Seventh Cap-d'Agde-Chess Festival

[10] Grenkeleasing Championship 2005

[11] Anand has defended his world title in rapid chess.

[12] Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championship 2006

[13] Tournament successes Viswanathan Anand. All Mainz Chess Classic tournaments from 2001-2008 can be clicked on in the overview bar at the bottom left.

[14] TNQ Sponsorship (India) Private Limited (list of Anand's chess successes)

[15] Vishy Anand remains King of Mainz. His ninth victory in a row is known as the ninth rapid world championship title.

[16] theweekinchess.com

[17] Karpov world champion in active chess . Schach-Echo 1989, issue 1, page 5 (report, final result).