The Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, number 1 in chess, won the blitz world championship on Tuesday in Doha, achieving a new double after his victory on Sunday during the rapid world championship and securing his 20th world title.
Carlsen defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the final, securing victory with the black pieces in the fourth and final game, despite losing the first. Blitz games are played with three minutes at the start for both players and an addition of two seconds per move.
The Norwegian also almost failed to qualify for the semi-finals, suffering three defeats in the nineteen matches in the qualifying phase and finishing third in the rankings. He finally beat the American Fabiano Caruana in the semi-finals then Abdusattorov Nodirbek, world champion in rapid play in 2021.
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Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, world blitz champion in 2021, finished fifth in the qualifying phase and was unable to qualify for the semi-finals. On Sunday, Magnus Carlsen was crowned world champion in rapid (15 minutes and ten seconds added per stroke), finishing first in the regular ranking, the competition taking place without a final phase.
Enough to fill his trophy cabinet a little more: he now has nine titles awarded by the international federation (Fide) in blitz, six in rapid, and five in long cadence, the most prestigious. Tired of the format of the long-paced competition, a clash of more than ten games between the champion and a challenger, Magnus Carlsen abandoned, without fighting, in 2023 his crown, currently on the head of the Indian Dommaraju Gukesh.
After several episodes of tension with the international federation, the two parties agreed in October on the creation of a fourth world champion title recognized by Fide which would include three formats: fast classic – accelerated classic format -, rapid and blitz. A first pilot edition of the “Total Chess World Championship Tour” will be held in the fall of 2026, with the full championship season planned for 2027.
