By Leon Watson

Whether you celebrate it or not, Christmas in the chess world is the season for big tournaments.

And there is no bigger or faster chess event at Christmas than the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship taking place in New York City’s famous Wall Street from December 26 to 31.

This year’s edition is being hailed as the strongest tournament ever held on U.S. soil. Proudly sponsored by ICC ChessClub.com, the original home of online chess, we’ll be on-site, bringing you daily reports from the heart of the action.

But before the big event kicks off, here’s what you need to know to get fully up to speed:

What’s the lineup?

The cream of world chess turn out for the annual Rapid and Blitz and all the big chess nations are represented, from India and China, to Ukraine, France, and Uzbekistan. This year more than 300 elite players, including grandmasters such as Magnus Carlsen, the 21-year-old Iranian-born Frenchman Alireza Firouzja

and U.S. champion Fabiano Caruana, will gather in the Big Apple to battle it out over the board for the prestigious titles on offer. The WRB, as it is known, truly is a highlight of the chess calendar.

In the Open, Carlsen - who no longer holds the world classical title - defends the twin Rapid and Blitz titles he won in Samarkand in 2023. Carlsen, the top seed, has won the Rapid a record five times and the Blitz seven. In total, the world number-one has claimed 17 world titles. But if he comes home empty-handed, for the first time in over a decade Norway’s chess legend will be bereft of any FIDE world title. Surely that can't happen?

In Samarkand, both of the Women’s tournaments were dominated by Russians. Anastasia Bodnaruk returns to defend the Rapid title she won while Valentina Gunina will also be back to defend the Blitz title, her second, which she clinched after netting 14 points out of 17 games. The classical world champion Ju Wenjun, however, is a major force and will attempt to add the 2024 Rapid and Blitz titles to her collection. The stellar lineup is augmented by former winners Tan Zhongyi, Mariya Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Zhu Chen.

The rest of the roster in both the Open and Women’s events reads like a Who’s Who’s of the world’s top players.

A strong home contingent in the Open is led by Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, and Levon Aronian while the lineup in the Women’s includes current U.S. champion Carissa Yip and former champion Irina Krush.

The Indian cohort will attract lots of attention following the crowning of Dommaraju Gukesh as the new classical world champion earlier this month. Gukesh is not making the trip to New York so soon after his win over Ding Liren in Singapore. However, hopes will be high for the rest of India’s top chess talents heading Stateside which include Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Koneru Humpy, and Vidit Gujrathi. Another Indian world champion would complete an incredible year for the world’s newest chess superpower.

Who will the ICC be following?

The ICC’s coverage will follow all the thrills and spills from Wall Street, but we will also be checking on the progress of several sponsored players at the event. These include the Ukrainian grandmaster Anna Muzychuk. The 34-year-old from Lviv is one of the most exciting speed chess players in the Women’s section, having previously held the Blitz (2014 and 2016) and the Rapid (2016). She was also the 2017 Women’s World Championship runner-up in classical chess.

The ICC is also keeping a keen eye on the 11-year-old “Messi of chess” Faustino Oro.

Argentina’s golden boy has taken the chess world by storm in 2024, breaking several records along the way. In June he became the youngest International Master in chess history at 10 years, 8 months and 16 days. Oro will be the youngest competitor in New York City, can he do some damage? Read more about his story here.

Another young prospect the ICC will follow is the 15-year-old American International Master Alice Lee. Earlier this year, the teenager from Minneapolis set a new landmark for U.S. women’s chess by qualifying as the third youngest female international master in chess history.

Two more names the ICC has sponsored are Priyanka Nutakki, the 22-year-old Woman Grandmaster, and Spanish Grandmaster Jose Carlos Ibarra.

Priyanka was chess prodigy won both the World and Asian Chess Championships for girls under 10. Speed demon Ibarra was the 2023 Spanish Blitz Champion. We believe both are exciting players to watch and great ambassadors for the game.

What’s on the line?

World titles, reputations and a generous prize pool will all be fought for. FIDE, the international chess federation organizing the event, has set total prizes at just under $1.5 million. The winner of the Open tournaments will get $90,000 and $60,000 is awarded to the first-place player in the Women’s. But the biggest prize is surely being able to call yourself a world champion in either Rapid or Blitz, or even both.

What’s the format?

The World Rapid and Blitz consists of four tournaments—an Open and Women’s event in the Rapid, followed by an Open and Women’s event in the Blitz. The tournaments are played between December 26 and 31, either side of a rest day on December 29.

In the World Rapid Championship, there will be a 13-round Swiss in the Open and an 11-round Swiss for the Women's section. Each round will have a time control of 15 minutes, with 10-second increments per move starting from move 1. The winner will be crowned on December 28.

The World Blitz Championship features a new format with two stages: first, a Swiss (13 rounds in the Open, 11 in the Women’s) before a Knockout to find the winner on December 31. Each round will have a time control of 3 minutes, with 2-second increments per move starting from move 1.

Where to watch it?

As usual for a chess event of this stature, there are multiple ways to watch the tournament online. We recommend the official FIDE broadcast hosted by Grandmaster Maurice Ashley. You can watch Day 1 of the Rapid here.

If you are in New York and want to watch it in person, you can buy spectator tickets here. The Open events will take place in Cipriani Wall Street, while the Women’s events will be held across the street at 48 Wall Street.