Al-Ain win the World Rapid Team Championship in Astana

Al-Ain, China and WR Chess reach the podium

There was no lack of excitement in the final rounds of the World Rapid Team Championship. Three teams went into the last two matches with chances of grabbing the gold, but it was the long-time leaders from Al-Ain ACMG UAE who emerged victorious in the end. The Emirati squad collected close 3½-2½ wins in the final rounds to remain atop the standings.

In the 12^th round, Al-Ain saw Parham Maghsoodloo losing his first game of the event, against Rinat Jumabayev from the Theme International Trading team. Dmitry Andreikin (Al-Ain) beat Wong Zhenyong on board 4 to even the score – but a 3-3 draw would have only given the squad shared first place.

Luckily for them, Daniil Dubov managed to grab his first win of the event at the most crucial moment, beating Tin Jingyao with white to give his team outright victory.

Dubov came from scoring a disappointing 3½/10 in the previous rounds, as his risky approach backfired repeatedly on the top board. Though Dubov’s final win was surely critical, it was the performances of Maghsoodloo (9/12), Andreikin (9/10) and Vladislav Artemiev (8½/11) which prompted Al-Ain’s final triumph.

Daniil Dubov | Photo: FIDE / Ruslan Mazunin

Dmitry Andreikin | Photo: FIDE / Ruslan Mazunin

Second place went to Decade China, which remarkable featured both reigning world champions in their lineup, Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun. Both Ding and Ju had strong showings, scoring 8½/12 and 8/12 respectively. Even stronger were the performances achieved by Wei Yi and Pang Bo, though – Wei scored 10/12 on board 2 and has now climbed to the second spot in the live rapid-chess ratings list, while Pang obtained a perfect 11/11 on the “recreational board”.

The Chinese squad made the most of an innovative rule put forth in this event, one that forces every team to include a player who has never been rated above 2000 in an official ratings list.

Pang entered the event with a 1400 rating, with no rated games ever registered under his name. Notwithstanding, the 26-year-old proved to be a very strong player. He went to university and has a normal job, but never played a FIDE-rated tournament – in fact, it is likely that there are many similarly underrated players in China, where non-rated tournaments are organised all the time.

Pang Bo | Photo: FIDE / Ruslan Mazunin

Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun | Photo: FIDE / Ruslan Mazunin

Finally, the defending champions, WR Chess, with Magnus Carlsen on the top board and Wadim Rosenstein (the event’s sponsor and organiser) on the “recreational board”, grabbed third place. There was no perfect or close-to-perfect performance in this team, though they did need to compensate for Rosenstein’s subpar 1/12 score on the bottom board.

Carlsen’s 6½/8 granted him the highest TPR in the event, while Vincent Keymer and Alexandra Kosteniuk also had strong showings on boards 6 and 8 respectively.

Curiously, WR Chess were paired up against GMHans.com, led by Hans Niemann, in the final round – which meant a potential over-the-board encounter between Carlsen and Niemann, the first one since their infamous 2022 encounter in Saint Louis. However, Carlsen was not included in the lineup, with Ian Nepomniachtchi taking up the job of playing on the top board and achieving a 36-move draw with the black pieces.

WR Chess won the match by the smallest of margins, thanks to victories by Jan-Jrzysztof Duda, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hou Yifan.

Magnus Carlsen having a look at his teammates’ games – Alexandra Kosteniuk and Wadim Rosenstein | Photo: FIDE / Ruslan Mazunin

Hans Niemann scored 6/12 on the top board for GMHans.com – in round 11, he drew Parham Maghsoodloo with black | Photo: FIDE / Ruslan Mazunin

Final standings

…38 teams

All games

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