FIDE World Rapid&Blitz Chess Championship 2020 stars today in Moscow, Russia.
The first on the schedule is FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship, played in two sections: Open and Women. Open section gathered 207 players from 45 federations, while Women competition participate 121 players from 26 federations.
The very strong line up of the event is led by: World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2886), Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (FRA, 2873), Nakamura Hikaru (USA, 2819), Korobov Anton (UKR, 2818) and Grischuk Alexander (RUS, 2808), while the top seeds of Women’s section are: Muzychuk Anna (UKR, 2592), Kosteniuk Alexandra (RUS, 2538), Lagno Kateryna (RUS, 2533) and Muzychuk Mariya (UKR, 2518).
The event was officially opened yesterday with attendance of FIDE President, Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich, who greeted all participants.
During the ceremony, the top seeds drew white pieces in the drawing of lots.
The Rapid and Blitz tournaments will be held at the grandiose Luzhniki sports arena, which hosted 1980 Summer Olympics and 2016 finals of the football World Cup.
Rapid Championship takes place from 26th-28th December, and Blitz tournament will be played on the 29th and the 30th December.
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili and Amruta Mokal
Official site: https://wrbc2019.com/