Chess: A World Championship at Cipriani Wall Street, the Temple of New York Finance

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is celebrating its centenary by organizing a rapid and blitz chess world championship in the United States for the first time, featuring the global elite of chess players.

The austere and cerebral world of chess will, for a week, intertwine with the realms of financial success and artificial intelligence during the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship. Supported by powerful sponsors, FIDE is hosting this tournament between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, from December 26 to 31, right in the heart of Wall Street. This marks the first time FIDE, which has long been under Russian influence and celebrates its centenary this year, is holding this tournament in the United States.

The competition takes place within the walls of Cipriani Wall Street, a sort of Greek neoclassical palace radiating opulence. The venue once housed several historic exchanges, the National City Bank, and the U.S. Customs House.

All the chessboard stars will be there, starting with Norwegian superstar Magnus Carlsen and the six challengers he considers his toughest competitors. These are, in descending order of threat, the French-Iranian Alireza Firouzja, world number two Hikaru Nakamura, Americans Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and India’s Arjun Erigaisi.

Uncontested Champion of Rapid Chess

All the champions are present, except for Indian prodigy Dommaraju Gukesh, who has withdrawn after his triumph at the Candidates Tournament in April. At just 17 years old, Gukesh became the youngest world champion in history.

Magnus Carlsen, who has expressed weariness with classical chess competitions, will defend his title as the uncontested champion of «rapid» chess. Last year, he continued to add to his remarkable trophy collection, winning both the rapid and blitz titles. His dominant and often brilliant gameplay has already earned him five rapid chess world championships and seven blitz titles.

Unlike the lengthy games of classical chess, rapid chess (less than an hour per game) and blitz chess («lightning,» under 15 minutes per game) are defined by their time constraints, making the tournament more dynamic and exciting for spectators.

The tournament kicks off on Thursday with three days of rapid chess, followed by a rest day on December 29—an unprecedented break in the history of the event—and concludes with two days of blitz chess, culminating on New Year’s Eve.

A More Open Competition Among Women

The rest day will be utilized by the tournament’s main sponsor, the relatively unknown American-Kazakh financial group Freedom Holding Corp., to host the «Wall Street Gambit»—a series of conferences exploring the connections between chess and finance.

While the format of the rapid chess tournament remains unchanged with 13 rounds, the blitz tournament introduces a new structure. FIDE has decided to split it into two phases. The first phase, lasting 13 rounds, allows for players to re-enter through a repechage system. The final phase, limited to the top eight players, adopts a knockout format reminiscent of the FIFA World Cup.

In the women’s category, the competition is notably more open, as no single player dominates her rivals in the way Magnus Carlsen does in the men’s division. Chinese world champion Ju Wenjun, Russo-Swiss Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Kazakh star Bibisara Assaubayeva are seen as the favorites.

Their matches will take place in a separate venue, located directly across from Cipriani at 48 Wall Street, in an equally grand building that once housed the Bank of New York and the Museum of American Finance.

A Stark Gap Between Men’s and Women’s Prize Money

The World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships are open to any player who has achieved or exceeded a FIDE rating of 2550 in the past twelve months, as well as to current national champions and players nominated by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich of Russia.

A total of four tournaments will take place, as each of the two sections—rapid and blitz—is divided into gendered categories. The main «open» competition is effectively the men’s tournament, while a separate competition is held for women.

The prize money disparity between the men’s and women’s tournaments is striking. The first-place prize in the women’s rapid competition ($228,500, or €220,000) is less than half of the $550,000 awarded to the winner of the «open» (men’s) category. A similar gap exists in the blitz competition, which has slightly lower prize pools overall: $200,000 in total for the women’s competition compared to $450,000 for the men’s.

Source: https://www.lemonde.fr/article-offert/1b6faed32897-6468180/echecs-un-championnat-du-monde-dans-le-temple-de-la-finance-new-yorkaise?random=1984124450