Norway's Magnus Carlsen (right) competes against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus of Turkiye.
Doha, Qatar: Norwegian maestro Magnus Carlsen underlined his dominance of elite chess by winning the 2025 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship in Doha yesterday, finishing a point clear of the field with 10.5 points from 13 rounds.
At Qatar University’s Sports and Events Complex, the world No. 1 claimed his sixth world rapid crown, adding to an extraordinary career tally of 19 world titles across classical, rapid, and blitz formats. The victory also earned the 35-year-old the top prize of €70,000 after fiercely contested championship.
Carlsen sealed the title in the decisive final round by drawing with the Netherlands’ Anish Giri, the tournament’s third seed. The result proved sufficient after overnight leader Vladislav Artemiev, who competed under the FIDE flag, was held to a draw by Wesley So of the United States, allowing Carlsen to move clear at the top. Giri finished in 11th place on 8.5 points.
Carlsen expressed his delight after securing the title, stressing that the challenge was demanding against a field packed with elite players.
“I am very happy to win the title here in Qatar,” Carlsen said.
“It was a big field with a lot of strong players. The serious advantage that I have is that I play for first place when I’m appearing here, while most other players are thinking about getting a good prize and maybe a medal. That gives me a huge psychological advantage,” he said.
When asked to compare this Rapid crown to the previous five, Carlsen said: “What stands out is that I managed to beat everyone who is not a top player, something I’m very happy with. Overall, except for the start on day two, which was horrendous, everything else was really good for me here.”
Despite being the hot favourite at the €1m event, Carlsen’s route to the title was not without setbacks.
Carlsen had suffered a loss to Artemiev in the seventh game on Sunday, and had to share points with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and India’s Arjun Erigaisi following draws.
Carlsen’s campaign opened with victories over Italy’s Lorenzo Lodici, Alexey Sarana of FIDE and Spain’s Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, before drawing with Erigaisi.
After drawing with Vachier-Lagrave and later losing to Artemiev, Carlsen fought back with a strong victories over Armenian Shant Sargsyan and Ray Robson of USA.
On the final day, he defeated Alexey Sarana, Hans Moke Niemann and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus before conceding a draw to Giri to close out the championship with a performance rating of 2875.
Artemiev finished second on 9.5 points, while Erigaisi claimed third place on tie breaks, also on 9.5 points.
Hans Moke Niemann and Leinier Dominguez Perez joined them on the same score. Vachier-Lagrave, Javokhir Sindarov, Wesley So, Giri and Andrey Esipenko completed the top ten, all finishing on nine points.
Reigning classical world champion Dommaraju Gukesh finished on 8.5 points, while the Volodar Murzin ended his title defence on eight points. Fourteen-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus also impressed by finishing on 8.5 points against the elite field.
Among the Qatari players, International Master Husain Aziz was the leading local finisher with 4.5 points. Khaled Aljamaat and Ibrahim Al-Janahi each scored 3.5 points, while Hamad Al Kuwari finished on 3.
Meanwhile, Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina, competing under the FIDE flag, claimed her maiden women’s world rapid title, defeating Zhu Jiner in a tie-break to secure the crown and €40,000 in prize money.
Aleksandra Goriachkina
Zhu finished second, while India’s Koneru Humpy placed third after a three-way tie at the top on 8.5 points. Top seed and five-time world champion Ju Wenjun of China ended the event on 6.5 points. Qatar’s former world champion Zhu Chen finished with 4.5 points, while her compatriot Ghada Al-Khelaifi earned 2.5.
The Blitz Championships begin today, with rounds 1-13 in the Open and 1-10 in the Women’s, today.
