Doha: Norwegian Magnus Carlsen won the Qatar 2025 Blitz Chess World Cup title after defeating Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the final. Carlsen thus secured both the rapid and blitz chess titles of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2025, which was hosted at the sports and events complex at Qatar University. According to Qatar News Agency, in the women's competition, Kazakhstan's Bibisara Assaubayeva claimed the title after defeating Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk, the reigning world champion from the 2016 Qatar edition, in the final. The 2025 World Blitz Championships concluded in Doha with two familiar World Champions in this category. Second place in the Open Blitz went to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, while Arjun Erigaisi and Fabiano Caruana shared the bronze. In the Women's Blitz, Anna Muzychuk took silver, while the bronze went jointly to Zhu Jiner and Eline Roebers. The men's blitz tournament featured 254 players, while the women's competition included 142 players, among them reigning world champ ions, elite rapid chess specialists, and top competitors representing federations from around the world. As for the Qatari players, Hussein Aziz earned 7 points after winning 7 matches and losing 12 matches, while Ahmed Saif, Ibrahim Al Janahi, and Khaled Al Jamaat each earned five points during 19 rounds. Hamad Al Kuwari got 4 points, and Fahad Al Mansouri received 3 points. Among the Qatari female players, former world champion Zhu Chen finished 101st, topping the Arab rankings with 6.5 points. She achieved this after winning four matches against Bulgarian Beloslava Krasteva, Mexican Tania Rodriguez, Georgian Kesaria Megaladze, Spanish Redondo Rodriguez, and Turkish Aydin Gulenay. She drew with Chinese Li Yufei, Russian Mariya Yakimova, and Montenegrin Alexandra Zherebtsova. Qatari national team player Ghada Al Khalifi earned two points in her first appearance at the World Championships. Mohammed Al Mudahka, President of the Qatar Chess Federation and chairman of the tournament organizing committee, exp ressed his satisfaction with the closing of the competitions. He emphasized that the tournament witnessed many changes in the standings, despite Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the world champion, dominating the finals by winning the rapid chess title. In a statement to the Qatar News Agency (QNA), Al Mudahka said that the tournament was full of excitement, adding that many top-ranked players were eliminated from the title race in the final rounds. He added that the tournament enjoyed a distinguished atmosphere, both technically and organizationally. He also noted the participation of members of the Qatari team, both men and women, in the tournament, which provided them with valuable experience through their competition with a number of distinguished players at the Arab and international levels. This experience, he said, will contribute to improving their performance in future competitions. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich expressed his delight with the closing ceremony of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Champions hips Qatar 2025, emphasizing the strong participation of over 400 players from 70 countries. Dvorkovich expressed great confidence in the efforts of the Qatar Chess Federation to develop the game in the region, and that the competition was fierce among the participating players, including the top-ranked ones.
