India's D. Gukesh during a press conference at World Rapid & Blitz Championship 2025 in Doha. (PHOTO: FIDE/Anna Shtourman)
The season-ending World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2025 got underway in Doha on Friday. The five-day event, which starts with the Rapid Championship that runs for the first three days till December 28 and is followed by the Blitz Championship for the last two days on December 29 and 30.
Russia’s Volodar Murzin is the defending champion in the Rapid format, while Norwegian Maestro Magnus Carlsen and two-time World Championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi are the defending joint-winners in the Blitz format. India’s Koneru Humpy is the reigning Women’s World Rapid Champion and will look to defend her title this time.
A total of 42 Indians are in action in the Rapid event, with 29 featuring in the Open category, while 13 are in the women’s event. Arjun Ergaisi is the highest-seeded Indian in the Open section, while defending title holder Humpy is the highest-seeded Indian in the women’s category.
9 – GM Erigaisi Arjun – 2714 16 – GM Gukesh D – 2692 24 – GM Nihal Sarin – 2664 25 – GM R. Praggnanandhaa – 2663 43 – GM Harikrishna Pentala – 2623 50 – GM Sadhwani Raunak – 2611 58 – GM Pranav V – 2595 62 – GM Aravindh Chithambaram VR. – 2590 66 – GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar – 2585 67 – GM Narayanan S L – 2582 86 – GM Chanda Sandipan – 2553 91 – GM Sasikiran Krishnan – 2548 96 – GM Puranik Abhimanyu – 2542 110 – GM Pranesh M – 2520 121 – GM Adhiban B. – 2503 126 – GM Mendonca Leon Luke – 2498 135 – GM Mitrabha Guha – 2487 140 – GM Bharath Subramaniyam H – 2475 144 – GM Karthik Venkataraman – 2467 155 – GM Iniyan Pa – 2450 159 – GM Aditya Mittal – 2440 165 – GM Raja Rithvik R – 2428 167 – GM Sankalp Gupta – 2425 170 – GM Pranav Anand – 2421 182 – GM Raja Harshit – 2396 187 – IM Goutham Krishna H – 2392 210 – IM Sharan Rao – 2320 215 – GM Harikrishnan. A. Ra . – 2293 224 – IM Harshavardhan G B – 2216