World Rapid & Blitz Championship 26th to 30th December 2024

[Mick Norris]

Website

Results and Women

TWIC

The World Rapid & Blitz Championship takes place on Wall Street in New York 26th to 30th December 2024. Carlsen, Caruana, MVL, Wei Yi, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian, Firouzja, Nakamura, Abdusattorov, Duda, Wesley So etc. In the women's event Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, Kosteniuk etc.

[Ian Thompson]

Has anyone seen what the ticket prices are? They're now sold out, possibly for lower prices than are now being quoted, but, if you could get them, it would cost you $97.99 to watch one round and $272.19 for a daily ticket.

A few days ago Elisabeth Pähtz was moaning on Facebook about have to $200 per day for tickets for her father to watch her. People accompanying players have to buy spectator tickets.

[Paul Cooksey]

ticket income supplemented a little by player fines for dress code violations, including Nepo and Magnus

[LawrenceCooper]

ticket income supplemented a little by player fines for dress code violations, including Nepo and Magnus

Yes, speculation that Magnus may be kicked out of the tournament.

[Paul Cooksey]

Chief Arbiter Alex Holowczak telling us Magnus refused to change his jeans and was defaulted for round 9

[NickFaulks]

Chief Arbiter Alex Holowczak telling us Magnus refused to change his jeans and was defaulted for round 9

He was very fortunate to be on 5/8, so probably happy to leave.

[Christopher Lewis]

Chief Arbiter Alex Holowczak telling us Magnus refused to change his jeans and was defaulted for round 9

Bold move by Alex.

https://x.com/chesscom/status/187278078 ... pag_w&s=19

[Paul Cooksey]

The penalty was one round, but Magnus talking on the taketaketake stream about it being a point of principle and withdrawing. Levy asked Magus directly about the blitz and Magnus confirmed he would not play.

He said "I'm too old for this" although Magnus's refusal to accept authority is not a new thing.

https://x.com/i/status/1872782152238260692

[John Swain]

The FIDE Athletes' Commission sets the dress regulations.

The composition of this Commission was a pleasant surprise: https://www.fide.com/directory/commissions

I expected to find a significant number of bureaucrats rather than professional players; I was wrong! The thirteen members of the Commission comprise seven GMs, five IMs and a WIM.

[Roger de Coverly]

He said "I'm too old for this" although Magnus's refusal to accept authority is not a new thing.

Over the top decisions by arbiters are not a new thing either.

Didn't Nigel have a fight with Campo over wearing shorts in an Interzonal around forty years ago? There was also that Canadian who was excluded from the World Cup more recently.

[Gerard Killoran]

He said "I'm too old for this" although Magnus's refusal to accept authority is not a new thing.

Over the top decisions by arbiters are not a new thing either.

Didn't Nigel have a fight with Campo over wearing shorts in an Interzonal around forty years ago? There was also that Canadian who was excluded from the World Cup more recently.

It wasn't over the top - it was below the waist. Carlsen probably went for a dress code violation to distract from his bad results in the tournament, let's remember his loss to Niemann. As for the thought of Nigel Short in nominative deterministic clothing...

[Joey Stewart]

Chief Arbiter Alex Holowczak telling us Magnus refused to change his jeans and was defaulted for round 9

I hope this is not career suicide for Alex - he's done so well to rise so high but angering Magnus is going to bring a lot of hate upon him - the people of Reddit are already calling for fide to be destroyed and replaced by chess.com

[NickFaulks]

I expected to find a significant number of bureaucrats rather than professional players; I was wrong! The thirteen members of the Commission comprise seven GMs, five IMs and a WIM.

That was the whole point when it was set up. ATH is essentially a trade union.

As with any trade union, it cannot be guaranteed that all members will agree with the decisions taken by their officials. Also, this is an awkward special case where a small number self-identify as superstars.

[Paul Cooksey]

A workers council might be a better analogy that a trade union. But it does seem a good approach.

I hope this is not career suicide for Alex - he's done so well to rise so high but angering Magnus is going to bring a lot of hate upon him - the people of Reddit are already calling for fide to be destroyed and replaced by chess.com

I imagine Alex will be looking upwards at a bus if FIDE and Magnus reconcile. But that seems very unlikely.

[Roger Lancaster]

I'm ambivalent on the desirability of dress codes generally but, assuming that the dress regulations for this event were known in advance, all players would have been aware that contravening those regulations risked incurring a penalty. I can't see that an exception should have been made for superstars.