The 2021 World Blitz Chess Championship was an annual chess tournament held by FIDE to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held the World Rapid and Blitz Championships at a joint tournament. Originally, the tournament was to be held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, however, due to coronavirus restrictions introduced by the Kazakh government prompted FIDE to change the location to Warsaw, Poland. The event took place at the Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, from 29 to 30 December 2021, using a Swiss-system with 21 rounds for the open tournament and 17 rounds for the women's tournament.
Participants 179 players took part in the open tournament and 105 in the women's tournament.
Code Federation Open Women's Total Algeria 1 0 1 Argentina 1 1 2 Armenia 9 2 11 Austria 2 0 2 Azerbaijan 7 5 12 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 0 1 Brazil 1 2 3 Bulgaria 1 2 3 Croatia 1 0 1 Czechia 3 1 4 Denmark 1 0 1 Ecuador 0 1 1 Egypt 3 0 3 England 1 0 1 France 2 1 3 Georgia 3 2 5 Germany 7 3 10 Greece 3 1 4 Hungary 4 0 4 India 12 4 16 Iran 2 1 3 Iraq101 Israel 3 2 5 Italy 2 0 2 Kazakhstan 1 6 7 Kosovo 1 0 1 Kyrgyzstan 1 1 2 Libya101 Lithuania011 Luxembourg 0 1 1 Moldova101 Mongolia 0 1 1 Netherlands 3 1 4 Norway 4 0 4 Poland (host) 31 25 56 Romania 3 2 5 Russia 29 22 51 Serbia 2 1 3 Slovenia 0 1 1 Spain 4 2 6 Sweden 1 0 1 Tajikistan 1 0 1 Turkey 1 1 2 Ukraine 9 11 20 United Arab Emirates 1 0 1 United States 7 1 8 Uzbekistan 4 0 4 Venezuela 1 0 1 Yemen 1 0 1 none 1 0 1
Tiebreak regulations For players who finish on the same score, final position was determined by the following tie-breaks, in order: Buchholz Cut 1 Buchholz Average Rating of Opponents Cut 1 (average rating of opponents excluding the lowest rated opponent) Results of individual games between tied players Drawing of lots
If two or more players were tied for any position other than first, the above mentioned tiebreak system decided the ranking of the tied players.
If two or more players were tied for first, the top two players who finished the highest on the above mentioned tiebreaks would play a two game mini match with the time control of 3+2 (with colours of the first game drawn) to decide the winner. If the score was tied 1-1, the players would continue to play single 3+2 games until one of the players won one game (the player who finished highest on the above mentioned tiebreaks would have the white pieces for the first game and the colours would alternate from the next game).
COVID-19 impacts tournament The 2021 World Blitz Chess Championship was held in the Polish capital Warsaw, a day after the longer time-format World Rapid Chess Championship finished in the same venue, after Kazakhstan pulled out of hosting duties due to the spread of the omicron variant.
The event was disrupted when some players tested positive for the coronavirus and had to withdraw from the tournament. Among them was Hikaru Nakamura, one of the leading contenders to take the title.
French star Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ultimately walked away with the men's blitz title.
Open tournament results The following table lists all participants, with the results from the 21 rounds. They are ranked according to the results, taking into account the tie-breaks.
Notation: "1 (W 168)" indicates a win (1 point) with white pieces (W) against player who finished in 168th place.