Dubov is Back!

The 2022 FIDE World Rapid Championship is an elite over-the-board event featuring the best speed chess players in the world. Masters and national champions from around the globe gather to compete in a Swiss tournament for their share of the $350,000 prize fund. The event runs from December 26 through 28, starting every day at 1 a.m. PT/10:00 CET. Official website. Players who meet any of the criteria below are eligible to play in the event: Players rated at least 2550 in any of the 12 most recent FIDE rating lists (classical, rapid, or blitz) Reigning national champions (classical, rapid, or blitz) representing their national federation 10 players invited by FIDE 15 players invited by the organizers Format Players compete in a 13-round Swiss. The time control is 15+10 Players get 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The player with the most points at the end of the tournament becomes the World Rapid Champion. A playoff match determines the winner if there's a tie for first place. In case there's a tie for any other place, the following tiebreaks apply in order: Buchholz cut 1 Buchholz AROC cut 1 Direct encounter Drawing of Lots Prizes The prize fund for this event is $350,000, distributed as follows: 1st: $60,000 2nd: $50,000 3rd: $40,000 4th: $30,000 5th: $25,000 6th: $22,000 7th: $18,000 8th: $14,000 9th: $11,000 10th: $8,000 11th-16th: $5,000 17th-25th: $3,000 26th-35th: $1,500 Previous Champions 2012: Sergey Karjakin 2013: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2014: Magnus Carlsen 2015: Magnus Carlsen 2016: Vasyl Ivanchuk 2017: Viswanathan Anand 2018: Daniil Dubov 2019: Magnus Carlsen 2021: Nodirbek Abdusattorov PGN OF THE GAME: [Event "FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship 2022"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.12.27"] [Round "07"] [White "Dubov, Daniil"] [Black "Nihal, Sarin"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2708"] [BlackElo "2670"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "900+10"] [ECO "D28"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Alekhine System"] [Termination "Unknown"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. Qe2 b5 { D28 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Alekhine System } 8. Bd3 cxd4 9. a4 bxa4 10. Rxa4 Be7?! { (-0.07 → 0.65) Inaccuracy. dxe3 was best. } (10... dxe3 11. Bxe3 Nbd7 12. Rd1 Be7 13. Nc3 O-O 14. Rd4 Qe8 15. Ng5 h6 16. Nge4 Bb7 17. Nd6) 11. Rxd4 Qb6 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. Rh4 Bb7?! { (0.28 → 1.26) Inaccuracy. a5 was best. } (13... a5 14. Nc4 Qc7 15. e4 e5 16. Bg5 O-O 17. Rc1 Ng4 18. Ne3 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Qd8 20. Bxe7) 14. Nc4 Qc7 15. Bd2 O-O 16. Bc3 g6 17. Ng5 Nd5?? { (0.57 → Mate in 5) Checkmate is now unavoidable. e5 was best. } (17... e5) 18. Qh5 { White wins. } 1-0