Praggnanandhaa, Erigaisi, Vaishali among five Indians competing at 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships

The tournament will be held in New York City from December 26 to 31, marking the first time it is hosted in North America.

R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi will be among the five Indian players competing in the upcoming 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships. | Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI

R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, and R Vaishali will be among the five Indian players competing in the upcoming 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships, as announced by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) on Monday.

The tournament will be held in New York City from December 26 to 31, marking the first time it is hosted in North America.

Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika will also represent India in the event.

World No. 3 American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has confirmed his participation, FIDE announced on ‘X’.

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“From December 26–31, over 300 of the world’s top players will compete for a share of the USD 1.5 million prize fund in New York City,” FIDE stated in a post.

In addition to the leading Indian players, other notable participants include five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Levon Aronian.

The event will begin with the Rapid Championship from December 26 to 28, followed by a break on December 29. The competition will resume on December 30 and conclude with the Blitz Championship on December 31.

Star Participants:

Open Section: Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun Erigaisi, Alireza Firouzja, R Praggnanandhaa, Wei Yi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Anish Giri, and top U.S. players Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Levon Aronian.

Women’s Section: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Mariya Muzychuk, Humpy Koneru, Lei Tingjie, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali R, Zhu Jiner, and Anna Muzychuk, among others.

With inputs from PTI