Magnus Carlsen has once again asserted his dominance in the world of chess, securing his record-extending ninth World Blitz title at the FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship held in Doha, Qatar. The Norwegian grandmaster displayed his endgame prowess to add another Blitz gold to the Rapid title he won just two days prior. This marks Carlsen's fifth time achieving the rapid and blitz double, previously accomplishing this feat in 2014, 2019, 2022, and 2023.
The tournament, held from December 29 to 30, 2025, saw Carlsen navigate a challenging field of top chess players. After finishing third in the Swiss-system stage, he proceeded to the knockout rounds, where he defeated Fabiano Caruana in the semi-finals. In the final match, Carlsen faced a tough opponent in Nodirbek Abdusattorov, eventually winning with a score of 2.5-1.5. In the fourth game of the final, Carlsen refused a draw and came up with a unique pawn move to secure his victory. This win earned Carlsen €70,000 and his 20th world championship title across all three time controls.
Adding to India's success at the championship, Arjun Erigaisi secured the bronze medal. Erigaisi's performance marks him as only the second Indian male player, after Viswanathan Anand, to win a World Blitz medal in the open category. Erigaisi demonstrated strong performance throughout the event, including a notable victory over Carlsen in the ninth round. He finished the Swiss segment as the sole leader with 15 points from 19 games. However, he faced Abdusattorov in the semi-finals, where he suffered a setback, losing the first two games and drawing the third, which led to him settling for bronze.
The World Blitz Championship followed a Swiss system format with 19 rounds for the open section. The time control for each game was 3 minutes, with an additional 2 seconds per move from the start. The top four players from the Swiss stage advanced to the knockout rounds, consisting of semi-finals and finals. The total prize fund for the tournament was €350,000.
In the women's section, Bibisara Assaubayeva won her third World Blitz title, defeating Anna Muzychuk in the final.
