Team MGD1 wins FIDE World Rapid Team Championship, London

Spearheaded by World No. 3 Arjun Erigaisi Team MGD1 from India won the FIDE World Rapid Team Chess Championship 2025 at London with 21 match points. Hexamind Chess Team took the second spot with 20 match points. The third place was shared by three teams viz., Freedom, Uzbekistan and WR Chess Team at 17 match points. The three day event ran from 11th to 13th June, 2025 with the FIDE World Blitz Team Championship scheduled for the next two days.

420 players from 64 federations took part in the Rapid Team Championship including 112 Grandmasters, 12 Woman Grandmastes, 61 International Masters, 6 Woman International Masters among a total of 280 titled players. The total prize fund for this twin event gala is €500,000 with €310,000 going to the Rapid tournament while the Blitz tournament gets €190,000. English Chess Federation hosted this FIDE event supported by Scheinberg Family.

Sixth seeded Team MGD1 under captain GM Srinath Narayanan clinched the overall best show thanks to the consistency of GMs Erigaisi Arjun (6/11), Pentala Harikrishna (3.5/9), Anton Guijarro David (6.5/12), Mendonca Leon Luke (5.5/8), Pranav Venkatesh (7.5/8), IM Tsolakidou Stavroula (5.5/12) and Atharvaa P Tayade (11/12).

Hexamind Chess Team took the second spot with 20 match points thanks to Levon Aronian (7/11), Volodar Murzin (5.5/8), Dominguez Perez Leinier (5/8), Anish Giri (8/11), Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (7.5/10), Divya Deshmukh (8/12) and Muradyan David (6/11).

With a whopping 11/12 performance untitled Atharvaa P Tayade (ELo 1952) stole the show and along with GM Pranav Venkatesh (7.5/8) lent a huge hand in MGD1 winning the title. Kudos to GM Srinath Narayanan for spotting this match-winner. Atharvaa, the amateur board player for the winning team MGD1 won his first 11 rounds before going down in the final round to Omarov Murat (Kaz).

Wadim Rosenstein (1704) – Atharvaa P Tayade (1952) 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. Rb1 a5 8. a3 e5 9. d3 Re8 10. b4 axb4 11. axb4 Bg4 12. Re1 Qd7 13. b5 Nd8 14. Ng5 h6 15. Nge4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Rb8 17. Bg2 Bh3 18. Bh1 Ne6 19. Be3 Nd4 20. Qd2 Kh7 21. Ra1 Nb3 22. Qc2 Nxa1 23. Rxa1 Qc8 24. Ra7 Be6 25. b6 c6 26. Ne4 Qd8 27. c5 dxc5 28. Bxc5 Bf8 29. Bxf8 Rxf8 30. Qc5 Bd5 31. Nd6 Bxh1 32. Kxh1 Qd7 33. Qxe5 f6 34. Qc5 Rfd8 35. Ne4 Kg7 36. Qc3 Qf7 37. Kg2 Rf8 38. h4 Kg8 39. f3 f5 40. Nd6? (40. Nc5 was better. Atharvaa squeezed a win from a drawish position)

40…Qe7 41. Qc4+ Kg7 42. Qd4+ Rf6 43. Nc4 Qxe2+ 44. Kh3 Qxf3 45. Kh2 f4 46. Ne5 Qxg3+ 47. Kh1 Qxh4+ 48. Kg1 Qe1+ 49. Kh2 Qe2+ 50. Kh1 f3 51. Qd7+ Kg8 52. Nxf3 0-1

Nihal Sarin (2676) – Aronian Levon (2746) 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. d3 d5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. a4 O-O 8. Nc3 d4 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Ne4 Be7 11. c3 Be6 12. a5 a6 13. Qa4 Rc8 14. Rfc1 f5 15. Ned2 Kh8 16. cxd4 exd4 17. Nc4 Nb4 18. Nb6 Rc7 19. Qd1 Bf6 20. Nd2 Qe7 21. Na4 Bg5 22. h4 Bf6 23. Bf3 g5 24. hxg5 Bxg5 25. Kg2 Rg8 26. Kf1 Nd5 27. Bxd5 Bxd5 28. Nb6 Bc6 29. Rc4 Qd6 30. Nf3 Be3 31. Qe1 Rcg7 32. fxe3 Rxg3 33. Qf2 Qh6 34. Nh2 dxe3 0-1

Erigaisi Arjun (2708) – Anand Viswanathan (2719) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 Be7 5. b3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. Bb2 cxd4 9. exd4 Nb4 10. Be2 b6 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. Rc1 dxc4 13. bxc4 Rc8 14. Ne5 Nd7 15. Nxd7 Qxd7 16. d5 Rfd8 17. a3 Na6 18. Ne4 Nc5 19. Qd4 f6 20. Nxc5 Bxc5 21. Qg4 f5 22. dxe6 Qe7 23. Qxf5 Rd2 24. Bd3 g6 25. Qe5 Rxb2 26. Qxb2 Qg5 27. g3 Qg4 28. Qf6 Rf8 29. e7 Rxf6 30. e8=Q+ Rf8 31. Qe2 Bf3 0-1

Esipenko Andrey (2651) – Le Quang Liem (2645) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. a3 O-O 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Nbd2 Nd7 9. Be3 Re8 10. Nc4 Bf8 11. O-O a5 12. a4 b6 13. Nfd2 Nc5 14. f4 exf4 15. Rxf4 Be6 16. Qf3 Nxa4 17. Rxa4 b5 18. Rxa5 bxc4 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 20. Nxc4 Bxc4 21. dxc4 Qa1+ 22. Qf1 Qxb2 23. Rxf7 Qxc2 24. Rxc7 Qxe4 25. Bb6 c5 26. g3 Rb8 27. Rf7 Bd6 28. Rd7 Be7 29. Qg2 Qe1+ 30. Qf1 Qe6 31. Bc7 Rb2 32. Rd5 Qe3+ 33. Kh1 Qe4+ 34. Kg1 Bf6 35. Be5 Rb1 0-1

Final Rankings: 1 Team MGD1 21, 2. Hexamind Chess Team 20, 3-5 Freedom, Uzbekistan, WR Chess Team 17, 6 Germany and Friends 16, 7-8 Duobeniajan Costa Calida ESJ, Generation XYZA 15, 9-10 Malcolm’s Mates, Ashdod Elit Chess Club 14 (match points)

Board Prize winners Gold:
Board 1: Firouzja, Alireza (WR Chess Team)
Board 2: Sindarov Javokhir (Uzbekistan)
Board 3: Sevian Samuel (Freedom)
Board 4: Le Quang Liem (Freedom)
Board 5: Pranav Venkatesh (Team MGD1)
Board 6: Martirosyan Haik M (Freedom)
Board 7: Osmak Yuliia (Ashdod Elit Chess Club)
Board 8: Atharvaa P Tayade (Team MGD1)
Board 9: Muradyan David (Hexamind Chess Team)

Photo courtesy: Rafal Oleksiewicz

Complete Results

Official Site: https://worldrapidblitzteams2025.fide.com/