India, Dec. 24 -- The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships is scheduled to begin on Friday (December 26), and all eyes will be on World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. A new generation of super-GMs is expected to rise to the occasion, but the top-10 players are predicted to dominate. Carlsen arrives in Doha as the top seed in both Open Rapid (2824) and Open Blitz (2881). He won the rapid title five times (2014, 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2023) and the world blitz title eight times (2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024). In 2024, he shared the title with Ian Nepomniachtchi.

D Gukesh is the reigning world champion and will be hogging the spotlight in the tournament. But India's main hopes will rely on Arjun Erigaisi, who is currently the co...