FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship 2024

Stage 1: Swiss System (13 Rounds)

• Time Control: 3 minutes for the entire game, with a 2-second increment per move starting from move one ($3+2$).

• Qualification: The top 8 players with the highest scores advance to the knockout stage.

• Tie-Break Criteria: If two or more players finish with the same number of points, ties are broken using the following system (in descending order of priority):

  1. Buchholz Cut 1

  2. Total Buchholz

  3. Average Blitz Rating of Opponents Cut 1

  4. Direct Encounter (head-to-head result between the tied players)

  5. Drawing of Lots

Stage 2: Knockout Bracket

• Seeding: Pairings and brackets are determined strictly by the final standings of the Swiss stage.

• Match Format: Head-to-head matches consisting of 4 games.

• Time Control: Identical to the Swiss stage ($3+2$).

• Tie-Break Procedure: If a match ends in a tie after 4 games, sudden-death blitz games are played to determine the winner:

  • A single game is played under the same time control.

  • If that game ends in a draw, another game is played immediately with reversed colors.

  • This sudden-death cycle repeats continuously until a player wins a game, concluding the match.