Magnus Carlsen retains world blitz title; Wesley So pockets P1.6 million

Wesley So narrowly misses the semifinal spherical of the FIDE World Blitz Championships as Magnus Carlsen claims each the blitz and fast world titles to finish 2025

MANILA, Philippines – Fil-Am Wesley So beat Indian Grandmaster M Pradesh within the nineteenth and last spherical to complete sixth within the FIDE World Blitz Championship gained once more by Magnus Carlsen on Tuesday, December 30 (Wednesday, December 31, Manila time) in Doha, Qatar.

Carlsen, the world No. 1 who earlier dominated the fast occasion, beat GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 2.5-1.5, of their battle for the title and the 70,000 kilos (over P5.55 million) that go together with it.  

Abdusattorov bested high qualifier GM Arjun Erigaisi, whereas Carlsen, who was blitz co-champion with Ian Nepomniachtchi final yr, trounced Fabiano Caruana within the semifinal duels.

The Bacoor, Cavite-born So narrowly missed the semifinal spherical, touchdown in a six-man logjam at 13 factors, however yielding the fourth playoff slot to Abdusattorov and fifth place to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave within the tiebreaks.

So pocketed 20,000 kilos (almost P1.6 million) along with his 13,000 kilos (over P1 million) purse within the fast competitors earlier.

Identical to within the fast part, So began poorly, drawing GM Andrei Volokitin earlier than dropping to Worldwide Grasp Samir Sahidi.

The three-time United States champion then racked wins over GM Maksim Tsaruk, GM Denis Kadric, GM Nikita Petrov, IM Krishna Goutham, and GM Rauf Mamedov, earlier than drawing with GM R Praggnanandhaa, GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Baadur Jobava, and GM Teimour Radjabov.

So then gained over GM Denis Lazavik and GM Edgar Mamedov for 9.5 factors after the primary 13 rounds on Monday.

Early Tuesday evening noticed So received stalled by 5 straight attracts with GM Daniil Dubov, Caruana, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, GM Lu Shanglei, and GM Javokhir Sindarov. – Rappler.com