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CHESS
DUMMIES
4
PLAYING FORMATS
Hover over the 3 format names written below to learn what they mean.
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According to the International Chess Federation (FIDE), in a Classical format, the game has no time control but has a total limit of 10 hours. However, it can vary according to the rules of the tournament. As an example, one game in the world championship chess match can last over six hours.
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The first World Chess Championship was held in the year 1886, with Germany's Wilhelm Steinitz being the winner in a match with Johannes Zukertort. Now, in 2023, the World Chess Championship will take place over best-of-14 classic games.
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According to Chess.com, the time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the next move, and then 15 more minutes for the rest of the game. Starting on move 61, there is a 30-second increment per move.
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The first player to score 7.5 points becomes the world champion. In the case of a tie, the two players will play rapid and, if necessary, blitz games.
CLASSICAL
RAPID
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In the Rapid format, a player has 15 minutes, plus 10 additional seconds to make a move, starting from move one. All moves must be completed in more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes for each player, or the time allotted plus 60 times any increment of more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes for each player. The concept made its debut at a FIDE Congress meeting, in 1987, in Seville, Spain, and Anatoly Karpov became the first champion of this format in 1988.
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Blitz chess (more commonly known as Speed chess) simply refers to a game of chess that has a faster time control. The player has three minutes and two additional seconds to make a move.
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The first World Blitz Chess Championship was held in 2006 and since 2012, FIDE has held the World Rapid and Blitz Championships at a joint tournament.
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The current champions are Magnus Carlsen (Norway) – World Rapid and Blitz Chess Champion (2022), Assaubayeva Bibisara (Kazakhstan) – Women's World Chess Champion in Blitz 2022, and Tan Zhongyi (China) – Women's World Chess Champion in Rapid 2022