FIDE World Team Rapid Day 2: Dragon Still Chilling As Carlsen, WR Chess Beaten Twice

GM Ding Liren lost to GM Richard Rapport in 177 moves, but Dragon Chilling won the match, took the sole lead, and didn’t relinquish it as the team remained unbeaten on day two of the 2026 World Rapid & Blitz Team Championships. Team MGD1 moved into sole second place with three wins, including over WR Chess, with GM Arjun Erigaisi brilliantly beating GM Magnus Carlsen on top board. Carlsen also lost in the next round, to GM Shant Sargsyan, but it was when he sat out the final round that WR Chess lost again, this time to surprise package Barys, who climbed into sole third place after GM Peter Svidler beat high-flying GM Fabiano Caruana.

Day three starts Friday, June 19, at 2 a.m. ET / 08:00 CEST / 11:30 a.m. IST.

Dragon Chilling has a one-point lead at the top, and a four-point lead over top-seed WR Chess, which has dropped to 11th place.

FIDE World Rapid Team Championship Standings After Day 2 (Top 13)

Full games and standings

Ding Suffers But Dragon Chilling Remains Unbeaten

Day two in Hong Kong began with the all-important clash between the two teams that were still perfect—Kazchess and Dragon Chilling.

For most of the match, Kazchess was favorite to win, and Rapport showed astonishing determination to beat his friend and the player he seconded in a world championship match in an epic 177 moves.

In the end, however, the match went the way of the Chinese team, with a win on the bottom board and a remarkable turnaround for GM Yu Yangyi, who reached 5/5 despite ending up in a lost four-rook endgame against GM Alexander Grischuk. That all changed, however, when Grischuk blundered a full rook in one move.

Yu’s luck would run out in the next two rounds, as he fell to two defeats, but GMs Ju Wenjun and Bai Jinshi helped rescue draws against Endgame.AI and, crucially, Team MGD1, who would end the day in second place.

The other factor was Dragon Chilling’s 2012-born teenage star Wang Zihao, who has scored 6.5/7 so far, and nearly beat Team MGD1’s own star Aryan Shah (7.5/8) in their head-to-head clash. 

A win over Team MGD1 would have given Dragon Chilling a two-point edge going into the final day, but their day ended well in any case, with a 4-2 win over Chessgurukul.

Praggnanandhaa was on a run of 3/3 for the day, but was on the ropes in the last round and only escaped when Ding failed to go for a mating attack.

Praggnanandhaa was asked about playing with his sister GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, but explained: “I think this whole team is like brothers and sisters for me, because I’ve basically grown up with them, I’ve known every single one of them for 12-13 years, more than half of my life, so we’re all really close and honestly this team doesn’t really feel like a team, it’s more like a family.”

This team doesn’t feel like a team, it’s more like a family.

—Praggnanandhaa on Chessgurukul

Praggnanandhaa’s only regret was that the team’s guru, Ramesh R B, “the main part of the team,” couldn’t be there. 

Dragon Chilling, meanwhile, ended the day a point ahead of Team MGD1, who were one of two teams to put a huge dent in WR Chess’s chances of winning the rapid title for the first time in three years.

Carlsen, WR Chess Struggle As Team MGD1, Barys, Hexamind Climb

There was some unusual role reversal in the first round of the day, as Carlsen arrived at the board somewhat late only to find himself waiting eight minutes for GM Vladislav Artemiev to arrive dripping wet—and go on to make a draw after Carlsen missed some chances to push for more near the end.

The team had no problem, however, with GMs Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, and Aleksandra Goryachkina winning to defeat Mr Birdie and friends 4-2.

The next round defined the day and perhaps tournament, however, as WR Chess fell to a narrow 3.5-2.5 defeat to the defending champions, with Arjun taking down Carlsen on top board and a win for Caruana not enough to save the day.

Arjun beat the world number-one in a way that we got used to recently in Norway Chess, tempting Carlsen into murky tactical waters that he failed to navigate in deep time trouble. 20.Bxe6?! surprised Arjun. 

The Indian number-one commented of the sacrifice: “I saw it, but I didn’t really think it would work. After he took, I thought I missed something, but then I found this direct 20…Qb6+ and then I think I’m better, but it’s not that clear.”

In fact Carlsen was close to holding near the end, but as Arjun noted, “There were a lot of threats, and in time pressure with a weak king it wasn’t easy for him to play.” Carlsen allowed Arjun a brilliant queen sacrifice to seal victory.

That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.

Carlsen is famous for bounce-back wins, but this time things would only go from bad to worse, as he lost to Sargsyan.

🇦🇲 Shant Sargsyan beats 🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen, marking Carlsen’s second loss in a row.#FIDERapidBlitzTeams #HongKong pic.twitter.com/hb3wgsqLzo

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) June 18, 2026

The resigned look at the end was understandable, since Carlsen had blundered the exchange in a position where he could just have gone for a dead-drawn rook endgame.

No real harm was done as Caruana, So, and this time GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda still gave WR Chess a 3.5-2.5 victory over Sky Chess, but it was understandable that Carlsen decided enough was enough for one day.

Interviewed after that match, team captain GM Jan Gustafsson commented: “We just barely won and Magnus lost two in a row, so it’s not easy for anybody. This is such a strong tournament with so many good teams, and we didn’t win the rapid the last two years, so we’re trying to hang in there, but it’s a challenge.”

He also revealed the masterplan behind choosing the team: “I look at the rating list and tell Wadim [Rosenstein], ‘Can we get this guy?’ And if not, I look at the rating list again, and I say, “Can we get this guy?'”

I look at the rating list and tell Wadim, ‘Can we get this guy?’ And if not, I look at the rating list again, and I say, ‘Can we get this guy?’ 

—Jan Gustafsson

How tough a challenge winning the event is, however, became clear in the final round of the day, when WR Chess sank to a third defeat of the tournament.

Barys was described as the Kazakhstan second team by Svidler a day earlier, and they dutifully lived up to that moniker by losing 5-1 to Kazchess, but otherwise the team was on fire, winning their remaining three matches on day two.

The standout result in round eight was Svidler’s win over Caruana, who had arguably been the player of the event up to that point, scoring 6.5/7. Caruana was also pushing in the game, correctly landing the famous Sicilian exchange sacrifice on c3 and marshalling forces against the white king. In the end, however, one tempting move suddenly left Black defenseless, and Svidler wrapped up an important win.

Barys is just two points off the leader, while WR Chess will likely fail to win the rapid title again, since the gap to Dragon Chilling is four points with only four rounds to go.

Among the 10 teams closer than WR Chess is second-seed Hexamind Chess Team, who recovered from two losses on the first day by scoring three heavy wins and one draw on the second. They’re led by GM Alireza Firouzja, who celebrated his 23rd birthday in style with 4/4.

Firouzja will likely begin day three against Arjun, while we may get Carlsen vs. Sindarov as WR Chess aim to rescue a podium spot. 

How to watch?

The 2026 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships run June 17-21 in Hong Kong, with almost 50 teams of six players competing. Each team must feature at least one female player and one “recreational player,” who has never been rated 2000+. The Rapid is a 12-round Swiss with a time control of 15 minutes for all moves, plus a 10-second increment per move. The Blitz (3+2) begins with teams playing a round-robin in pools, before the top 16 play a knockout, where each clash features two mini-matches.

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