GM Ding Liren Lost to General Motors Richard Rapport In 177 moves, but Dragon Chilling won the match, took the lead, and did not give it up, as the team remained unbeaten on the second day of the tournament. 2026 World Team Sprint Championship. The MGD1 team moved to only second place with three wins, including over WR Chess, with GM Arjun Erejesi Brilliantly defeating GM Magnus Carlsen On the top panel. Carlsen also lost in the next round to GM Shant Sargsyanbut when he missed the final round WR Chess lost again, this time to the surprise of the pack Barys, who rose to only third place after GM Peter Svidler Beat the high-flying GM Fabiano Caruana.
The third day begins Friday, June 19, 2 a.m. ET / 08:00 CEST / 11:30 a.m. EDT.
Dragon Chilling is one point clear at the top, and four points behind top seed WR Chess, who have dropped to 11th.
FIDE World Rapid Team Championship standings after day 2 (top 13)
| Rank | seed | a team | Matches | + | = | – | a result | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | 4 | Chilling dragon | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 276 |
| 2 | 6 | MGD1 team | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 277 |
| 3 | 9 | Barry | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 216 |
| 4 | 3 | Kazchis | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 283.5 |
| 5 | 7 | Mr. Birdie and friends | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 268 |
| 6 | 2 | Hexamind Chess Team | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 260.5 |
| 7 | 5 | Endgame.AI | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 244.5 |
| 8 | 11 | chessgurukul | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 228.5 |
| 9 | 8 | United Chess | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 210.5 |
| 10 | 21 | Red false dragon | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 193.5 |
| 11 | 1 | WR Chess | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 232.5 |
| 12 | 15 | Sky Chess | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 200.5 |
| 13 | 12 | Uzbekistan | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 197 |
Ding suffers, but Dragon Chiling remains undefeated
The second day in Hong Kong began with the all-important confrontation between the two teams that were still perfect – Kazchis and Dragon Challenge.
For most of the match, Kaszczys was the favorite to win, and Rapport showed incredible determination to beat his friend and player on loan to him in the World Championship match in an epic 177 moves.
But in the end, the game went the Chinese team’s way, with a win on the bottom board and a remarkable turnaround for GM. Yu Yangyiwhich reached 5/5 despite ending up on the losing end of the game by four rooks against the GM Alexander Grishuk. But that all changed when Grischuk missed an entire rook in one move.
Yu’s luck would run out in the next two rounds, as he suffered two defeats, but GMs Joe Wenjun and Bai Jinxi He helped salvage draws against Endgame.AI and, more importantly, Team MGD1, who would end the day in second place.
Another factor has been Dragon Chilling’s 2012-born teenage star Wang Zihao, who has scored 6.5/7 so far, and nearly defeated MGD1 star Aryan Shah (7.5/8) in their head-to-head matchup.
A win over MGD1 would have given Dragon Chilling a two-point lead heading into the final day, but their day ended well anyway, with a 4-2 win over Chessgurukul.
Praggnanandhaa was going at 3/3 for the day, but was on the ropes in the final round and only escaped when Ding failed to launch a mating attack.
Praggnanandhaa was asked about playing with his sister GM Vaishali RameshbabuBut he explained: “I think this whole team is like brothers and sisters to me, because I grew up with them, and I’ve known each one of them for 12 to 13 years, more than half my life, so we’re all very 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 feels like a family.
—Praggnanandhaa on Chessgurukul
The only thing Pragnananda regretted was that the team teacher, Ramesh, R.B“the main part of the team,” could not be there.
Meanwhile, Dragon Chilling finished the day one point ahead of MGD1, who were one of two teams to significantly impact WR Chess’ chances of winning the Express title for the first time in three years.
Carlsen, WR struggle in chess with MGD1, Paris, Hexamind Climb
There was some unusual role reversal in the first round of the day, as Carlsen got to the board somewhat late to find himself waiting eight minutes for the GM Vladislav Artemyev To arrive wet – and go on to equalize after Carlsen missed some chances to press for more towards the end.
However, the team had no problem with the GMs Wesley Sue, Fabiano Caruanaand Alexandra Goryashkina Winning their matches to defeat Mr. Birdie and friends 4-2.
The next round decided the day and possibly the championship, as WR Chess suffered a narrow 3.5-2.5 defeat to the defending champions. Arjun toppled Carlsen at the top and Caruana’s victory was not enough to save the day.
Arjun beat the world number one in a manner we have become accustomed to recently at the Norwegian Chess Championships, tempting Carlsen into murky tactical waters that he failed to navigate in a deep time rut. 20.PX6?! Arjun was surprised.
The Indian number one commented on the sacrifice: “I saw it, but I didn’t really think it would work. After he took over, I thought I had missed something, but then I found this direct order.” 20…Qb6+ “And then I think I’m better, but it’s not that clear.”
In fact, Carlsen was close to holding on towards the end, but as Arjun pointed out, “There were too many threats, and in the time pressure with a weak king, it was not easy for him to play.” Carlsen gives Arjun a magnificent queen sacrifice to secure victory.
This is our game for today, by GM Rafael Leitao Analytics below.
Carlsen is known for his comeback wins, but this time things went from bad to worse, as he lost to Sargsyan.
🇦🇲 Chant Sarkisyan defeats 🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen, marking Carlsen’s second loss in a row.#FIDERapidBlitzTeams #Hong Kong pic.twitter.com/hb3wgsqLzo
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) June 18, 2026
The look of resignation at the end was understandable, given that Carlsen bungled the exchange in a position he could have been heading into at the end of a dead rook game.
No real damage was done like Caruana, hence, this time GM Jean-Christophe Duda It still gave WR Chess a 3.5-2.5 win over Sky Chess, but Carlsen understandably decided that was enough for one day.
He was interviewed after that match along with the team’s captain GM Jan Gustafson He commented: “We’ve barely won and Magnus has lost two games in a row, so it’s not easy for anyone. This is a tough tournament with a lot of good teams, and we haven’t won at a fast pace in the last two years, so we’re trying to hang in there, but it’s a challenge.”
He also revealed the master plan behind the team selection: “I look at the ranking list and tell Wadim [Rosenstein]”Can we get this guy?” And if not, I look at the rankings list again and say, “Can we get this guy?”
I look at the rating list and I say to Adam: Can we get this guy? And if not, I look at the rankings list again and say, “Can we get this guy?”
-Jan Gustafson
However, how difficult it was to win the event became clear in the final round of the day, when the WR Chess team suffered its third defeat of the tournament.
Described as Kazakhstan’s second team by Svidler the day before, the Barys lived up to that moniker with a 5-1 loss to Kazakhstan, but otherwise the team was on fire, winning their remaining three matches on day two.
The standout result of Round 8 was Svidler’s win over Caruana, arguably the best player in the event up to that point, scoring a 6.5/7. Caruana was also pressing the game, correctly landing the famous Sicilian exchange sacrifice on c3 and organizing forces against the White King. However, in the end, a tempting move suddenly left Black defenseless, and Svidler scored an important victory.
Barys is just two points behind the leaders, while WR Chess is likely to miss out on another quick win, given their gap to Dragon Chilling is four points with just four rounds remaining.
Among the ten teams closest to WR Chess is the second-ranked Hexamind Chess team, which recovered from two losses on the first day by recording three heavy wins and one draw on the second day. They are led by General Motors Ali Reda FirouzjaWho celebrated his 23rd birthday in style with 4/4.
Firouzja is likely to start Day 3 against Arjun, while we could face Carlsen against Sindarov as WR Chess aims to salvage the podium.
How do you watch?
The 2026 FIDE World Team Championship takes place from June 17 to 21 in Hong Kong, with nearly 50 teams of six players each competing. Each team must include at least one female player and one “recreational player” who has never been rated 2000+. Rapid is a 12-round Swiss game with a time control of 15 minutes for all moves, plus an increment of 10 seconds for each move. Blitz (3+2) begins with teams playing round-robin pool, before the top 16 teams play a knockout, with each match featuring two mini-games.
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