It's Day 2 of the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship hosted by GM Robert Hess and GM Yasser Seirawan!
Most of the world's strongest players are competing. The open section includes the reigning world champion in standard chess and blitz, Magnus Carlsen, along with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura. The 2018 world rapid champion Daniil Dubov is also there to defend his title.
The location of the world rapid & blitz is the VIP zone of the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex along the Luzhniki embankment in Moscow. It is one of the biggest multifunctional sports complexes in the world. Built in the 1950s, it served as the Olympic Park of the 1980 Summer Olympics.
The stadium and the surrounding areas were extensively renovated and upgraded on the occasion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, turning it into one of the biggest and more modern sports facilities in Europe, with a capacity of 81,000 spectators.
