A Golden Double in Hong Kong: This Week's Big Chess News

Some weeks, one team does something special. This week, one team did it twice.

The FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships just finished in Hong Kong. It was the first time this event came to Hong Kong, and the first time to East Asia. The games ran from June 17 to June 21. By the end, one name was on top of everything: Dragon Chilling, a team from China.

Two golds for one team

In team chess, players sit side by side and play together. Their points are added up. The team with the most points wins.

There were two big prizes in Hong Kong. One was for "rapid" chess, where players think a little faster than normal. One was for "blitz" chess, where they play very, very fast.

Dragon Chilling won both.

First they took the rapid gold on June 19, after a close finish. Then they took the blitz gold on June 21, beating a team called Endgame.AI in the final. Winning one title is hard. Winning both is rare. In fact, this was the first time a team from China has ever won this event.

The team is full of stars. It includes Ding Liren, a former World Champion, plus other strong players like Ju Wenjun and Wei Yi. In the final, Ding beat the American player Hans Niemann on the top board and set the tone for a big win.

After the games, team captain Ni Hua said something simple and warm:

"We prepared for a long time and played as a family; we are a family."

A hard week for Magnus Carlsen

Not every story was a happy one. Magnus Carlsen is the number one player in the world. His team, WR Chess, came as the favourite. They were also the blitz champions from last year.

But this was not their week. They were knocked out early in the blitz by the team from Uzbekistan, and Carlsen lost a key game to the young star Nodirbek Abdusattorov. In the end, WR Chess finished fifth, with no medal. Even the best players have tough days. That is part of what makes chess so human.

Here is how the blitz medals finished:

Chess for everyone

At the closing ceremony, chess legend Viswanathan Anand shared a lovely thought. He said chess does not belong only to the top players. It belongs, he said, "to clubs, schools, families, local communities and every player who loves the game."

That spirit was real in Hong Kong. Next to the grandmasters, there was also a cup for amateur teams — everyday players, not professionals. A team of children from Vietnam, called Golden Stars, won it. Their captain said they came "just for fun."

Young stars, playing right now

And the chess does not stop. As you read this, the World Youth Championship is going on in Italy, in a town called Montesilvano. The best young players from many countries are fighting for titles in the under-14, under-16 and under-18 groups. Some of them have won every single game so far.

These kids are the champions of tomorrow. Maybe one day, one of them will lead their own golden double.

For now, the cheer belongs to Dragon Chilling — a team that played like a family, and won like one.