World Rapid and Blitz Teams - Day 4

 The 4th day of the World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship was for the Blitz portion of the event. Unlike the Rapid (which was held as a swiss) the Blitz saw the teams assigned to 4 pools of 12, with a RR played to determine who qualified for the KO finals (top 4 going through from each pool).

The Street Chess Canberra teams ended up in an interesting pool, with 3 teams that had played in the Rapid competition, and 4 teams who finished at the top end of the Rapid. Their final result of 9th (out of 12th) was a very good result, in part due to beating teams they probably should have won against in the Rapid.

But the real highlight was probably in a match they lost, where they took 2 points of the winners of the Rapid, Dragon Chilling. Their opponents  wheeled out Ding Liren on Bd 1, and they had 5 GM's on the top 5 boards. Street Chess were outrated by 600 points on most if the boards, only losing 4-2 was a fantastic result. Wins for Matt Radisich and CM Ryan Lane delivered a result that was one of the big surprises on the tournament.

 

Lane,Ryan (1956) - Ju,Wenjun (2458) [B33]
FIDE WRBTC 2026, Hong Kong,(6.4), 20.06.2026

World Rapid and Blitz Championship - Day 3

 Another tough day for the Street Chess Canberra team, although once again a couple of changed results could have lead to a more triumphal post. The main issue for the last day was under performing (but highly seeded) teams dropping down to play them. This included a couple of teams who were seeded mid field at the start, but had not quite performed to the seeding. 

A 4-2 loss in round 9 was followed by a 3-3 result against a strong Spanish team in round 10. Both Rounds 11 and 12 could be described as matches of 'missed chances' especially the last round where  losing 5.5-0.5 belied the fact that there were at least 2 positions winning for Street Chess, and at least 2 drawn positions late in the round. 

As one of the lowest seeded teams (45 from 48) the last place finish was not totally unexpected. With 4 matches decided by a single game (2.5-3.5) it is always possible to say that with a little luck things might have looked better, but this only goes to show how every game counts, especially in team events.

As for the team it looks as though everyone performed as expected (based on rating, and taking into account the make up of the opposition). Now is the time to highlight Harry Press and FM Fred Litchfield, who were given the task of holding down the top 2 boards. Not an enviable job, but they fronted up each day (12 games for Harry, 11 for Fred), and managed to clip some players along the way. 5 draws for Harry (including 2 against GM opponents) and one win plus 5 draws for Fred, gave the rest of the team a little breathing space for their games.

Tomorrow is the Blitz portion of the tournament. Each team is placed in a pool of 12 teams, with the top teams from the RR qualifying for the finals.  Street Chess is in the pool with Dragon Chilling, and assuming that they pick Ding for that match, a third Press v Ding match-up is on the cards. Hopefully Harry can avenge his fathers 2-0 loss from the 2019 World Cup

 

Litchfield,Frederick (2107) - Kavin Mohan (2266) [D30]
FIDE WRBTC 2026, Hong Kong, (11.20), 19.06.2026

On sending a team to the World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship

 I was involved in the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship in Astana, as a pairings officer. I thought it was a great event, and provided an opportunity for players who might not make their national team a chance to play an Olympiad style event. 

So when the event was announced for Hong Kong this year, I decided to organise a team. It was never going to be a national team or event a hand picked team of top players. It was going to be a team representing Street Chess Canberra, and was going to be picked from players with a strong connection to that event. The initial selections were based on players who had won the tournament a significant number of times (eg Fred Litchfield who has won it more than 100 times), or had assisted me over the years in running the event (e.g. Miles Patterson who is the playing captain of the team.) So as not to decide the team based on the ability to pay, I covered all the airfares for the players, paid the event entry fee , and purchased team shirts for the event. The players were required to cover their own accommodation and meal expenses (although I did offer to cover that for 2 players who declined their invitation).

While 5 players were happy with this arrangement, in the end I did need to pick 3 replacements. One replacement had played Street Chess in the past, while for one spot, I simply offered a place on the team as a prize at this years Doeberl Cup. But ultimately, it was a team  representative of a grass roots chess activity that has run for over 30 years in Canberra and has provided a venue for enjoyable chess events for regular club players.

Interestingly, I was told that a group of top Australian players were thinking of playing, but their efforts came to naught, as they could not get themselves organised in time. This does not surprise me at all, as for a lot of Australian chess (at least in my 40 years experience), it is always 'someone else' who should be supplying the answers. Fortunately for the  team from Canberra, we (and not just me) are good at solving problems, both on and off the chess board.

Low key Goat

 One of the big lessons I learned after my first chess olympiad (way back in 2000), is that my BS did not work against serious players. Dodgy openings, sad swindling attempts, hopeless piece sacrifices  aren't going to fly against players who really understand how to play chess. So I knuckled down, tried to learn more about where my pieces really belonged (on the board it turns out) and was rewarded with a nice solid 6/9 (+3=6-0) at the 2002 Olympiad.

I realised I should have passed some of this wisdom onto the lower rated members of the Street Chess Canberra team, who are currently playing in Hong Kong. Today was another tough day, losing 3 matched, but finally getting on the board with a 3-3 draw in round 8.  Frustratingly for the team, 3 of the losses have been 2.5-3.5. So while 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' applies here, narrow losses of this kind do remind me of my own early Olympiad experience. 

The player who did best today was Matt Radisich, who score 2.5/3 on Board 6. But as you can see from the following game, maybe it was better for him not to be told to play solid, boring chess. While 3. ... f5?! in the Italian could be described as 'brave' it seemed to absolutely confuse his opponent, who tossed a piece in the opening.   But as this event has shown, having a winning position, and having a winning result isn't always the same thing, so well done to Matt for avoiding any banana peels in what was a very long game.

 

Zhen,Andrew - Radisich,Matt (1758) [C50]
FIDE WRBTC 2026, Hong Kong, (8.30), 18.06.2026

And another good win for the Street Chess Team

 While the final round of the day did not turn out so great, the team can still be pleased with how they played. The star from day 1 was CM Ryan Lane, who score 2 wins and a draw from his 4 games. He is his first win, from round 2.

 

Lane,Ryan (2143) - Slavin,Gennadie (2201) [C06]
FIDE WTRC 2026 Hongkong (2.123), 17.06.2026

2026 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship - Street Chess in the house

 The 2026 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship is underway in Hong Kong. A mixture of Olympiad style chess with 'make up your own teams' approach to entry, it has attracted most of the Worlds leading players. 

It has also been graced with the presence of a team representing Street Chess Canberra. The initial team list was to consist of players who had played a significant number of Street Chess events over the years, but a few drop outs required some 'ringers' to be selected. Nonetheless a team of 8 players (all AUS) are playing, and despite being one of the bottom seeds, are already putting up a good fight.

The 1st round saw the team go down 0.5-5.5 to Red Psuedodragon (Fred Litchfield drawing with IM Polina Shuvalova), before narrow 2.5-3.5 losses against higher seeded teams in rounds 2 and 3. There are 4 rounds per day, and you can follow the action on Lichess.

 

Kurochkin,Victor (2356) - Richards,Heather S (2097) [B07]
FIDE WTRC 2026 Hongkong (2.122), 17.06.2026

2026 World Youth Chess Championship Round 1

 The 2026 World Youth Chess Championship (Under 16, Under 16 and Under 14 Open and Girls) is underway in Montesilvano, Italy. Around 750 players from 85 Federations are represented,with Italy, the USA and Kazakhstan sending the largest delegations. As with events of this size, there is always the chance of a 1st round upset, although board 2 of the Under 18 Open may have not been anyone's first choice.

 

Kvaloy,Aksel Bu (2483) - Schneider,Aron (2204) [B45]
2026 World Youth Chess Championship Under 18 Open 15.06.2026