Magnus Carlsen claimed his sixth crown at the World Rapid Championship in chess, with a score of 10.5 out of 13, a full point ahead of Vladislav Artemiev and Arjun Erigaisi, who joined him in the podium, although four players were in the second place with 9.5 points. The other two, Hans Niemann and Leinier Dominguez Perez, lost the medal due to a tie-break sustem based on the sum of points of their opponents in the tournament.
It is his sixth crown in World Rapid category (2014, 2015, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2025), having played in eleven of the thirteen editions that have been held so far for this event, created in 2012. This is the event where Carlsen withdrew last year due to the dress code (he went to the event in jeans, and refused to change).
The Chess Federation, FIDE, changed the rule this year to be less strict on dress code, with many thinking that it was the federation yielding themselves to the Norwegian player, by far the most popular grandmaster in the sport.
Last year, Carlsen withdrew from both the Rapid and Blitz championships, which are held in Doha, Qatar. However, he returned to the Blitz championship and ended up winning but sharing the victory in a very controversial moment. This year's Blitz championship takes place between Monday and Tuesday, December 29 and 30.