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World Junior Rapid and Blitz 2026: four under-20 titles at stake in Al Ain from 2 November

Published · By TG, the site operator

The next FIDE world titles go to players under 20, and they will be played fast. The FIDE World Junior Rapid and Blitz Championships 2026 take place from 1 to 7 November in Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates, at the Danat Al Ain Hotel & Resort. There are four titles: open and girls' champions in rapid, and open and girls' champions in blitz. Players must be born on or after 1 January 2006, and entries come only through national federations. FIDE has extended the deadline for registration and payments to 27 October.

Schedule and format

Each championship is a Swiss tournament of at least nine rounds; the exact number depends on the entry. Rapid games are 15 minutes per player with 10 seconds added for every move from move one, and blitz games are 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. All four events are FIDE-rated. Ties for a place are broken first by the result between the tied players, then by Buchholz, the total score of the opponents each player met, and then by the number of games won.

The total prize fund is USD 33,200, with USD 2,000 for each of the four champions. There are also USD 500 prizes for the best under-16, under-12 and under-8 players in every section, so a child born in 2018 or later could win money in an under-20 world championship.

Who won last time

The 2025 edition was held in Lima, Peru. Uzbek players took both open titles: IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov won the rapid with 7½ points and GM Mukhiddin Madaminov the blitz with 12/13. WGM Xeniya Balabayeva of Kazakhstan won the girls' rapid with 7 points, and IM Eline Roebers of the Netherlands the girls' blitz, also with 12/13.

Why 15+10 is rapid and 3+2 is blitz

The FIDE Laws of Chess sort games by a simple sum: the base time plus 60 times the increment. Ten seconds times 60 is ten minutes, so 15+10 counts as 25 minutes, which falls in the rapid band of more than 10 and less than 60 minutes. For 3+2 the sum is 3 plus 2, or 5 minutes, which is 10 minutes or less and therefore blitz.

Fast games also treat mistakes differently. Under the Laws, a player who completes an illegal move in a classical game gives the opponent two extra minutes, and a second illegal move loses. The rapid appendix cuts those penalties to one minute. And when arbiters are not following every game closely, an illegal move that nobody claims before the opponent replies simply stands.

Practising fast chess here

Our board has no chess clock, so it cannot imitate 15+10 or 3+2, but it helps with the other half of fast chess: making legal, sensible moves without hesitating. It refuses illegal moves and lights up the squares a selected piece can reach, so you can check, say, whether your king may castle before you try it against a clock. Against the computer, pick Easy or Normal in the AI settings and try moving within a few seconds; Undo lets you go back and see what a quick decision missed. Online games allow ten minutes per turn, which is generous, but the habit of looking at checks, captures and threats first still applies. The rules guide covers castling and the draw rules, and the FAQ explains the computer levels.

Sources

Written by the operator of this site from the sources listed above. Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected] and it will be corrected.

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