World Champion Magnus Carlsen and US teenager Hans Moke Niemann will be in the same venue for the first time since the scandal that rocked the chess world in Saint Louis three months ago. The Norwegian faces a dilemma if he is paired against the teenager, who launched a $100 million lawsuit over cheating allegations.

Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, the two finalists of the thrilling Speed Chess Championship on chess.com, are among a star-studded field competing in the World Rapid & Blitz Championship which begins in Almaty, Kazakhstan on December 26.

For the 7th year since 2016, the prestigious speed chess event will take place from December 26-30. While questions about the scheduling of the World Rapid & Blitz during Christmas continue to come up, it remains immensely popular among fans, with most top players returning every year.

chess24 will have LIVE coverage with our star duo Jan Gustafsson & Peter Leko.

Magnus Carlsen, with an incredible 7 gold medals (3 rapid and 4 blitz), 3 silver and 2 bronze in the last 10 years, will be back and is once again the huge favourite. Carlsen took both titles in 2014 and 2019, but scored a disappointing 12th place in the blitz and 3rd in the rapid in Warsaw last year.

The Norwegian will be particularly eager to take back a World Championship title or two, as he is in danger of being without a single title for the first time since 2013.

However, title-chasing Carlsen will face a dilemma if paired against Hans Niemann, the teenage American who has launched a $100 million lawsuit against him over allegations of cheating.

The two will meet in person for the first time since the scandal that created headlines hardly seen in the chess world before. Carlsen resigned after one move in the Julius Baer Generation Cup and later published a carefully worded statement where he said he "doesn't want to play against people that have cheated repeatedly in the past".

Fans are now excited about how Carlsen will deal with a situation where the two are paired in one of the 34 rapid and blitz games: forfeit and potentially risk a world title, or ignore his own stated principles and play? Niemann is seeded only 53rd in rapid and 39th in blitz, but there are chances the two can meet in one of the early rounds.

It doesn't seem like the fuss has affected Niemann's play over-the-board negatively. The 19-year-old finished 2nd in the recently concluded Chessable Sunway Sitges Open, behind winner Kirill Alekseenko.

For world #1 in blitz (#2 after Tata Steel Chess India, according to 2700chess.com) Hikaru Nakamura, also sued by Niemann, only a gold medal would be acceptable, as he has never been able to collect the most precious medal in speed chess over-the-board.

Among other stars that will fight for medals are Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Anish Giri.

Magnus Carlsen had a disappointing performance in the World Blitz Championship last year, finishing only 3rd and losing to Nodirbek Abdusattorov | photo: Lennart Ootes

Both the reigning World Rapid Champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are confirmed and will try to defend their titles.

Many fans are disappointed to see teenage sensation Alireza Firouzja missing. The Iranian-born Frenchman finished 3rd in blitz last year, but it was his dominant performance in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz that catapulted him to 2904 on the blitz rankings. The reasons behind his absence are not known, but Firouzja appears to be very selective about his tournaments.

Top 20 in rapid:

Top 20 blitz:

Top 20 Rapid Women:

Top 20 Blitz Women:

The prestigious event returns to Kazakhstan ten years after it was held in its capital Astana in 2012. It was originally scheduled for the Central Asian Republic in 2021, but FIDE was forced to move the event last-minute to Warsaw due to Covid restrictions.

The main sponsor of the event is investment company Freedom Finance, founded and owned by the Russian-born Kazakh financier Timur Turlov, who according to Forbes magazine has a net worth of $2.5 billion. He is among the many Russians who have been placed on the Ukrainian sanctions list. The total prize fund is $1 million.

As usual, the rapid event will take place first, with a 13-round (11 rounds for Women) Swiss Open played over three days. The blitz is a 21-round (17 rounds for Women) Swiss over two days. The time control is 15 minutes plus 10 seconds for rapid and 3 minutes plus 2 seconds for blitz. In case of a tie, there will be a playoff for first place. Games begin at 10.00 CET.

Here's FIDE's promo video for the World Rapid & Blitz Championship. Can you spot where the beautiful checkmate in the end is from?