Travelogue from Monika Machlik – World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, Doha 2025
Simonsen Vogt Wiig is a proud sponsor of Monika Machlik, one of Norway’s leading female chess talents. Over the Christmas and New Year period, she took part in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Doha, two exciting tournaments where she had the chance to test herself against the world’s top players, delivering strong results. Monika has written a travelogue of here, sharing her experiences.
During the Christmas holidays, I participated in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Doha. This is the highlight of the year and a tournament I have been looking forward to for a long time!
For many, it has become a tradition to follow the championship on NRK, and it is inspiring to see how many people find joy in chess. For me, it means a lot to show the Norwegian audience that women also play chess at the highest level. The goal of the tournament was to test my strength against the best possible opponents and hopefully take a few scalps.
The tournament started with three days of rapid chess. Already in the first round, I faced the former rapid chess world champion from 2023, Anastasia Bodnaruk, from Russia. It was very exciting to play against her, and the game ended in a draw after I defended well in a difficult endgame. This gave me a very good start to the championship and a lot of confidence moving forward, as well as confirmation that it is possible to score points against anyone. This was followed by losses to Gunay Mammadzada and Carissa Yip, both world class players, before I ended the day with a win against a woman international master from Mexico.
In the remaining days of the Rapid Chess Championship, I managed to achieve promising positions in several games, but unfortunately, I made some big mistakes under time pressure, which cost me dearly. Overall, the Rapid Chess Championship ended with 4.5/13 points, which is slightly below my own wishes and expectations. Nevertheless, I take with me the positive fact that I created many good positions against very strong opponents. Since several of the mistakes came in time trouble, I was curious about how I would perform in the blitz championship, where the time control is only 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, compared to 15 minutes and 10 seconds per move in rapid chess. At the same time, I have performed better in blitz than in rapid in previous years, and with experience from past championships, I knew it was crucial to adjust and significantly increase the pace.
The Blitz Chess Championship took place over two days, with 10 rounds on the first day and 5 rounds on the second day. I got off to a great start with a draw against international master Lilit Mkrtchian with black in the first game. It was a completely even game that ended in a pure time scramble, where we repeated moves at the very end. This start gave me even tougher opposition in round 2, namely grandmaster Irina Krush from the USA. She is the only female player in the USA to have achieved the grandmaster title, and she has won the U.S. Women’s Championship six times.
The game against Krush was very dramatic! I came under a strong attack but defended well and eventually got the opportunity to counterattack her exposed king. When we both had only seconds left on the clock, chaos ensued. At one point, she made an illegal move by overlooking that her king was in check. As a penalty, I was supposed to receive one extra minute on the clock, but because the arbiter made a mistake when adjusting the clock, this was not added immediately. I continued playing, believing I had plenty of time, while in reality, I still had only seconds left. Fortunately, I played quickly and did not lose on time. The arbiter noticed the mistake and stopped the game to correct the clock, which gave me the time I needed to calculate all the way to checkmate in the subsequent position.
After this great start with 1.5/2 points, I faced Eline Roebers from the Netherlands, who is considered one of the world’s biggest talents among women and a regular participant in elite tournaments. After an even opening, I took the initiative and managed to trap one of her rooks into a passive position. We transitioned into a rook endgame where I was several pawns up. The position was objectively winning for me on several occasions, but she defended well, and the game ended in a draw. Still, it was a strong result! Roebers led the tournament after the first day and reached the semifinals.
This start of the Blitz Chess Championship was undoubtedly the highlight of the entire tournament. I got to face players at the absolute top of the world rankings and showed that I can compete at this level. Unfortunately, I eventually faltered and lost several games. Overall, the blitz chess championship ended with 5.5/15 points against very strong opposition. As in the rapid chess games, I made unusually large mistakes in good positions, something I have not usually done before. This may be related to both stress and fatigue, as these days lasted many hours.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship, and I take with me valuable experience that will be important for further development. Now I look forward to new chess tournaments in 2026 and wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Monika Machlik, Tromsø, January 2026
