On May 31, 2012, FIDE announced the inaugural World Rapid & Blitz Championships, set to take place in Astana, Kazakhstan from July 1 to 11. The 2012 tournament consisted of a qualifying round, followed by the rapid and blitz events held consecutively over 5 days. In order to promote viewership, time controls were set at 15 minutes per player, rather than the pre-2012 standard of 25 minutes.
The championship was originally structured as a 16-player round-robin tournament, set to coincide with the first release of FIDE's rapid and blitz ratings in July 2012; invited were the top 10 players in the FIDE ratings list, the three medalists of the qualification competition, and three wild-card nominees by the organization committee and FIDE.
The style has since been changed to a Swiss tournament with a field of over 100 grandmasters. The top three finishers in the standings are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively; tiebreaks are determined by ARO (average rating of opponent).
| Year | Host city | Champion | Runner-up | Third place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Astana | Sergey Karjakin (RUS) | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) | Veselin Topalov (BUL) |
| 2013 | Khanty-Mansiysk | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) | Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) |
| 2014 | Dubai | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) | Fabiano Caruana (ITA) | Viswanathan Anand (IND) |
| 2015 | Berlin | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) | Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) | Teimour Radjabov (AZE) |
| 2016 | Doha | Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) |
| 2017 | Riyadh | Viswanathan Anand (IND) | Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS) | Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) |
| 2018 | Saint Petersburg | Daniil Dubov (RUS) | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) |
| Year | Host city | Champion | Runner-up | Third place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Batumi | Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) | Humpy Koneru (IND) |
| 2013 | Not Held | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2014 | Khanty-Mansiysk | Kateryna Lagno (UKR) | Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) | Olga Girya (RUS) |
| 2015 | Not Held | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2016 | Doha | Anna Muzychuk (UKR) | Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) | Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) |
| 2017 | Riyadh | Ju Wenjun (CHN) | Lei Tingjie (CHN) | Elisabeth Pähtz (DEU) |
| 2018 | Saint Petersburg | Ju Wenjun (CHN) | Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (IRN) | Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) |
| Year | Host city | Champion | Runner-up | Third place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Astana | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) | Sergey Karjakin (RUS) |
| 2013 | Khanty-Mansiysk | Le Quang Liem (VIE) | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) | Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) |
| 2014 | Dubai | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) | Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) |
| 2015 | Berlin | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave(FRA) | Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) |
| 2016 | Doha | Sergey Karjakin (RUS) | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) | Daniil Dubov (RUS) |
| 2017 | Riyadh | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) | Sergey Karjakin (RUS) | Viswanathan Anand (IND) |
| 2018 | Saint Petersburg | Carlsen (NOR) | Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) |
| Year | Host city | Champion | Runner-up | Third place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Batumi | Valentina Gunina (RUS) | Natalia Zhukova (UKR) | Anna Muzychuk (SVN) |
| 2013 | Not Held | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2014 | Khanty-Mansiysk | Anna Muzychuk (UKR) | Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) | Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS) |
| 2015 | Not Held | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2016 | Doha | Anna Muzychuk (UKR) | Valentina Gunina (RUS) | Kateryna Lagno (RUS) |
| 2017 | Riyadh | Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) | Valentina Gunina (RUS) | Ju Wenjun (CHN) |
| 2018 | Saint Petersburg | Kateryna Lagno (RUS) | Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (IRN) | Lei Tingjie (CHN) |
