HONG KONG SAR –
Media OutReach Newswire – 16 June 2026 – The greatest chess player of all time has touched down in Hong Kong.
Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian grandmaster and undisputed World No. 1, today made his first official appearance in the city, headlining a star-studded press conference at
Rosewood Hong Kong, Gallery 304, just 24 hours before the opening move of the
FIDE World Team Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2026 — the first time in history this prestigious global event is being staged in East Asia.
Magnus Carlsen (Left 2), five-time World Champion, answers questions from reporters at the WR Chess press conference in Hong Kong, 16 June 2026.
Carlsen took the stage alongside the sport’s most magnetic names — American grandmaster and former World Championship challenger
Fabiano Caruana; Uzbek prodigy
Javokhir Sindarov, the official Challenger in the upcoming World Championship match; and
H.E. Mr
Zandanshatar Gombojav, the 34th Prime Minister of Mongolia — all teammates on
WR Chess, the German-founded super-team competing this week at Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
It is a line-up the chess world has never seen sit shoulder to shoulder on one stage. And it is happening in Hong Kong.
A Historic First for East Asia
From
17–21 June at Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai, the
FIDE World Team Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2026 bring together
over 300 elite players from more than 50 countries, all chasing a share of a
€500,000 prize fund — and the title of the strongest team on the planet across the sport’s two most thrilling formats.
It is the first time the championship has ever been held in East Asia, an inflection point that places Hong Kong squarely at the centre of the global chess calendar and underscores the city’s standing as Asia’s premier host of world-class sporting and intellectual spectacle.
A Founder Who Plays His Own Game
The afternoon’s quietly extraordinary character was
Wadim Rosenstein, the 35-year-old German entrepreneur behind WR Chess and Chairman of WR Group Holding, one of the fastest-rising private holding groups in the world. Having committed millions of euros of his personal wealth to elevating chess globally, Rosenstein is doing something almost unheard of at this level:
he is playing himself, taking the U2000 board for WR Chess this week alongside Carlsen, Caruana, Sindarov, and H.E. Mr Zandanshatar Gombojav.
Wadim Rosenstein, Chairman of WR Group Holding, speaks during the WR Chess press conference in Hong Kong, 16 June 2026.
It is the kind of move that captures the spirit of WR Chess in a single gesture — world champions and a dedicated enthusiast, all in the same uniform, all under the same banner.
Headlines from the Press Conference
- A historic first — Hong Kong becomes the first East Asian city ever to host the FIDE World Team Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships
- A first visit — Magnus Carlsen makes his official Hong Kong debut
- A homecoming — Ella Carlsen returns to the city of her birth
- Four giants, one stage — Carlsen, Caruana, Sindarov, and H.E. Mr Zandanshatar address the world’s media side by side
- A head of state at the board — Mongolia’s 34th Prime Minister, H.E. Mr Zandanshatar Gombojav, competes alongside the world’s elite
- A founder who plays — Wadim Rosenstein takes the U2000 seat for his own team
The WR Chess Roster — Ten Names, One Banner
WR Chess arrives in Hong Kong with a line-up few teams in the history of the sport could rival — current and former World Champions, World Championship challengers, a serving statesman, and the founder himself at the amateur board.
H.E. Mr Zandanshatar Gombojav (Left 1), the 34th Prime Minister of Mongolia, attends the WR Chess press conference in Hong Kong, 16 June 2026.
Magnus Carlsen
(Norway) — World No. 1 and the most dominant chess player in modern history. Five-time World Champion, multi-time World Rapid and World Blitz Champion, and the highest-rated player to ever sit at a board.
Fabiano Caruana
(USA) — The man who pushed Carlsen to twelve straight draws in the 2018 World Championship final and remains a permanent fixture at the very top of the world rankings. The strongest American grandmaster of his generation.
Wesley So
(USA) — Fischer Random World Champion and three-time U.S. Champion, celebrated for a positional clarity few in the world can match. One of the most respected technical players on tour.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
(France) — Former World Blitz Champion and one of the most feared attacking minds in elite chess. France’s standard-bearer at the top board for more than a decade.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda
(Poland) — Chess World Cup winner and the player who famously ended Magnus Carlsen’s record-breaking 125-game unbeaten streak in classical chess. Poland’s first true superstar of the modern era.
Alexandra Kosteniuk
(Switzerland) — Former Women’s World Champion and one of the most recognisable ambassadors the game has ever produced. A grandmaster whose career has spanned three decades at the top.
Alexandra Goryachkina
(Russia) — Women’s World Championship challenger and one of the most consistent forces in elite women’s chess. A grandmaster known for an iron will and ferocious end-game technique.
H.E. Mr Zandanshatar Gombojav
(Mongolia) — The 34th Prime Minister of Mongolia and a passionate competitive player, bringing the gravitas of statecraft to the board and underscoring chess’s reach into the highest corridors of public life.
Wadim Rosenstein
(Germany) — Team founder, Chairman of WR Group Holding, and one of the most committed private patrons in modern chess. This week, he occupies the U2000 board himself — the rarest sight in elite team chess.
Jan Gustafsson
(Germany) — Team Captain. Grandmaster, longtime second to Magnus Carlsen in multiple World Championship matches, and one of the most respected strategic minds and broadcasters in the game.
(From left) Alexandra Goryachkina, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Jan Gustafsson, H.E. Mr Zandanshatar Gombojav, Magnus Carlsen, Wadim Rosenstein, Fabiano Caruana, special guest Javokhir Sindarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Alexandra Kosteniuk during the WR Chess’ team press conference in Hong Kong, 16 June 2026.
What’s Next
Play begins tomorrow, 17 June, at Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Wan Chai, with the world’s strongest clubs and federations clashing across rapid and blitz formats through 21 June. WR Chess will field its full line-up from Round 1.
Hashtag: #WRChess
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