Overview
- Magnus Carlsen won the World Blitz Championship in Doha, overcoming a technical loss after knocking pieces and hitting his clock in a round-14 game against Haik Martirosyan.
- Event coverage noted two emotional incidents involving Carlsen during the rapid and blitz tournaments, while Russian players missed the blitz semi-finals though Maxim Matlakov (9th) and Daniil Dubov (10th) finished in the top 10.
- Vladimir Kramnik said he has initiated legal proceedings against FIDE in Lausanne and delivered a document-preservation request to its headquarters, with a preliminary phase expected to take two to three months under Swiss procedure.
- In the KHL, SKA beat the Shanghai Dragons 3–2 on a last-minute goal in Saint Petersburg after Shanghai announced head coach Gérard Gallant would miss the game for health reasons, with Mike Kelly serving as acting coach.
- Other KHL results included Metallurg Magnitogorsk’s 5–4 overtime win over Traktor and CSKA Moscow’s 5–1 victory over Dynamo Moscow, while FC Dynamo Moscow announced a January 23–26 Dynamo Global Challenge friendly featuring Shanghai Shenhua.