Dragon Chilling may be an unfamiliar chess name, but the squad from China won the gold medals at the World Teams Rapid in Hong Kong. Teams of six include a woman, a junior and an amateur who has never achieved a 2000 rating. The strong performance by Asian teams at the start highlights a boom in chess, with enthusiasm sparked by successive world champions from China (Ding Liren) and India (Gukesh Dommaraju).
The time control for rapid is 15 minutes for the whole game, plus a 10 seconds per move increment from move one; while for blitz it is three minutes plus a two seconds per move increment. There is no repeat of the attempt in London last year to play without increment, which caused chaotic conclusions to several games.
