Alireza Firouzja spoke about his goal in chess. Firouzja says he wants to play his best in all formats, and notes that it doesn’t matter which time control he plays.

Alireza Firouzja

Alireza Firouzja

France's No. 1

“What’s my goal? I think the good thing is that I can focus on all formats. I want to play my best in all four.

It doesn’t matter which one. In all of them, I try to be competitive. I play whatever tournament I like and I try to be competitive!”

At the end of July, Alireza Firouzja won the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2026 with Classical time control. At the beginning of July, he won the GCT: Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2026. In June, Firouzja took 2nd place at the Bullet Chess Championship 2026. Alireza is World’s No. 10, No. 2, and No. 5 in Classical, Rapid, and Blitz live ratings respectively.

Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess