A gigantic follow-up post on the event will show up later today or tomorrow, but for now, the basic results: 17-year-old Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the 2021 World Rapid Championship in a blitz playoff over Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is now the runner-up of two world championship contests. The event finished in a four-way tie between those players, Magnus Carlsen, and Fabiano Caruana, but the two cars weren't fast enough to make it to the playoff, which was unfortunately limited to the two players with the best tiebreak scores. (A dumb rule, to be sure.)
It was an insanely great performance by Abdusattorov, who defeated, among others, Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and Boris Gelfand along the way. I think some of us might half-seriously consider retiring after such a performance, as it's almost impossible to top such an achievement. Of course this isn't going to happen. Indeed, I assume he will play tomorrow, when the World Blitz Championship gets underway.
It was a great event for Nepo as well, who was the only player - at least the only one of the winners - to get through the entire event (not counting the playoff) undefeated. (Abdusattorov lost to Anton Korobov in round 6.) He was rarely in trouble, either, while Abdusattorov was living on the edge in several rounds. He deserved his place in the final, but Abdusattorov was clearly doing the pushing in the playoff and deserved to win it.
Carlsen had a terrific start with 6/7, and if he had played for the draw in his round 10 game with Abdusattorov instead of unwarrantedly playing for a win in the endgame, he might have won the event. Even at the end he was close, pressing hard against Hikaru Nakamura in a pawn-up rook ending in the final round. He he won the game, he'd have won the tournament.
As for Caruana, his round 3 loss to Abdusattorov left him playing catch-up, which in turn meant that his tiebreak scores were always going to be a problem. It's possible that he didn't realize that tiebreaks were a factor, as he drew with Nepo in the last round, with White, in just six moves. Folks, you've GOT to know the rules, and Caruana's shocking ignorance (or that of his second or seconds, if any, if he put them in charge of telling him such things) cost him not only a chance for first but even a place on the podium.
Full results here.
**UPDATE** The first sentence proved false: Trying to get everything done while on vacation and trying to keep up with the blitz proved a bit too much. The large post is still in the works and I intend to see it through, but further patience will be required, unfortunately.