World
blitz and rapid chess championship
The Official World Blitz and Rapid Chess Championships are being held from
July 1-11, 2012, in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. It is worth noting
that the Rapid Chess Championship is a first in the history of FIDE! The top
ten players of the current FIDE rating list have the right to take part in the
championships. The total prize fund is US $400,000. Qualifiers are held prior
to the finals, with three winners taking part in the finals. In addition two
Kazakhstani grandmasters were nominated: Pavel Kotsur and Rinat Dzhumabayev
in blitz. Tiebreak rules for first place: (a) results between the players involved;
(b) number of wins; (c) Sonneborn-Berger score; (d) Sudden death game: 5 min
vs 4 min.
Final day blitz
The tournament leader, after the first day, Alexander Girischuk (above), won
seven games on the second, drew five and lost three (to Le Quang, Carlsen and
Svidler). The second placed Dmitry Andreikin won, drew and lost five games each,
while Vassily Ivanchuk, who was in third place, spoilt all his chances with
a +4, =3, –8 disaster. Andreikin dropped to fifth and Ivanchuk to ninth
on the table.
Sergey Karjakin (above), winner of the Rapid Chess Championship, won six games,
drew six and lost three, moving to place three on the final table.
But of course all eyes were on the rating list favourite, Magnus Carlsen. The
Norwegian won ten games, drew two and lost three, with a sterling 2883 performance,
which was even better than Grischuk's 2807 on day two of the blitz. Here are
the stats of the leading players after round 15, and how they progressed to
the end of the tournament.
| |
R15 |
Rank |
Wins |
Draws |
Loss |
R30 |
Rank |
| Alexander Grischuk |
10.5 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
20.0 |
1 |
| Dmitry Andreikin |
9.5 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
17.0 |
5 |
| Vassily Ivanchuk |
9.5 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
8 |
15.0 |
9 |
| Sergey Karjakin |
9.5 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
18.5 |
3 |
| Magnus Carlsen |
8.5 |
5 |
10 |
2 |
3 |
19.5 |
2 |
Final standings (after thirty rounds of play)
Click to enlarge
Video stream of all the action
You can watch the live stream as it was recorded during the first day of the
Blitz. Each of the videos is 50 minutes long. The first gives you visual impression
of the players in action (unfortunately sometimes with the table flags obscuring
the view of the board). In the second you can follow the moves, with commentary
by GM Robert Fountaine. The first video includes the closing ceremony.
Video
streaming by Ustream
Video
streaming by Ustream
Links
The games of the Finals will be broadcast live on the official web site
and on the chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there
and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase
11 or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs. |
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