SportAccord Mind Games with all star field to play rapid, blindfild and blitz
SportAccord Mind Games will be held in Beijing, China between the 12th of December and 20th December 2012.
The World Mind Games was held for the first time in 2008 and consisted of 5 disciplines: chess, bridge, draughts (checkers), go, and xiangqi (Chinese chess).
Since the last year the World Mind Games organized and held by a famous and respectable organization called SportAccord. SportAccord is the umbrella organization for both Olympic and non-Olympic sports as well as a major organizers of conferences and sporting events.
Though chess is certainly one of the prominent games of the event, with many stars...
...it is hardly the only as can be seen here with top players in bridge and Go.
The elite selection of invited participants and solid prizes are important features of the event.
FIDE president Kirasn Ilyumzhinov and local dignitaries at the opening ceremony
This year the top seeds in the men section are Levon Aronian (former World Blitz Champion and World no.2), Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin (World Rapid Champion 2012), former World Champion Veselin Topalov, Alexander Grischuk (World Blitz Champion 2012) and other GMs rated over 2700 Elo.
The strongest Chinese player, Wang Hao, who also became the winner in a rapid tournament of the Mind Games 2011, will also take part in the tournament this year.
| Round 1 on 2012/12/14 at 14:00 |
Bd |
SNo. |
|
Name |
Pts |
Res. |
Pts |
|
Name |
SNo. |
1 |
1 |
GM |
Karjakin Sergey |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Leko Peter |
9 |
2 |
10 |
GM |
Morozevich Alexander |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Aronian Levon |
2 |
3 |
3 |
GM |
Grischuk Alexander |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Giri Anish |
11 |
4 |
12 |
GM |
Jobava Baadur |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Kamsky Gata |
4 |
5 |
5 |
GM |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Fressinet Laurent |
13 |
6 |
14 |
GM |
Bologan Viktor |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Nakamura Hikaru |
6 |
7 |
7 |
GM |
Radjabov Teimour |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Wang Hao |
15 |
8 |
16 |
GM |
Ding Liren |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Ivanchuk Vassily |
8 |
Rounds start at 1 AM New York time, 7 AM Paris/Berlin, and 2 PM local time.
The strongest women chess players in the World will play in the Women’s event - among them former World Champions Hou Yifan, Antoaneta Stefanova, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Zhu Chen, as well as other top-players. It is also worth mentioning, that Alexandra Kosteniuk was the winner of the 1st Mind Games in 2008 – in blitz and rapid respectively and she also got another gold in rapid in 2011.
Two former world champions: GM Antoaneta Stefanova and
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
Hou Yifan became the strongest in blitz and blindfold in 2011.
| Round 1 on 2012/12/14 at 14:00 |
|
Bd |
SNo. |
|
Name |
Pts |
Res. |
Pts |
|
Name |
SNo. |
1 |
1 |
GM |
Koneru Humpy |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Zhao Xue |
9 |
2 |
10 |
IM |
Zatonskih Anna |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Yifan Hou |
2 |
3 |
3 |
GM |
Lahno Kateryna |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Zhu Chen |
11 |
4 |
12 |
IM |
Paehtz Elisabeth |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Stefanova Antoaneta |
4 |
5 |
5 |
GM |
Muzychuk Anna |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Cmilyte Viktorija |
13 |
6 |
14 |
GM |
Danielian Elina |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Kosteniuk Alexandra |
6 |
7 |
7 |
GM |
Cramling Pia |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Socko Monika |
15 |
8 |
16 |
IM |
Khotenashvili Bela |
0 |
|
0 |
GM |
Harika Dronavalli |
8 |
|
Rounds start at 1 AM New York time, 7 AM Paris/Berlin, and 2 PM local time.
The Opening Ceremony
There is something about the Chinese in their opening ceremonies, in which dance...
...colors, choreography...
... and even martial arts come together in a unique and breathtaking shape.
Their wonderful use of light is also something to admire
If the Beatles had been female and Chinese, this is what they might have looked like
With no end to creativity, even shadow puppets are a part of the spectacle
If all opening ceremonies in the world were like this, chess would be more popular than football!
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