Anna Muzychuk World Blitz Champion

by Alejandro Ramirez
4/28/2014 – Finally the marathon in Khanty-Mansiysk has come to an end for the players of the Rapid and Blitz Championships. Muzychuk dominated the blitz event from start to finish and ended 2.5 points ahead over her silver medal Dzagnidze... despite blundering a mate in one against Stefanova! One mistake could not erase her excellent play and she deservedly becomes the new blitz queen.
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally.
FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before. 

No rest for the weary - the women in Khanty-Mansiysk battled on for three more grueling days playing a marathon 30 games of blitz . The format was of 3+2 (three minutes plus two second increments) in a double swiss, which means every player played their opponent twice, once with black and once with white.

Pee-ka-boo: Anna Ushenina

Kateryna Lagno only scored 17.0/30 in the blitz.
One World Championship per year is enough.

Nataltia Zhukova from Ukraine finished in 26th place

Anna Muzychuk right before her first game, definitely meaning business

A crowded set in the halls of the Ugra Chess Academy

Zhu Chen from Qatar (originally China) with 50%

Time will tell if the venture to Russia will be good for the Irina Krush's upcoming American Championship

30 more rounds... Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and the other players of the Grand Prix that stayed for the Blitz and Rapid Championships played a total of 56 games in these two weeks

Maria Forminykh was only able to score 7.5/30 in the blitz

Rapids are a piece of cake compared to blitz for arbiters

Always ready: Elizabeth Paehtz from Germany

Alexandra Kosteniuk lost three matches: 0-2 against Stefanova and 0.5-1.5 to Lagno and Paehtz

Anna Muzychuk happily given her impressions after day one

Antoaneta Stefanova started day one strong with 7.5/10,
but she finished 1.5 away from the podium at the end

Tatiana Kosintseva finally got her groove going and finished with a bronze medal

Sivler went to Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze

Day two started with an incredible game after Anna Muzychuk walked into a
mate in one when she was up the exchange! Luckily for her this didn't change her fate in the long run.

Karina Ambartsumova, a very friendly face from Russia

Kateryna Lagno seemed to be in medal contention,
but it all went downhill after a 2-0 loss to Dzagnidze in Round 10

Alexandra Kosteniuk in action

They played each other a few times this trip: Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Nafisa Muminova

"I solved this one, and this one, and this one!"
Homework is a normal part of a chess player's life

Girya was awarded Bronze Medal in the blitz

Tatiana Kosintseva with 5.0/6 to weave herself into third place

The rapid winners: Alexandra Kosteniuk (silver), Kateryna Lagno (gold) and Olga Girya (bronze)

The podium with the winners in Rapid and Blitz

Final Standings

Place Name   Fed. FIDE Total
1 Muzychuk, Anna SLO SLO B 2613 23.0
2 Dzagnidze, Nana GEO GEO B 2523 20.5
3 Kosintseva, Tatiana RUS RUS B 2502 20.0
4 Zhao, Xue CHN CHN B 2510 19.0
5 Stefanova, Antoaneta BUL BUL B 2565 18.5
6 Paehtz, Elisabeth GER GER B 2424 18.0
7 Gunina, Valentina RUS RUS B 2532 18.0
8 Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS RUS B 2539 17.5
9 Lagno, Kateryna UKR UKR B 2549 17.0
10 Harika, Dronavalli IND IND B 2466 16.5
11 Muzychuk, Mariya UKR UKR B 2438 16.0
12 Guseva, Marina RUS RUS B 2340 16.0
13 Cramling, Pia SWE SWE B 2414 16.0
14 Kashlinskaya, Alina RUS RUS B 2354 15.5
15 Ambartsumova, Karina RUS RUS B 2367 15.5
16 Zhu, Chen QAT QAT B 2431 15.0
17 Gaponenko, Inna UKR UKR B 2374 15.0
18 Goryachkina, Aleksandra RUS RUS B 2238 15.0
19 Girya, Olga RUS RUS B 2396 14.5
20 Ushenina, Anna UKR UKR B 2573 14.5
21 Ubiennykh, Ekaterina RUS RUS 2285 14.5
22 Khotenashvili, Bela GEO GEO B 2485 14.5
23 Charochkina, Daria RUS RUS B 2481 14.0
24 Muminova, Nafisa UZB UZB B 2269 14.0
25 Krush, Irina USA USA B 2422 14.0
26 Zhukova, Natalia UKR UKR B 2457 14.0
27 Drozdova, Dina RUS RUS B 2259 12.5
28 Shaydullina, Sandugach RUS RUS B 2260 12.5
29 Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs MGL MGL B 2321 12.0
30 Sukhareva, Evgeniya RUS RUS B 2259 12.0
31 Sviridova, Vlada RUS RUS B 2101 11.0
32 Bezgodova, Svetlana RUS RUS B 2189 11.0
33 Fominykh, Maria RUS RUS B 2304 7.5
34 Popova, Natalija BLR BLR 2314 5.5

Replay blitz games

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

 

Links

The games are being 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register