Double Russian Gold in Beijing

On December 11th the World Mind Games began in Beijing, China. One week some of the word's best players compete in Chess, Go, Draughts, Chinese Chess, (Xiangqi), and Bridge. In chess 16 top men and women play rapid, blitz and basque chess. After four rounds of rapid Nana Dzagnidze, Wang Yue, Wang Hao and Alexander Grischuk are the leading mind acrobats.

The chessplayers will play rapid, blitz and Basque chess (two players play two games simultaneously against each other - one with white, one with black). All in all 24 medals can be won. The first chess tournament is the rapid competition for men and women (Thursday and Friday). After that follows blitz (Saturday to Monday) until the Basque chess tournament finally rounds it off (Tuesday and Wednesday).

Tian Hongwei, who goes by Abigail, is one of the reasons Chinese chess works the way it does!
Here she is with Geoffrey Borg, FIDE CEO, at the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony of the different mind games

At the opening, left to right: Elisabeth Paehtz, Anna Muzychuk, Antoaneta Stefanova, Mariya Muzychuk

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot and Alexander Grischuk

Open Day 2 - Rapid

Wang Hao went into the second and final day of the rapid portion of the World Mind Games with a half point lead. After drawing Grischuk on round two and defeating his compatriot Wang Yue on round four he was paired against Mamedyarov. With most of the games being drawn Wang Hao retained his half point lead over Grischuk, who drew Aronian.

Fighting spirit was everywhere in Beijing, look at the endgame that Ivanchuk tried to win... successfully:

Vassily Ivanchuk doesn't give up easily!

Wang Yue finished in the middle of the table

Grischuk took full advantage of his chances in round six. While Wang Hao found a quick repetition against Vachier-Lagrave, the Russian player beat Ivanchuk by outplaying him in a Grunfeld. The results left Wang Hao and Grischuk tied for first with one round to spare, with four (!) players trailing them by one point: Mamedyarov, Vachier-Lagrave, Aronian and Nepomniachtchi.

Radoslav Wojtaszek scored 2.5/7

The two Russians were paired against each other, in that game Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi drew quickly. The Chinese player, who had led the entire event, was not so fortunate:

Levon Aronian was the bane of Wang Hao's tournament!

With these results Grischuk got clear first place. Vachier-Lagrave even defeated Leko to overtake Wang Hao on tiebreaks, who kept his bronze medal barely over Aronian and Mamedyarov.

Final Standings

Replay rapid games 5-7

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Women's Day 2 - Rapid

Antoaneta Sterfanova finished with three draws in the last day

After Dzagnidze's fabulous first day, she was the clear leader with half a point over Hou Yifan - who started slowly with only two draws but won games three and four. But it was neither of these talented ladies that took the final prize.

Harika Dronavalli lost one game and drew six, very unusual in rapid chess

Valentina Gunina, after showing how wonderfully she can recover from a bad start in her Russian Super Final victory a few days ago, did it yet again in Beijing.

Not that move!

Hou Yifan posing in front of... something

The day started with two important black victories. Dzagnidze lost to Hou Yifan while Zhao Xue also fell to Gunina. Round six was the decisive one:

With this result Gunina got the upper hand with an extra half a point. Of course, not everything was said and done as after six rounds Dzagnidze, Hou Yifan, Ushenina and Muzychuk were all only half a point behind!

Bela Khotenashvili finished 13th with 2.5/7

Tatiana Kosintseva's 50% came with only one draw

Zhao Xue had a very bad last day, scoring only 1.0/3 after going 2.5/4 to start with

Some excellent maneuvers gave Gunina the advantage against Muzychuk in a Carlsbad structure. After 73 moves she won the game and the championship. And a much needed win that was! Hou Yifan struck back against Kosintseva two obtain second place. The tiebreak system left Ushenina as the bronze medal winner, after her last round draw against Dzagnidze.

Anna Ushenina grabbed the bronze medal at the last moment

The victor, with a smashing 3.0/3 in the last day: Valentina Gunina

Final Standings

The closing ceremony of the rapid, along with the winners in Draughts

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. Beijing time the first 10 rounds (!) of the blitz section will be played. The blitz portion is a marathon 30 rounds long and promises absolutely exciting chess.

Replay women's rapid games 5-7

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Pictures and information from the official website by Gu Xiaobing and Alina l'Ami

Links Official tournament site Rapid Games - Women Rapid Games - Open The games 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.