12/26/2018 – The rapid world title fight starts today in St. Petersburg's Manege exhibition hall with the first of three days of rapid chess. The Blitz Championship will follow on Saturday and Sunday. In the Open sections, the reigning champions Viswanathan Anand (Rapid) and Magnus Carlsen (Blitz) are back in action. In the women's rapid tournament, Anna Muzychuk is the top seed followed by World Champion Ju Wenjun. | Photos: Lennart Ootes
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"King Salman World Chess Championships"
The Rapid and Blitz World Cup has been named after the Saudi Arabian ruler since last year. The oil and gas producers regularly sponsor major sporting events, and a year ago the World Championships took place in Riyadh, the capital of the country. That was initially planned to remain the case in 2018, but the event was relocated to St. Petersburg on short notice. The reasons for this are probably diverse, but the fact that players from Israel were not allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia a year ago, even though they would have been eligible to participate in the championships, has been the focus of public debate. Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky, President of the Association of Chess Professionals — and now FIDE Director General — has been a powerful advocate for the Israelis. Of course, the new FIDE President is Russian, while at the same time Saudi Arabia has been politically on the defensive of late. As a result, there is now apparently an unusual cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia in the hosting of the World Championships, which would be quite unthinkable in other sports. Anyway, during the next five days, "King Salman" and "St. Petersburg" will be referred to in the same breath.
There were, naturally, no visa problems for the large Israeli delegation led by Boris Gelfand [although the location diminished turnout among the top Ukrainian men due to Russia's involvement in the ongoing military conflict in Eastern Ukraine -Ed.]. The dress code was also an issue last year and is more relaxed for women in the regulations for the tournament, however, T-shirts, sneakers, baseball caps, jeans or shorts (not that you'd want them in the St. Petersburg winter!) are not allowed. Instead, shirts with collars and blazers are required for men and shirt/blouse with a collar, jacket/blazer, trousers/skirt or dress for women.
Ju Wenjun and Magnus Carlsen were centre stage at the opening press conference
A mass of cameras in Russia's second city
Prize funds
The guaranteed prize fund is distributed as follows: USD $350,000 to the Rapid World Championship (Open), $150,000 to the Rapid World Championship (Women).
Player starting rank — Open Rapid Championship (top 30)
Only two days left until World Rapid & Blitz Ch: I made this table with results from previous WC's. Carlsen tops with 8 medals since 2012, while Grischuk has 5 and Nepomniachtchi & Karjakin has 4. Who is your favourite? https://t.co/be4fpMAUUqpic.twitter.com/ibAARo39wd
The score for the winner in the World Rapid Championship: 2017: 10,5 points (Anand) 2016: 11 points (Ivanchuk) 2015: 11,5 points (Carlsen) 2014: 11 points (Carlsen) 2013: 10,5 points (Mamedyarov)#WRBC2018#nrksjakk
Klaus BesenthalKlaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.
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