Anand and Ju Wenjun are 2017 World Rapid Chess champions

Entering the last day of competition, the sole leaders in both the men and women’s events were Vladimir Fedoseev and Ju Wenjun respectively. Whereas Ju Wenjun had completely dominated her rivals from beginning to end in a breathtaking performance that left her untouched and only barely challenged from a distance, the men’s section was much more volatile, and by consequence exciting.

Vladimir Fedoseev had been the unexpected frontrunner throughout the tournament | riyadh2017.fide.com

Within two rounds, it really looked like the tide had irrevocably shifted and that Magnus Carlsen, whose dominance of Rapid and Blitz throughout the year had been peerless, would now be crowned with the ultimate title and prize. The immensely rich prize fund is well documented, but look at the gorgeous trophies designed and created by luxury brand Asprey, based in London:

The well made short on the creation of the trophies really helps one appreciate how much work went into most details of the tournament

In round 11 most of the top boards drew, while Magnus Carlsen continued his comeback with a clean win over Levan Pantsulaia from Georgia. That now placed the Norwegian within a half-point of the leader, and it was time for them to meet, and encounter many had been looking forward to.

There was no need to crown the podium, with large displays showing the action | riyadh2017.fide.com

Vladimir Fedoseev 0-1 Magnus Carlsen

A serious body-blow to Vladimir Fedoseev, who had played a superb tournament so far, and with this loss he relinquished the top spot to Magnus Carlsen. Although Magnus could still be challenged, as he only held a half-point lead over Fedoseev, Anand, Svidler, and Wang Hao, it is probably not unreasonable to say that nearly everyone following it felt that the event was now Carlsen’s, and the real fight over the final three rounds would be for the other podium spots.

After his win in round 12, taking over the lead, the title seemed all but spoken for by Magnus Carlsen | riyadh2017.fide.com

Round 13 saw further draws on the top boards, which meant that while Carlsen still led alone with 9½/13, the pack right behind with 9.0/13 had grown to eight players. Fedoseev nearly righted the ship in this very next round, when he baited Yu Yangyi which nearly yielded him the victory. He missed his chance though, and the game was drawn.

Vladimir Fedoseev 1/2-1/2 Yu Yangyi

Joining the others were now Bu Xiangzhi, Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi and Artemiev.

Round 14 was where the foundations were shaken somewhat, to the surprise of not a few. The young Russian Vladislav Artemiev held Magnus Carlsen to a draw with white, and other players within striking distance all drew their respective games, but Vishy Anand pulled off a huge win over Alexander Grischuk.

Vishy Anand's round 14 win over Grischuk was huge in every sense. | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

Vishy Anand 1-0 Alexander Grischuk

How to crack the Berlin Wall with 5.Re1

Alexei Shirov shows on this DVD how White can develop pressure and seize the initiative with 5.Re1 against the Berlin Wall.

Suddenly Magnus Carlsen’s victory was not at all clear, and both he and Anand now shared first with 10.0/14, but to muddy the waters even more six more players trailed by half a point. Suddenly the matter of tiebreaks and playoffs were the subject of discussion. The regulations were quite clear and they stated that in the event of a tie for first by two or more players, the two with the best tiebreak (if more than two) would face each other in a blitz playoff. This presented a very serious problem for Magnus Carlsen. Let’s see why:

Suppose both Carlsen and Anand drew their final round games, but are joined by Peter Svidler, who wins his last game. Since the first tiebreak criteria is direct encounter, Carlsen would be out, having lost to Anand, while both Svidler and Anand had not lost a game between the three of them. Thus the playoff would be between Peter Svidler and Anand in such a scenario. Still, this entire situation could be solved easily should Carlsen win his final game. Perfectly possible it needs to be said.

15-year-old FM Andrey Esipenko (2564 FIDE) finished with 7.5/15 and was no doubt the author of the shot of the tournament, if not the year | riyadh2017.fide.com

Here are the pairings for the final round among those with a chance at gold.

Round 15 pairings

If you were expecting a slew of safe draws at the top, think again. Among the five top boards, the only draw was the quick handshake between Bu Xiangzhi and Vishy Anand, while four ended in a decisive result, though none so decisive as the top board.

Magnus Carlsen 0-1 Alexander Grischuk

Play the King's Indian Defence with g3

The King's Indian is an extreme counterattacking weapon for Black, so White's best way is to conduct an effective central strategy and to keep the king in safety. Maybe the only and best way to fulfill this strategy is the variation with the fianchetto of the white bishop to g3. It is the most unpleasant variation for King's Indian Defence players, easy to handle and it prevents Black from performing his typical attacking plans.

To say this result was unexpected or a shock is to put it mildly. Even when things were going badly for the world no.1, many expected him to somehow weasel himself out of trouble and save the half-point. It was really only after 34…Rxc4 that it became clear there would be no miracles to save him.

Peter Svidler, who could hope for a chance himself, instead went down badly to Boris Savchenko and was left out, while both Nepomniachtchi and Vladimir Fedoseev won their respective games against Wang Hao and Vladislav Artemiev, leading to a three-way draw.

It was a brilliant effort by Ian Nepomniachtchi, who caught up with the leaders in the very last round | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

Since direct encounters were all draw between the three of them, the next criteria was the average rating of their opponents. This left Nepo out since although he had done wonderfully to reach this point, he had only managed to do so by the very end, while Anand and Fedoseev had led more or less throughout and as a result had faced the toughest players.

The regulations foresaw a tiebreak of two blitz games played at 3 minutes plus two seconds increment, and if that didn’t solve it a final Armageddon game would decide the title.

The final result was a magnificent win by Vishy Anand, winning the first blitz, and acceding a draw in the second despite dominating it. This easily redeemed a spotty result in the latter half of the year, notably a last place in the London Classic, with an emphatic win at the World Rapid, and another world title. It is safe to say that few if any had expected the 48-year-old to still win world titles at this juncture, especially in the fastest time controls, usually the province of the younger players. Bravo!

Vishy Anand shares his delight at becoming the 2017 World Rapid Champion | Source: ChessCast

Video analysis by IM Sagar Shah

IM Sagar Shah was deeply moved by the result, sharing his comments including on the playoff games | Source: ChessBase India

My Career Vol. 1

The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995.
Running time: 3:48 hours

The 2017 World Women's Rapid championship was won by Ju Wenjun who completely dominated the event. Though there were times she might have been at least tied, none of her rivals managed to quite catch up. In second was her compatriot Lei Tingjie, and third was German IM Elizabeth Paehtz.

Ju Wenjun was undefeated | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

Blitz to follow

Do not sign off just yet, or consider chess done for the year, since there will now follow the World Blitz Championship on Friday and Saturday. Friday will see 11 intense rounds of blitz at the very highest level with non-stop action, and Saturday it will conclude with ten more rounds to decide the title of World Blitz Champion.

With over a 100 Elo edge over everyone, the favorite is unquestionably Magnus Carlsen with his stratospheric 2986 Elo rating, and he is followed by the usual suspects Aronian, Karjakin, Vachier-Lagrave, and Grischuk, but the world no.2 as of this writing is held by 19-year-old Vladislav Artemiev with 2877. This was achieved by two superlative results in the last few months: clear first in the Russian Blitz Championship, and gold again at the Elite Mind Games. A name to look out for in the next couple of days.

All rapid games

Final Open rapid standings

All Women's rapid games

Final Women's rapid standings

Links

• Official site
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• Watch live
• Day 2: Fedoseev and Ju Wenjun lead the pack
• Day 1: Fedoseev, Jobava, and Ju Wenjun
• FIDE's Riyadh Gambit