First day of the World Rapid Chess Championship in Astana
7/7/2012 – This event has sixteen players, ten of whom were seeded to the final, three won places in a qualifier, and two are wild cards from the host nation. After the first day the "twin prodigies" Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen are in the lead with 4.5/5 points and 3000+ performances. Rounds 6-15 will be played this weekend, followed by a Blitz Championship on Monday and Tuesday. Illustrated report.
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World
blitz and rapid chess championship
The Official World Blitz and Rapid Chess Championships are being held from July 1-11, 2012, in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. It is worth noting that the Rapid Chess Championship is a first in the history of FIDE! The top ten players of the current FIDE rating list have the right to take part in the championships. The total prize fund is US $400,000.
The qualifiers held prior to the finals saw chess players from all over the world getting a chance to advance to the main event. Alexey Dreev, Igor Kurnosov and Vladislav Tkachiev won places, Murtas Kazhgaleyev and Anuar Ismagambetov were nominations by the host nation.
Participants of the Rapid Chess Championship
| Ti. | Name | Nat. | rating | Born |
| GM | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2837 | 1990 |
| GM | Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2788 | 1987 |
| GM | Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2779 | 1990 |
| GM | Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2770 | 1977 |
| GM | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2769 | 1969 |
| GM | Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2763 | 1983 |
| GM | Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2752 | 1975 |
| GM | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2749 | 1976 |
| GM | Bologan, Viktor | MDA | 2732 | 1971 |
| GM | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2726 | 1985 |
| GM | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2724 | 1968 |
| GM | Dreev, Aleksey | RUS | 2677 | 1969 |
| GM | Tkachiev, Vladislav | FRA | 2644 | 1973 |
| GM | Kurnosov, Igor | RUS | 2605 | 1985 |
| GM | Kazhgaleyev, Murtas | KAZ | 2537 | 1973 |
| GM | Ismagambetov, Anuar | KAZ | 2491 | 1986 |
There are five games per day, starting at 15:00h local time. The first day brought the following results:
In the joint lead: Sergey Karjakin, 2779, with 4.5/5 points
Second seed GM Teimour Radjabov from Azerbaijan, 2788, 3.5/5
Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov, 2752, with 3.5/5
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, 2726, at 50%
World Championship challenger Boris Gelfand
Gelfand signing autographs for chess fans
Chief arbiter Andrzej Filipowicz, top seed Magnus Carlsen
International Arbiter Anastasia Sorokina from Australia
GM Viktor Bologan, Moldova, with arbiter Faik Gasanov of Azerbaijan
Arbiters Rimma Antonova, Ukraine, and Ashot Vardapetyan, Armenia
Astana with its landmark observation tower Bayterek
Modern buildings lit up in the night sky
Sunset and a crescent moon in Astana
Remaining program
| July 6, Fri. | 15:00 | Rapid Chess Championship 1 – 5 rounds |
| July 7, Sat. | 15:00 | Rapid Chess Championship 6 – 10 rounds |
| July 8, Sun. | 15:00 | Rapid Chess Championship 11 – 15 rounds |
| July 9, Mon. | 15:00 | World Blitz Chess Championship rounds 1 – 15 |
| July 10, Tues. | 15:00 | World Blitz rounds 16–30; closing ceremony |
| July 11, Wed. | Departure of participants |
World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship
The World Rapid Chess Championship will be played in three days as a round-robin event with five rounds per day. Time controls are 15 minutes for all moves plus 10 seconds increment per move. The World Blitz is a sixteen-player double round robin with 15 rounds per day. The time control is three minutes + two seconds increment per move. These are the participants
| Rapid Chess Championship | Blitz Chess Championship | |||
| Magnus Carlsen | 2837 | Magnus Carlsen | 2835 | |
| Teimour Radjabov | 2788 | Teimour Radjabov | 2784 | |
| Sergey Karjakin | 2779 | Sergey Karjakin | 2779 | |
| Alexander Morozevich | 2770 | Alexander Morozevich | 2769 | |
| Vassily Ivanchuk | 2769 | Vassily Ivanchuk | 2764 | |
| Alexander Grischuk | 2763 | Alexander Grischuk | 2761 | |
| Veselin Topalov | 2752 | Veselin Topalov | 2752 | |
| Peter Svidler | 2749 | Peter Svidler | 2741 | |
| Boris Gelfand | 2738 | Boris Gelfand | 2727 | |
| Viktor Bologan | 2732 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2726 | |
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2726 | Dmitry Andreikin | 2700 | |
| Alexey Dreev | 2677 | Le Quang Liem | 2693 | |
| Igor Kurnosov | 2663 | Nikolai Chadaev | 2605 | |
| Vladislav Tkachiev | 2644 | Darmen Sadvakasov | 2629 | |
| Murtas Kazhgaleyev | 2589 | Rinat Jumabayev | 2556 | |
| Anuar Ismagambetov | 2471 | Pavel Kotsur | 2548 | |
Tiebreak rules for first place: (a) results between the players involved; (b) number of wins; (c) Sonneborn-Berger score; (d) Sudden death game: 5 min vs 4 min.
Video of the opening ceremony and drawing of colours
The report starts with a chess ballet to the strains of Mozart's Eine kleine
Nachtmusik
LinksThe games of the Finals 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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