Grischuk leads after first day of Astana World Blitz Championship

by ChessBase
7/9/2012 – Alexander Grischuk was on fire, winning eight games, drawing five and losing two to take the lead with 10.5/15, a full point ahead of the second placed Dmitry Andreikin, Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin, with Magnus Carlsen following a point behind these three. Tuesday is the return round of this double round robin. We have lots of pictures and video for you to relive the action.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

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. Qualifiers are held prior to the finals, with three winners taking part in the finals. In addition two Kazakhstani grandmasters were nominated: Pavel Kotsur and Rinat Dzhumabayev in blitz. 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.

First day blitz


Start of the Blitz World Championship in Astana


Sergey Karjakin vs Peter Svidler in round one: draw in 41 moves


Vassily Ivanchuk vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in round four: 1-0 in 37 moves


Nikolai Chadaev, rated 2605, who qualified for the blitz, is in place seven


Favourite to win: Magnus Carlsen took four losses and is in fifth place


Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov with 5.5/15 on place thirteen


Alexander Grischuk vs Teimour Radjabov in round four: 1-0 in 53 moves


Alexander Morozevich, rated 2770, with 8.0/15 in place six


Moldovan GM Viktor Bologan with 5.0/15 in second last place


Vietnamese super-talent Le Quang Liem with 7.0/15 in place 12


The audience at the Blitz World Championship in Astana


Two interesting spectators at the Blitz World Championship

Video stream

You can watch the live stream as it was recorded during the first day of the Blitz. Each of the videos is 50 minutes long. The first gives you visual impression of the players in action (unfortunately sometimes with the table flags obscuring the view of the board). In the second you can follow the moves, with commentary by GM Robert Fountaine and Geoffrey Borg:

In general the two videos are synchronised, so you should start them and let both run together.


Video streaming by Ustream


Video streaming by Ustream

Standings after fifteen rounds of play

Remaining program

July 10, Tues. 15:00 World Blitz rounds 16–30; closing ceremony
July 11, Wed.   Departure of participants

Links

The 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.

Copyright ChessBase


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register