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World
blitz and rapid chess championshipThe 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.
The tournament leader, after the first day, Alexander Girischuk (above), won seven games on the second, drew five and lost three (to Le Quang, Carlsen and Svidler). The second placed Dmitry Andreikin won, drew and lost five games each, while Vassily Ivanchuk, who was in third place, spoilt all his chances with a +4, =3, –8 disaster. Andreikin dropped to fifth and Ivanchuk to ninth on the table.
Sergey Karjakin (above), winner of the Rapid Chess Championship, won six games, drew six and lost three, moving to place three on the final table.
But of course all eyes were on the rating list favourite, Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian won ten games, drew two and lost three, with a sterling 2883 performance, which was even better than Grischuk's 2807 on day two of the blitz. Here are the stats of the leading players after round 15, and how they progressed to the end of the tournament.
R15 |
Rank |
Wins |
Draws |
Loss |
R30 |
Rank |
|
| Alexander Grischuk | 10.5 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
20.0 |
1 |
| Dmitry Andreikin | 9.5 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
17.0 |
5 |
| Vassily Ivanchuk | 9.5 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
8 |
15.0 |
9 |
| Sergey Karjakin | 9.5 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
18.5 |
3 |
| Magnus Carlsen | 8.5 |
5 |
10 |
2 |
3 |
19.5 |
2 |
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. The first video includes the closing ceremony.
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. |
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