Sergey Karjakin is World Blitz Champion 2016

by Johannes Fischer
12/30/2016 – Sergey Karjakin is new World Champion in Blitz. After narrowly missing to beat Magnus Carlsen at their World Championship match in New York, Karjakin got the better of Carlsen at the World Blitz Championship in Doha, Qatar. Though it was close. Very close...

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Photos: Maria Emelianova (Tournament page)

Sergey Karjakin

Carlsen and Karjakin had been dominating the blitz tournament from the very start. After day 1 they shared the lead with 10.0/12 and they continued to lead throughout day 2. However, before the last round Carlsen was leading with 16.0/20 while Karjakin was half a point behind. But in the last round Carlsen had to play the infamously solid Peter Leko with Black while Karjakin had White against Baadur Jobava.

Magnus Carlsen

After failing to create any serious winning chances against Leko, Carlsen finally settled for a perpetual and a draw and Karjakin did not miss to grab this opportunity. He won against Jobava and once again the tie-break - the Elo-average of the opponents - had to decide. Karjakin's opponents had the better average and this helped Karjakin to finish 2016 as World Champion.

A happy Sergey Karjakin at the end of the tournament

Carlsen won silver and Daniil Dubov won bronze. With 14.5/21 he shared places three to five with Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Grischuk and had the best tie-break.

Final standings after 21 rounds

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2 
1 8
GM Karjakin Sergey RUS 2800 16,5 2740 259,0
2 1
GM Carlsen Magnus NOR 2873 16,5 2735 258,0
3 21
GM Dubov Daniil RUS 2724 14,5 2733 259,0
4 3
GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2842 14,5 2720 256,5
5 12
GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2761 14,5 2718 253,0
6 6
GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2823 14,0 2708 252,5
7 10
GM Dominguez Perez Leinier CUB 2783 13,0 2725 253,5
8 34
GM Korobov Anton UKR 2666 13,0 2708 246,0
9 16
GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2754 13,0 2697 254,5
10 15
GM Anand Viswanathan IND 2754 13,0 2695 249,0
11 26
GM Leko Peter HUN 2697 13,0 2678 238,5
12 5
GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2830 13,0 2677 245,0
13 44
GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2636 12,5 2767 261,0
14 45
GM Wei Yi CHN 2636 12,5 2722 237,5
15 17
GM Jobava Baadur GEO 2752 12,5 2700 250,5
16 24
GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2712 12,5 2688 249,5
17 29
GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2678 12,5 2663 233,0
18 19
GM Onischuk Vladimir UKR 2740 12,5 2634 228,5
19 35
GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2666 12,0 2712 248,5
20 55
GM Bu Xiangzhi CHN 2613 12,0 2706 238,5

...107 players

Source: chess-results.com

Games - Rounds 1-19

 

The Women's Tournament

After dominating the rapid tournament from beginning to end Anna Muzychuk won her second World Championship title in five days through a strong finish. After day 1 of the blitz tournament she had 6.5/9 but on day 2 she just crushed the opposition. She began the day with three draws but then won the last five rounds. In the end she had 13.0/17, won the tournament and became Women's World Blitz Champion 2016.

Anna Muzychuk won the World Rapid Championships and the World Blitz Championships

Half a point behind Anna Muzychuk followed Valentina Gunina and Kateryna Lagno with 12.5/17 each. As Gunina had the better tie-break she won silver and Lagno bronze.

Final standings after 17 rounds

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2 
1 1
GM Muzychuk Anna UKR 2645 13,0 2486 159,5
2 3
GM Gunina Valentina RUS 2605 12,5 2482 158,0
3 2
GM Lagno Kateryna RUS 2641 12,5 2464 156,0
4 6
WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2552 11,0 2473 161,0
5 10
GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2501 10,5 2499 160,0
6 20
IM Charochkina Daria RUS 2375 10,5 2470 156,5
7 12
GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2500 10,0 2484 157,5
8 27
IM Kashlinskaya Alina RUS 2286 9,5 2494 162,5
9 5
GM Ju Wenjun CHN 2571 9,5 2483 163,0
10 9
GM Koneru Humpy IND 2502 9,5 2464 159,0
11 18
IM Javakhishvili Lela GEO 2380 9,5 2440 151,0
12 15
IM Gaponenko Inna UKR 2414 9,5 2391 142,5
13 23
WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya KAZ 2361 9,5 2377 135,5
14 16
GM Zhukova Natalia UKR 2394 9,5 2350 129,5
15 17
IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen VIE 2382 9,5 2322 119,5
16 4
GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2582 9,0 2468 149,0
17 8
GM Zhao Xue CHN 2526 9,0 2451 156,5
18 24
IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2335 9,0 2422 138,5
19 26
WGM Saduakassova Dinara KAZ 2299 9,0 2407 137,5
20 7
IM Paehtz Elisabeth GER 2528 9,0 2395 142,0

... 34 players

Source: chess-results.com

Games

 

Tournament page...


Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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