Vassily Ivanchuk is new World Champion in Rapid Chess

by Johannes Fischer
12/28/2016 – The World Rapid Championships in Doha, Qatar, had a dramatic finish. Before the last round five players shared the lead with 10.0/14. Three of these five players won in the last round: Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Grischuk and Vassily Ivanchuk. The tie-break had to decide - in this case, the Elo-average of the opponents. And here Ivanchuk was best and became World Rapid Champion 2016. Games and results...

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Photos: Maria Emelianova (Tournament page)

The Rapid World Championship is a 15 rounds Swiss event with a time-control 15 minutes+ 10 seconds additional time per move, starting from move 1. The event will be played on three days with five rounds each day. The total prize fund is 200,000 USD of which the winner will receive 40,000 USD.

Vassily Ivanchuk

With 8.0/10 Ivanchuk started day 3 as sole leader but at first had trouble to find his form. He started with a loss against Ian Nepomniachtchi and then played two draws in rounds 12 and 13.

But after winning a topsy-turvy game in round 14 against Vishy Anand he shared the lead with Alexander Grischuk, Shakriyar Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen. But Ivanchuk had the best tie-break and therefore "only" needed a win in the last round to become new World Rapid Champion.

Standings after 14 rounds

Rk. SNo     Name FED RtgI Pts.  TB1   TB2 
1 10
 
 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2771 10,0 2748 114,5
2 12
 
 GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2767 10,0 2735 112,0
3 5
 
 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2805 10,0 2725 113,0
4 3
 
 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2812 10,0 2709 107,0
5 1
 
 GM Carlsen Magnus NOR 2906 10,0 2693 110,0
6 6
 
 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier CUB 2803 9,5 2708 110,0
7 21
 
 GM Korobov Anton UKR 2714 9,0 2754 118,5
8 11
 
 GM Aronian Levon ARM 2770 9,0 2752 117,0
9 13
 
 GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2743 9,0 2718 108,5
10 62
 
 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2605 9,0 2666 97,0
11 14
 
 GM Melkumyan Hrant ARM 2736 9,0 2656 102,5
12 26
 
 GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2699 9,0 2635 96,0
13 51
 
 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2643 8,5 2756 109,5
14 47
 
 GM Li Chao B CHN 2648 8,5 2740 110,5
15 7
 
 GM Anand Viswanathan IND 2802 8,5 2707 110,0
16 8
 
 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2795 8,5 2689 103,5
17 33
 
 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son VIE 2685 8,5 2688 101,0
18 24
 
 GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2707 8,5 2671 102,5
19 27
 
 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2699 8,5 2664 101,5
20 30
 
 GM Amonatov Farrukh TJK 2693 8,5 2655 101,5

In round 15 Ivanchuk played Hrant Melkumyan and though the game had been balanced for a long time, Melkumyan finally went astray in an opposite-colored bishop ending and Ivanchuk pounced to win the game and the title.

 

Second place goes Alexander Grischuk, World Blitz Champion of 2006, 2012 and 2015, who had a strong finish. He started day 3 with two draws but then won his last three games against Farrukh Amonatov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Alexander Grischuk

Magnus Carlsen finished third though he started day 3 by losing a short and violent game with White against Anton Korobov. Shortly after the opening Carlsen miscalculated in a sharp position  and that was all Korobov needed to win in a devastating attack.

 

Carlsen resigns

But Carlsen recovered and won his last four games. Particularly crucial was his game against Ian Nepomniachtchi in round 14. With 10.0/13 Nepomniachtchi led the field after 13 rounds but Carlsen slowly outplayed him with Black.

 

Magnus Carlsen

Final standings after 15 rounds

Rk. SNo     Name FED RtgI Pts.  TB1   TB2 
1 10
 
 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2771 11,0 2747 129,0
2 12
 
 GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2767 11,0 2740 128,5
3 1
 
 GM Carlsen Magnus NOR 2906 11,0 2701 127,5
4 5
 
 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2805 10,0 2738 130,5
5 13
 
 GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2743 10,0 2724 122,5
6 3
 
 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2812 10,0 2713 125,5
7 62
 
 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2605 10,0 2669 112,0
8 51
 
 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2643 9,5 2758 125,5
9 11
 
 GM Aronian Levon ARM 2770 9,5 2749 133,0
10 6
 
 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier CUB 2803 9,5 2711 127,5
11 33
 
 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son VIE 2685 9,5 2689 117,5
12 30
 
 GM Amonatov Farrukh TJK 2693 9,5 2665 115,0
13 26
 
 GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2699 9,5 2645 112,5
14 21
 
 GM Korobov Anton UKR 2714 9,0 2743 135,0
15 47
 
 GM Li Chao B CHN 2648 9,0 2733 124,5
16 7
 
 GM Anand Viswanathan IND 2802 9,0 2707 126,5
17 27
 
 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2699 9,0 2674 116,5
18 14
 
 GM Melkumyan Hrant ARM 2736 9,0 2664 121,0
19 4
 
 GM Karjakin Sergey RUS 2806 9,0 2651 111,5
20 46
 
 GM Volokitin Andrei UKR 2650 9,0 2627 112,0
21 54
 
 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2631 9,0 2618 109,0
22 49
 
 GM Banikas Hristos GRE 2647 9,0 2586 100,5
23 42
 
 GM Bu Xiangzhi CHN 2663 8,5 2732 117,5
24 39
 
 GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2671 8,5 2701 118,0
25 88
 
 IM Henriquez Villagra Cristobal CHI 2449 8,5 2692 113,0
26 8
 
 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2795 8,5 2689 122,5
27 35
 
 GM Bortnyk Olexandr UKR 2678 8,5 2682 113,0
28 2
 
 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2839 8,5 2674 116,0
29 24
 
 GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2707 8,5 2672 120,5
30 38
 
 GM Howell David W L ENG 2671 8,5 2661 114,0

...106 players

Source: chess-results.com

Games - Rounds 1 to 15

 

The Women's Tournament

In the Women's Tournament things were much less exciting. Anna Muzychuk simply was too dominating. After starting with 7.0/8 she finished the tournament with a draw, a win and two more draws - and that was enough to win the tournament with 9.5/12, a clear point ahead of  Alexandra Kosteniuk who finished with 8.5/12 and won silver. Bronze went to Nana Dzagnidze who finished with 8.0/12.

Final standings after 12 rounds

Rk. SNo     Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1 
1 2
 
 GM Muzychuk Anna UKR 2570 9,5 2491
2 3
 
 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2553 8,5 2489
3 5
 
 GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2549 8,0 2455
4 21
 
 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2386 7,5 2499
5 6
 
 GM Ju Wenjun CHN 2542 7,5 2463
6 27
 
 WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya KAZ 2323 7,5 2445
7 1
 
 GM Lagno Kateryna RUS 2594 7,0 2488
8 4
 
 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2552 7,0 2449
9 28
 
 WGM Saduakassova Dinara KAZ 2321 7,0 2449
10 10
 
 GM Koneru Humpy IND 2486 7,0 2419
11 12
 
 GM Zhao Xue CHN 2479 7,0 2418
12 25
 
 IM Kashlinskaya Alina RUS 2357 6,5 2478
13 23
 
 IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen VIE 2365 6,5 2457
14 9
 
 GM Gunina Valentina RUS 2491 6,5 2440
15 8
 
 GM Ushenina Anna UKR 2498 6,5 2440
16 14
 
 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2464 6,5 2405
17 13
 
 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra RUS 2466 6,0 2475
18 17
 
 IM Batsiashvili Nino GEO 2417 6,0 2427
19 7
 
 WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2501 6,0 2426
20 20
 
 IM Arabidze Meri GEO 2395 6,0 2369

Games - Rounds 1 to 12

 

Tomorrow, December 29, the action will continue in Doha. With the first part of the 21-round World Blitz Championship. Start: 3 pm local time.

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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