World Blitz 2015: Grischuk wins third title

The playing hall was full to the brim

Players came from all over the world for the chance to collect some scalps from the elite.
Eric Hansen is a well known aficionado and came from Canada.

Pentala Harikrishna, fresh from his victory at the Isle of Man, also flew in for the fun

To be fair, it didn't start in a dramatic way, and by all means it seemed as if this report would be all about YACV (Yet Another Carlsen Victory) for everyone to bask in and admire his brilliance. Consider that after ten rounds, Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave stood alone with 9.0/10, a full 1.5 points ahead of everyone else. Granted there were still eleven rounds to go the next day, but the way he had dominated the rapids, and was speeding ahead in the blitz, what else was one to predict?

Magnus Carlsen - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (annotated by IM Sagar Shah)

The young Spaniard David Anton Guijarro

Mamedyarov had an average performance, about his rating, with 13.5/21

Maxim Dlugy and Yasser Seirawan enjoy a few laughs

Alexander Riazantsev finished with 11.5/21

Ian Nepomniachtchi was unable to reproduce his World Rapid silver medal performance,
though he did finish in fifth place with 14.5/21

However, somehow the World Champion hit a dry patch no one saw coming, with a loss to Karjakin in the last game of the day.

Magnus Carlsen - Sergey Karjakin (annotated by IM Sagar Shah)

19-year-old Daniil Dubov had a good event with a 2763 performance

Lazaro Bruzon from Cuba

Magnus Carlsen watches the last moments of Aronian's game

The following day, he appeared to wake on the wrong side of the bed, and nothing seemed to go his way. It started with a draw against Kramnik and then he lost again in round thirteen, this time to Radjabov. It was hard to know what to make of it since Carlsen has been known to have these chess blackouts even in standard games, with a strong record of miracle recoveries. When he lost for the third time in six games, now against Alexander Grischuk, it became quite clear the gap was quickly becoming too large to make up.

Loek Van Wely finished with 9.0/21

Christian Bauer from France finished with +2 at 11.5/21

Where did this leave the title then if not Magnus? Maxime Vachier Lagrave had not been suffering from the same meltdown, but nor was he racking up the points with the same speed he had the previous day. In the first six games he was only able to win one, while drawing five. While he continued in the lead, that lead was shrinking and he definitely had challengers. By round 16, his lead was only a half point over Karjakin with 12.5/16, one point over Aronian who had 11.5/16, and a pack of wolves at 11.0/16. With five rounds to go, nothing could be less clear.

Anton Korobov - Tirgan Petrosian (annotated by IM Sagar Shah)

Boris Gelfand was certainly no slouch, and ended with 13.5/21 and a 2795 performance

Sergey Karjakin - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (annotated by IM Sagar Shah)

Then it was the Frenchman's turn to falter, and two losses in rounds 18 and 19 saw him caught up by Yuri Vovk, the surprise of the tournament, Vladimir Kramnik, and Alexander Grischuk, all sharing 13.5/19. Magnus seemed poised to stage a comeback as he was now at 13.0/19, and anything could happen in the last two rounds. Unfortunately for the Norwegian's fans, that is exactly what took place, and he lost a crucial game to Vassily Ivanchuk when he fell into the Ukrainian's preparation. He was now officially out of the running.

Vassily Ivanchuk had a superb event, knocking out Carlsen for good in round 20, and coming
in fourth place with a 2827 performance

Entering the final round, the top four spots were quite surprisingly dominated by the older generation of players with Kramnik and Grischuk at 14.5/20 and MVL and Ivanchuk at 14.0/20. It was all decided in the last game, when Grischuk overcame Gelfand, while Kramnik was forced to save his game against Ivanchuk.

As a result, Alexander Grischuk won his third World Blitz title, in sole first with 15.5/21, while MVL was silver with 15.0/21, edging out Kramnik who came in third, on tiebreak.

The three medalists of the World Rapid: Teimour Radjabov (third), Ian Nepomniachtchi (second)
and Magnus Carlsen (first)

Alexander Grischuk receives the gold medal for his World Blitz title from Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

A close-up of the medal

The three top finishers in the World Blitz: Vladimir Kramnik (third), Alexander Grischuk (first),
and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (second)

Final standings after 21 rounds

Click for complete standings

Photos by Pascal Simon

Links Official tournament site All Rapid games in PGN All Blitz games in PGN The games are being 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.