7/5/2012 – The Official World Blitz and Rapid Chess Championships are being held from July 1-11, 2012, in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. Top ranked players of the current FIDE rating list (Carlsen, Radjabov, Karjakin, Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Grischuk, etc.) have been invited, with qualifiers yielding the rest. The finals are sixteen-player events with a total prize fund of US $400,000 and start on Friday.
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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 chess players from all over the
world getting a chance to advance to the main event. The only requirement for
participants was that their international ratings should be not less than 2300.
Three winners of the qualifiers take part in the finals and be able to win prizes.
Four Kazakhstani grandmasters have been nominated to the finals: Murtas Kazhgaleyev
and Anuar Ismagambetov in rapid chess, and Pavel Kotsur and Rinat Dzhumabayev
in blitz.
Apart from the chess battles, the guests in Astana are able to attend festive
events, enjoy the hospitability of Kazakhstanis, familiarize with the modern
metropolis – new capital city of Kazakhstan.
Program
July 1, Sun.
Arrival of participants in Astana
July 2, Mon.
13:30
Opening ceremony; Rapid qualifiers – five rounds
July 3, Tues.
15:00
Rapid qualifiers – four rounds
July 4, Wed.
15:00
Blitz qualifiers – 11 x 2 rounds
July 5, Thurs.
17:00
Opening ceremony
July 6, Fri.
15:00
Rapid Chess Championship 1 – 5 rounds
July 7, Sat.
15:00
Rapid Chess Championship 6 – 10 rounds
July 8, Sun.
15:00
Rapid Chess Championship 11 – 15 rounds
July 9, Mon.
15:00
World Blitz Chess Championship rounds 1 – 15
July 10, Tues.
15:00
World Blitz rounds 16–30; closing ceremony
July 11, Wed.
Departure of participants
World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship
The World Rapid Chess Championship will be played in three days as a round-robin
event with five rounds per day. Time controls are 15 minutes for all moves plus
10 seconds increment per move. The World Blitz is a sixteen-player double round
robin with 15 rounds per day. The time control is three minutes + two seconds
increment per move. These are the participants
Rapid Chess Championship
Blitz Chess Championship
Magnus Carlsen
2837
Magnus Carlsen
2835
Teimour Radjabov
2788
Teimour Radjabov
2784
Sergey Karjakin
2779
Sergey Karjakin
2779
Alexander Morozevich
2770
Alexander Morozevich
2769
Vassily Ivanchuk
2769
Vassily Ivanchuk
2764
Alexander Grischuk
2763
Alexander Grischuk
2761
Veselin Topalov
2752
Veselin Topalov
2752
Peter Svidler
2749
Peter Svidler
2741
Boris Gelfand
2738
Boris Gelfand
2727
Viktor Bologan
2732
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
2726
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
2726
Dmitry Andreikin
2700
Alexey Dreev
2677
Le Quang Liem
2693
Igor Kurnosov
2663
Nikolai Chadaev
2605
Vladislav Tkachiev
2644
Darmen Sadvakasov
2629
Murtas Kazhgaleyev
2589
Rinat Jumabayev
2556
Anuar Ismagambetov
2471
Pavel Kotsur
2548
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 rapid chess qualifier under way
Nikolai Chadaev, rated 2605, qualified for the blitz
FM Rauan Mankeyev of Kazakhstan, rated 2333, did not qualify
Dinara Saduakassova, 2216, the only female participant, did not qualify
for the finals
Astana has been the capital of Kazakhstan since 1997, and is the country's
second largest city (after Almaty, the former capital). It is located in the
north-central portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated
separately from the province as a federal city area.
The monument and observation tower Bayterek is the most famous landmark in
Astana. It is meant to embody a folktale about a mythical tree of life and a
magic bird of happiness, Samruk, that has laid its egg on a poplar tree. The
tower is 105m tall, the gold-mirrored egg, 22m in diameter, contains the observation
deck. From there it is possible to see much of the newly built city:
Panorama view of Astana by Ken and Nyetta for Wikipedia(scroll right)
Videos from the qualifiers (Russian with English subtitles)
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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World
blitz and rapid chess championship
