World Rapid and Blitz Championship starting

by ChessBase
6/16/2014 – Held in Dubai, UAE, the World Rapid and Blitz Championship is set to start with the chess equivalent of a Hollywood action blockbuster. The quick fire excitement of rapid games and blitz will reign supreme for the next days as the world's elite all congregate to fight for the top title and top rating. Nakamura, Carlsen, Aronian, Anand, Caruana, Grischuk and more will play. Don't miss it!

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships take place in Dubai, from June 15th (opening ceremony) to June 21st, 2014. The Rapid event will be played from June 16th-18th over 15 rounds, at a time control of 15m+10s. The Blitz runs from June 19th-20th and lasts 21 rounds at 3m+2s. The total prize fund for the tournament is US$400 thousand with $40 thousand for the winner of each championship. There are 122 entries with nearly every elite player playing such as leading players: Magnus Carlsen, Aronian Levon, Alexander Grischuk, Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Nakamura Hikaru, Sergey Karjakin, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Peter Svidler, etc. Rounds are at 1pm Paris time each day or 8am New York time.

Participants

Rk Full Name Country RRating BRating
1 Hikaru Nakamura 2841 2879
2 Caruana  Fabiano 2840 2697
3 Alexander Grischuk 2828 2801
4 Carlsen  Magnus 2827 2837
5 Mamedyarov  Shakhriyar 2799 2822
6 Svidler  Peter 2787 2757
7 Levon Aronian 2785 2863
8 Karjakin  Sergey 2781 2866
9 Malakhov  Vladimir 2776 2700
10 Anand  Viswanathan 2770 2827
11 Korobov  Anton 2770 2758
12 Nepomniachtchi  Ian 2768 2816
13 Radjabov  Teimour 2750 2706
14 Vachier-Lagrave  Maxime 2749 2835
15 Alexander Morozevich 2732 2741

Click here for complete list of participants

The slaughter house where players will either be the predator or the prey

Organizing Committee chairman Khalid Ali Bin Zayed made the official welcome speech

Left to right: Mr. Ibrahim Al Bannai Chairman of Dubai Chess Club; Mr. Khaled Zayed, the
Organizing Committee Chairman; Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nehayan, President of the
Asian Chess Federation; Geoffery Borg, FIDE CEO; Jamal Modfa, General Secretary of the
UAE Chess Federation; and Abdul Aziz Khoury Deputy President of UAE Chess Federation.

Aside from the oodles of fun guaranteed with so many players playing so much rapid chess, it also means that the Top 100 Rapid and Blitz ratings lists published by FIDE will get a serious shakeup. By a funny coincidence, even those watching the World Cup games in football can comfortably enjoy this action-packed chess event as the times will should not overlap.

As the number one rated player in both Rapid and Blitz, Hikaru Nakamura drew the lots to
determine the colors. Whichever color he chose, all odd number players would also play in
the first round, while even numbered seeds would play the opposite. For the Rapid he drew
black, and for the Blitz he drew white.

“It feels strange not to be number one by rating, it bothers me a bit and
I’m going to change it”, Magnus said after the end of the official ceremony.

Blitzaholic Alexander Grischuk, left of Peter Svidler, is rated over 2800 in both modalities

The media was there with a strong presence


Sergey Karjakin with his lovely new bride

Fabiano Caruana is the second seed in the Rapid event, rated only one Elo point behind
Nakamura. In blitz though, he is 180 Elo behind. Seated next to him is Judit Polgar, without
whom the event would hardly be complete.

Pictures from the official site


Links

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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

notyetagm notyetagm 6/16/2014 08:09
Make sure to check out Caruana's demolition of Jobava's French in Round 5.
JamesColeman JamesColeman 6/16/2014 01:26
The given start times of 1PM Paris and 8 am New York don't seem to correlate.

As I write this it's 1.25PM Paris time and 07:25 New York Time. (I checked online)
cycle_paul cycle_paul 6/16/2014 01:12
Is the dubai rapid being broadcast?
1