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The World Blitz Championship is being held from 16 to 18 November at the GUM
Department Store on Red Square in Moscow. It is a double round robin with
twenty players, eight of whom are participants of the Tal Memorial, with
others who qualified from the 2010 Aeroflot tournament and seeded players.
Starting time is 15:00h local (= 13:00h CET; 07:00 a.m. NY), the rate
of play three minutes for all the moves plus a two second increment per
move. There is live game coverage and video on the official site.
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Third day: Aronian wins with half a point lead
Teimour Radjabov was the biggest danger to the leading Levon Aronian in the
final rounds. After 36 games the Armenian was 1.5 points ahead of his Azeri
rival, and two ahead of last year's winner Magnus Carlsen. In round 37, the
penultimate, Radjabov lost with black to Sergey Movsesian, while Carlsen drew
against Ian Nepomniachtchi. Aronian's loss (with the white pieces) to Sergey
Karjakin did not change the fact that he was now unassailable, a point and a
half ahead of the other two.
The only question was: who would finish second. Magnus drew against Alexander
Grischuk, while Radjabov beat Boris Gelfand to take second place behind Levon
Aronian, who was the sole winner despite a terrible loss to Peter Svidler in
the final round.
Progression table for the last five rounds
# |
Name |
R34 |
R35 |
R36 |
R37 |
R38 |
| 1 |
Aronian,
Levon |
23.5 |
23.5 |
24.5 |
24.5 |
24.5 |
| 2 |
Radjabov,
Teimour |
21.0 |
22.0 |
23.0 |
23.0 |
24.0 |
| 3 |
Carlsen,
Magnus |
20.5 |
21.5 |
22.5 |
23.0 |
23.5 |
| 4 |
Gelfand,
Boris |
20.5 |
21.0 |
21.0 |
21.5 |
21.5 |
| 5 |
Nakamura,
Hikaru |
18.0 |
19.0 |
20.0 |
21.0 |
21.5 |
| 6 |
Karjakin,
Sergey |
17.5 |
18.5 |
19.5 |
20.5 |
20.5 |
| 7 |
Kramnik,
Vladimir |
18.5 |
19.5 |
20.5 |
20.5 |
20.5 |
| 8 |
Mamedyarov,
Shakhriyar |
16.5 |
17.5 |
17.5 |
18.5 |
19.5 |
| 9 |
Svidler,
Peter |
16.0 |
17.0 |
18.0 |
18.5 |
19.5 |
| 10 |
Eljanov,
Pavel |
17.0 |
17.0 |
17.0 |
18.0 |
19.0 |
| 11 |
Grischuk,
Alexander |
17.5 |
17.5 |
18.5 |
18.5 |
19.0 |
| 12 |
Mamedov,
Rauf |
15.5 |
15.5 |
16.0 |
17.0 |
18.0 |
| 13 |
Nepomniachtchi,
Ian |
17.0 |
17.0 |
17.0 |
17.5 |
18.0 |
| 14 |
Vachier-Lagrave,
Maxime |
16.5 |
17.5 |
18.0 |
18.0 |
18.0 |
| 19 |
Caruana,
Fabiano |
13.0 |
13.5 |
13.5 |
13.5 |
13.5 |
| 20 |
Ponomariov,
Ruslan |
12.5 |
12.5 |
12.5 |
12.5 |
12.5 |
| 15 |
Movsesian,
Sergei |
16.5 |
16.5 |
16.5 |
17.5 |
17.5 |
| 17 |
Grachev,
Boris |
14.5 |
14.5 |
14.5 |
15.5 |
16.5 |
| 16 |
Andreikin,
Dmitry |
14.5 |
15.5 |
15.5 |
16.5 |
17.5 |
| 18 |
Savchenko,
Boris |
13.5 |
13.5 |
14.5 |
14.5 |
15.5 |
Final standings (after 38 rounds)
# |
Name |
Fed. |
rtng |
pts. |
wins |
S.B. |
| 1 |
Aronian, Levon |
ARM |
2801 |
24.5 |
20 |
433.50 |
| 2 |
Radjabov, Teimour |
AZE |
2744 |
24.0 |
18 |
447.00 |
| 3 |
Carlsen, Magnus |
NOR |
2802 |
23.5 |
19 |
431.75 |
| 4 |
Gelfand, Boris |
ISR |
2741 |
21.5 |
17 |
398.75 |
| 5 |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
USA |
2741 |
21.5 |
17 |
397.50 |
| 6 |
Karjakin, Sergey |
RUS |
2760 |
20.5 |
15 |
396.00 |
| 7 |
Kramnik, Vladimir |
RUS |
2791 |
20.5 |
16 |
384.50 |
| 8 |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
AZE |
2763 |
19.5 |
17 |
362.25 |
| 9 |
Svidler, Peter |
RUS |
2722 |
19.5 |
13 |
361.00 |
| 10 |
Eljanov, Pavel |
UKR |
2742 |
19.0 |
16 |
345.00 |
| 11 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
RUS |
2771 |
19.0 |
12 |
348.50 |
| 12 |
Mamedov, Rauf |
AZE |
2660 |
18.0 |
14 |
333.75 |
| 13 |
Nepomniachtchi, Ian |
RUS |
2720 |
18.0 |
13 |
326.25 |
| 14 |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
FRA |
2703 |
18.0 |
12 |
349.50 |
| 15 |
Movsesian, Sergei |
SVK |
2721 |
17.5 |
16 |
315.25 |
| 16 |
Andreikin, Dmitry |
RUS |
2683 |
17.5 |
13 |
314.25 |
| 17 |
Grachev, Boris |
RUS |
2654 |
16.5 |
10 |
313.00 |
| 18 |
Savchenko, Boris |
RUS |
2632 |
15.5 |
14 |
286.25 |
| 19 |
Caruana, Fabiano |
ITA |
2709 |
13.5 |
11 |
249.25 |
| 20 |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
UKR |
2744 |
12.5 |
7 |
235.25 |
Full report with pictures and videos to follow...
Streaming video coverage
If you feel like it you can follow the entire action of the round four
and a half hours of streaming video coverage provided by the organisers.
Notze that there is a maximize button which you can use for a spectacular view
on a high-res monitor. Get beer and pretzels. And learn Russian!
Pictures from the Blitz World Championship in Moscow
By Anastasiya Karlovich
The Red Square in Moscow in the night
The event took place in the Red Square mall GUM
At the start of the event FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov handed
over the Chess Oscar for the Best Player of 2009 to Magnus Carlsen
... who does interviews with the press afterwards
Cricket expert, TV aficionado, super-GM, dude: Peter Svidler had a great
start at this event
Conversation on the side: Ian Neponiachtchi, Peter Svidler and Alexander
Grischuk
Young chess fans waiting for the action to begin
Bring it on! Rauf Mamedov waiting for Magnus Carlsen
... who arrives in great spirits and demolished him in 42 moves
Arbiter Faik Gasanov starts the clock for a top game (which was drawn in 25
moves)
Spectators could follow the action on large flatscreens
Live coverage as a video feed provided by the Russian Chess Federation
Magnus is losing?? Move 69 in the game Vachier-Lagrave vs Carlsen, which ended
1-0
Move 36 in the game Sergey Karjakin vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, which ended
in a perpetual
US GM Hikaru Nakamura gives a young Russian fan his autograph
I know how to handle this kid! Boris Gelfand won both games against Magnus Carlsen
The following pictures are taken from the video feed of the Russian
Chess Federation
Aronian being interviewed for Russian TV after his victory at the World
Blitz
At the prize giving ceremony at the end of the Blitz Championship
Sergey Karjakin speaks to the players and spectators
Magnus Carlsen receives his third prize
In second place: GM Teimour Radjabov from Azerbaijan
And the winner: Levon Aronian from Armenia
And finally players and dignitaries collect together for a group photo
Links
The games were broadcast live on
the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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