Carlsen Wins World Blitz Championship, Assaubayeva Defends Ladies’s Title

After a blinding begin on day one Nakamura had no time to relaxation on his laurels with quite a lot of the world’s finest gamers respiration down his neck. Two attracts in rounds 13 and 14, each of which had been “Berlin attracts,” allowed Carlsen to catch him. GMs Anish Giri and Daniil Dubov additionally closed the hole to half a degree.

Carlsen very practically misplaced his first recreation of the match towards GM Richard Rapport in spherical 14 in one of many wildest encounters of the occasion. The sport was stuffed with twists and turns and the analysis bar swung like a pendulum because the gamers navigated the imbalanced middlegame. Three promotions at totally different levels of the sport meant that 5 queens graced the board through the 71-move duel which finally led to a victory for the Norweigian.

Standard Youtuber Antonio Radic (finest referred to as Agadmator) described the sport as a “bar struggle,” whereas others described it on Twitter as one of the best craziest blitz recreation that they had ever seen.

Carlsen vs Rapport recreation was a bar struggle pic.twitter.com/VgDR040iMa

— agadmator (@agadmator) December 30, 2022

Leads to spherical 15 went towards the grain with each of the leaders dropping their video games towards Russian opponents. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was in a position to outplay the world champion on the white aspect of a Ruy Lopez: Berlin Protection and located himself with a sizeable edge after 40 strikes. Having spent all of his time attempting to defend towards the world championship challenger, Carlsen surprisingly misplaced on time.

In the meantime, Nakamura was conquered by GM Vladislav Artemiev with black after declining a draw, a consequence which allowed three gamers to hitch the favorites within the lead.

Martirosyan introduced himself as a title contender in spherical 16 when he knocked over the damaging GM Vladimir Fedoseev, propelling him to 13/16. Remarkably, the Armenian GM’s video games till this level had all been decisive, and wins over Dubov, Keymer and quite a few 2600+ gamers had already made this a match to recollect.

Retaining tempo with the leaders proved too troublesome in spherical 17 primarily attributable to the truth that the 22-year-old needed to fend off none aside from Nepomniachtchi with the black items. A typical Berlin culminated in an opposite-colored bishop ending the place Martirosyan took his first draw of the match. Carlsen and Nakamura each gained as soon as once more, this time seeing off GMs Fabiano Caruana and Dmitry Andreikin in convincing video games with the black items.

With 4 rounds to go, it was anticipated that the leaders would proceed to play towards opponents ranked effectively inside the highest 20 on the earth, however as destiny would have it, Carlsen ended up going through the world quantity 1366, 16-year-old IM Mukhiddin Madaminov. The gifted Uzbek (rated 2333 in blitz) had accrued 11.5/17 and earned himself the showdown of a lifetime on board one. Though Madaminov did finally lose to Carlsen, he put up an enormous struggle and had the match chief sweating at a number of moments.

Spherical 18 proved to be an necessary one when it comes to the standings as Nakamura sensationally misplaced to three-time Titled Tuesday winner GM Alexey Sarana. The win barely got here as a shock to viewers who had observed that the Russian bruiser had gained 9.5 out of the final 10 factors on supply after beginning the match with an underwhelming 3/8 rating.

Sarana was not but completed carving up the match’s high gamers and adopted up with a win towards Carlsen within the nineteenth spherical. Sarana clearly did his homework on find out how to sort out the world number-one’s Queen’s Gambit Declined and used his central management to exert strain on Carlsen. A decisive blunder on transfer 21 ended the sport shortly in favor of the underdog who grew to become the one participant to beat each the primary and second seeds within the occasion.

Alexey Sarana began the World Blitz Championship with a 3/8 rating…

He is simply defeated each Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, and is on a ten.5/11 streak! 🔥🔥#RapidBlitz pic.twitter.com/FJtjk28oeC

— Chess.com (@chesscom) December 30, 2022

The barnstorming run from Sarana lastly got here to an finish within the penultimate spherical the place the overachieving Martirosyan ended his possibilities of medal competition. The consequence did not essentially make issues any simpler for Carlsen who solely held a one-point buffer on the finish of the spherical attributable to two of his closest chasers, Nakamura and GM Jan-Krzysztof-Duda, profitable their video games. 

Duda, who had a modest 8/12 begin, snuck up on the leaders and timed his run to perfection. A clear win over Andreikin in spherical 20 introduced him to inside a whisker of first place with one spherical to go.

The ultimate spherical pairings could not have been scripted any higher with Carlsen enjoying Abdusattorov whereas Nakamura and Duda each obtained the white items towards lower-rated opponents (GM Pentala Harikrishna and Sarana). 

Though the chasing pack was favored on paper to win their final video games, commentator Trent reminded viewers that “when his future is in his personal fingers, Carlsen appears to tug by means of,” and the ultimate spherical noticed Carlsen quash any likelihood of being caught by demolishing Abdusattorov’s Ruy Lopez: Morphy Protection in simply 38 strikes and confirmed the championship.

GM Rafel Leitao has unpacked our recreation of the day which was undoubtedly one of the necessary encounters of the match.

The strain clearly bought to the gamers who had an opportunity to usurp Carlsen earlier than the twenty first spherical and Duda’s loss meant that he fell off the rostrum solely. Nakamura was lucky to attract his encounter with Harikrishna and was left rueing in one more world blitz championship that he had come agonizingly near profitable. Martirosyan appeared as an alternative to embrace the match scenario and scored one other upset win over Caruana which catapulted him into equal second.

Carlsen picked up one other $60,000 for his second title of the week whereas Nakamura and Martirosyan bagged $45,000 every for his or her efforts. The rest of the $350,000 prize fund was shared between fourth to thirty fifth place.

MAGNUS DOES IT AGAIN! 🏆🏆

Congratulations to @MagnusCarlsen for profitable his SIXTH World Blitz Championship, and finishing the #RapidBlitz double! 👏🔥 pic.twitter.com/wugr79B7d9

— Chess.com (@chesscom) December 30, 2022

2022 World Blitz Chess Championship | Ultimate Standings (High 20)

All World Blitz Chess Championship Video games

After ending the primary day with a good 6.5/8, Shuvalova determined to up the ante on day two and ran riot, scoring 4.5/5 towards a number of the match’s largest contenders together with GMs Aleksandra Goryachkina, Harika Dronavalli, defending champion Assaubayeva, and IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh. The sport towards the Khadelmalsharieh was beautiful and showcased the boa-constrictor-like type of Shuvalova.

GM Valentina Gunina additionally began the day effectively, dispatching GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in spherical 10 however suffered from a whole lapse of kind in the course of the day, dropping 4 rounds in a row and dashing any likelihood of profitable her second world blitz title.

GM Tan Zhongyi was her normal constant self on day two and whereas she suffered a couple of setbacks by the hands of Dronavalli, Assaubayeva, and Koneru, her outcomes had been optimistic sufficient to maintain her in medal competition for your complete occasion.

A query mark over Assaubayeva’s title probabilities appeared after she butchered a profitable place and misplaced to GM Elisabeth Paehtz within the first spherical of the day. Nonetheless, a return of the tenacity seen in her championship-winning run final 12 months reared its head as soon as extra.

Terribly, solely a single loss to Shuvalova would befall Assaubayeva within the ultimate eight rounds of the occasion, and the defending champion, spurred on by an internally raucous dwelling crowd on the Baluan Sholak Palace of Tradition and Sports activities, went on to win all the remaining video games.

The Kazakh IM’s astounding run was marked by blinding pace and tranquility beneath strain that the reigning champion grew to become well-known for in 2021. Though eighth-seed GM Nana Dzagnidze‘s Queen’s Gambit Declined appeared to be positive, she quickly grew to become the sufferer of one among Assaubayeva’s most reducing assaults, finally succumbing to the strategic brilliance of the 18-year-old.

By the point the seventeenth and ultimate spherical got here round it was clear that nobody had introduced the identical quantity of attacking power as Assaubayeva to the ultimate day, however an skilled Tan did discover herself on the identical rating (12/16) with one recreation to go. Each gamers drew troublesome Indian pairings, Koneru-Tan, and Dronavalli-Assaubayeva, and the strain was on each gamers to win to safe the title.

Luckily for Assaubayeva, she saved her finest blitz till final and put strain on Dronavalli’s clock, sustaining a 20-second benefit all through the sport. The place heading for a draw round transfer 30, however the Indian challenger misjudged a perpetual test and ended up giving up a bishop without spending a dime! Dronavalli performed on for some time, maybe attempting to maintain her countrywoman Koneru impressed as she cruised to victory in her recreation towards Tan.

Unable to outlive after the blunder, Dronavalli resigned and it dawned on Assaubayeva that she had accomplished one of the troublesome title defenses in world chess.

Congratulations to Bibisara Assaubayeva on profitable back-to-back Ladies’s World Blitz Championships! 👏🏆

She ended on a five-game profitable streak to take the world title in her dwelling nation! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/FYywX8obzc

— Chess.com (@chesscom) December 30, 2022

For her first-place end, Assaubayeva will obtain $40,000, Koneru will obtain $30,000, and Shuvalova and Tan will every obtain $17,500.

2022 Ladies’s World Blitz Chess Championship | Ultimate Standings (High 20) 

All Ladies’s World Blitz Chess Championship Video games

The 2022 FIDE World Blitz Championship is an elite over-the-board occasion that includes one of the best pace chess gamers on the earth. Masters and nationwide champions from across the globe collect to compete in a Swiss match for his or her share of the $350,000 prize fund.

Classical world champion Carlsen, adopted by pace chess legends Nakamura, Duda, and Vachier-Lagrave head the sector and will likely be challenged by quite a few different 2700+ gamers. 

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