World Blitz 2015: Grischuk wins third titleby Albert Silver10/14/2015 – After his crushing victory in the World Rapid championship, it seemed as if Magnus Carlsen was going to pulloff a three-peat by securing all three titles a second straight year. However, during the last day of the World Blitz, the worldno. 1 suffered a meltdown that opened the way for the others, and suddenly the title was wide open. It was pure excitementuntil the end.

C h e s s B a s e 1 3 D o w n l o a d

ChessBase 13 is a personal, stand-alone chess database that has become the standardthroughout the world. Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateurnext door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to knowmore about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy your chesseven more.

More...

The playing hall was full to the brim

Today on playchess.com

10/15/2015 – Did you everplay against a Grandmaster?GM Dejan Bojkov plays asimul at 8 pm GMT+1 in theSimultaneous room versusPremium members. The early

bird catches the worm. Become PremiumMember!

News

ChessBase 13 is a personal,stand-alone chess databaseprogram that has becomethe standard throughout theworld. Everyone usesChessBase, from the WorldChampion to the amateurnext door. New functions: ChessBase-Cloud,improved repertoire function etc.

A must-have for every chesslover: More than 6.4 milliongames from 1560 to 2015,more than 68,500 high-classgames analysed by mastersand experts, update servicefor 2016 (for CB 13 users):

5,000 new games every week, classified byopenings, players etc

A must-have for every chesslover: More than 6.4 milliongames from 1560 to 2015,more than 68,500 high-classgames analysed by mastersand experts, update service

for 2016 (for CB 13 users): 5,000 new games everyweek, classified by openings, players etc

ChessBase

playchess.com

www.playchess.comWe are sorry, your browserneeds an update. Please installthe latest version. Werecommend using Chrome orFirefox onWindows/Android/Linux, Safarion iOS. Enjoy your chess!

PLAYCHESS.COMNo registration! No download! »

Close x

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

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 AnotherCarlsen Victory) for everyone to bask in and admire his brilliance. Consider that after ten rounds, Magnus Carlsen andMaxime Vachier-Lagrave stood alone with 9.0/10, a full 1.5 points ahead of everyone else. Granted there were still elevenrounds to go the next day, but the way he had dominated the rapids, and was speeding ahead in the blitz, what else wasone to predict?

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

Victor Bologan shows fromblacks point of view all Anti-Berlin setups as well as howto gain advantage in theBerlin Defence.

Saint Louis and Biel -classical analyses + videosby King, Vachier-Lagrave,Kasimdzhanov, Williams.Tactics, Strategy andEndgame + 14 Openingarticles with new ideas for

your repertoire - look forward to a rich trainingprogramme!

This DVD offers Black acomplete repertoire againstall weapons White mayemploy on move six. Therecommended repertoire isnot as risky as other Siciliansbut still offers Black plenty of

counter-play.

The odd-looking move5….Qe7 is an ideal surpriseweapon against theExchange Variation of theRuy Lopez. Robert Ris takes

a look at possible variations.

AdvertisingBooks, boards, sets:Chess Niggemann

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

The young Spaniard David Anton Guijarro

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

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

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 theday.

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

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

[Event "World Blitz-ch 2015"] [Site "Berlin"] [Date "2015.10.13"] [Round "11.1"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Karjakin,Sergey"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2850"] [BlackElo "2762"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate"2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "GER"] {After a streak of 25 unbeaten games, Magnus Carlsen finally lost a game and whowas his vanquisher? Of course, the 2015 World Cup winner!} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 {The London system has gained a lot ofprominence in this tournament with many of top players like Carlsen and Kramnik essaying it.} d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 {Karjakin goes for the most solid set up not trying to do anything outlandish.} 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6bxc6 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. Nd3 c4 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Nc5 e5 {White might have a nice knight on c5 but he hasn't 0-0 yet andBlack has more center control.} 14. b3 cxb3 15. axb3 Re8 16. O-O Ng4 $1 17. g3 (17. h3 exd4 18. hxg4 dxe3 $1 19. Nde4Qe7 20. fxe3 dxe4 $15 { Gives Black a small edge.}) 17... Qh6 18. h4 Ra7 19. Kg2 (19. Nf3 e4 20. Nh2 $14) 19... Rae7 20.Nf3 e4 21. Nh2 $6 (21. Ne1 {was much better.}) 21... Nxh2 22. Kxh2 g5 $1 {Karjakin doesn't miss an opportunity like this.}23. Rh1 (23. h5 f5 $36) 23... gxh4 24. Kg1 (24. Kg2 h3+ $17) 24... h3 25. Nxa6 Ra7 $1 26. Nc5 Rxa1 27. Qxa1 Bg4 28. Kh2Qf6 29. Qb2 $2 (29. Qe1 $17 {and White is still fighting, although Black is clearly better.}) 29... Qf3 30. Rg1 Ra8 31. c4 {Diagram [#] Black has an absolute killer here! Can you find it?} Kg7 $6 (31... Ra1 $3 {This theme of deflection will end up inmany beginner's books of tactics. Extremely thematic.} 32. Rxa1 (32. Qxa1 Qxf2+ 33. Kh1 Bf3+) 32... Qg2# ) 32. cxd5 cxd533. b4 Rb8 (33... Ra1 $1) 34. Na6 Rb6 35. Nc7 Rxb4 36. Qa2 Ra4 (36... Rb1 $1 {with the same idea as shown in thevariation with 31...Ra1.}) 37. Qb2 Ra5 38. Ne8+ Kg6 39. Nc7 h5 40. Qc2 Kh7 41. Qb2 Qf6 42. Rc1 Qf3 43. Rg1 Qf5 44. Rc1Ra7 45. Ne8 Qf3 46. Rg1 Ra6 47. Qc2 Re6 {The knight is trapped as Nc7 can be met with Rc6. Sergey didn't find this rookto the first rank win on many occasions but his position was so good that he could still beat the World Champion.} 0-1

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

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

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 adraw against Kramnik and then he lost again in round thirteen, this time to Radjabov. It was hard to know what to make of itsince Carlsen has been known to have these chess blackouts even in standard games, with a strong record of miraclerecoveries. When he lost for the third time in six games, now against Alexander Grischuk, it became quite clear the gapwas quickly becoming too large to make up.

Loek Van Wely finished with 9.0/21

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

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 ableto win one, while drawing five. While he continued in the lead, that lead was shrinking and he definitely had challengers. Byround 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 ofwolves at 11.0/16. With five rounds to go, nothing could be less clear.

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

[Event "World Blitz-ch 2015"] [Site "Berlin"] [Date "2015.10.13"] [Round "9.4"] [White "Korobov, Anton"] [Black "Petrosian,Tigran L"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A41"] [WhiteElo "2700"] [BlackElo "2625"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN"8/8/3b4/8/8/2K5/4k1n1/8 w - - 0 95"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "GER"] {The first day of the blitzsaw surprisingly high number of games ending with the material balance that we have on the board. Strong GMs likeSethuraman and Motylev unable to execute the mate with very little time on the clock. It was nice to see Petrosian havingabsolutely no problems in mating his opponent. Let's learn from the Armenian.} 95. Kc4 Ke3 96. Kd5 Bg3 97. Kc4 Nf4 98.Kc5 Ke4 99. Kc6 Bf2 {It always makes sense to place your knight and bishop on the same coloured squares so that theycan control different colours.} 100. Kd6 Kd4 101. Kc6 Nd5 102. Kd6 Bg3+ 103. Kc6 Nb4+ 104. Kb5 Bd6 105. Kb6 Kc4 106.Kb7 { Korobov does the right thing trying to go towards the wrong coloured corner square.} Kc5 107. Ka8 (107. Kc8 Kc6108. Kd8 Nd5 $1 {The knight is on the right circuit. The way I remember this circuit is - the a8 square can only be controlledby a knight and the best square for it to do that is c7. From c7, as we have read in numerous books the right movement is tomove in W shape i.e c7-d5-e7-f5.} 109. Ke8 Ne7 110. Kf7 Kd7 111. Kf6 Bf4 {And this is a typical way to lock the opponent'sking.}) 107... Kc6 (107... Kb6 {would be painful!}) 108. Ka7 Nd5 109. Ka8 Nb6+ {Now Petrosian will push his king to the a1square. From this point onwards you should remember the mating pattern.} 110. Ka7 Bc7 { A waiting move to push the kingto a6 and then control the a7 square with Bb8.} 111. Ka6 Bb8 112. Ka5 Nd5 {The knight moves in the W circuit. Now the b4square is controlled. This is essentially the forking of roads. Beginners are most afraid of Ka4 as then it seems the kingruns away. In the game Korobov went for the other option with Ka6.} 113. Ka6 (113. Ka4 {It seems the king is running awayto freedom but looks how the knight and bishop will co-ordinate to lock the white king.} Kc5 114. Kb3 Nb4 {Taking control ofthe important c2 square and staying on the W circuit.} 115. Kc3 {c2 and d3 are controlled. We only need to protect d2.} Bf4$1 {This is the formation that you must engrave in your head. The knight and bishop control all the squares and White kinghas to retreat.} 116. Kb2 Bd2 {The cage is made smaller.} 117. Kb3 Kb5 118. Ka3 Kc4 119. Ka4 Nd3 120. Ka3 Bb4+ 121.Ka2 (121. Ka4 Nb2#) 121... Kc3 122. Kb1 Kb3 123. Ka1 Kc2 124. Ka2 Nc1+ 125. Ka1 Bc3#) 113... Nb4+ 114. Ka5 Kc5 115.Ka4 Kc4 $1 116. Ka5 Bc7+ {There is no escape. Once again this is a typical move not letting the king get away.} 117. Ka4Bb6 (117... Nd3 {continuing the circuit leads to a similar line as in the game.} 118. Ka3 Bb6 {a waiting move.} 119. Ka4(119. Ka2 Kb4 120. Kb1 Kb3 121. Ka1 Kc2 122. Ka2 Bc5 {and the king is boxed in.}) 119... Nb2+ {The final move in the W.}120. Ka3 Kc3 121. Ka2 Kc2 122. Ka3 Bc5+ {The same pattern.} 123. Ka2 Nd3 124. Ka1 Bd6 {A waiting move} 125. Ka2Nc1+ 126. Ka1 Be5#) 118. Ka3 Nd3 119. Ka4 Nb2+ {Tigran has perfectly executed the W manoeuvre.} 120. Ka3 Kc3 121.Ka2 Kc2 122. Ka3 Bc5+ {The same theme of king above the knight and bishop checking to push the white king.} 123. Ka2Nd3 124. Ka1 Bf8 {A waiting move.} 125. Ka2 Nc1+ 126. Ka1 Bg7# {Great play by Tigran Petrosian who made it look veryeasy!} 0-1

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

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)

[Event "World Blitz-ch 2015"] [Site "Berlin"] [Date "2015.10.13"] [Round "9.2"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2758"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN"4r3/pp5k/1np1r1qp/7p/4R3/2N2P1Q/PP4P1/3R2K1 w - - 0 30"] [PlyCount "2"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry"GER"] {A game of blitz can make you do many illogical things for which you would have no explanation. For example, in thisperfectly fine position, one of the best blitz players of our generation blunders an entire rook.} 30. Rd6 $4 {But why?} Rxd6{There is just no reason. Maybe he thought the e8 rook was undefended or he just saw that Rxe4 was not possiblebecause the queen would be hanging. Such oversights happen all the time in blitz.} 0-1Then it was the Frenchman's turn to falter, and two losses in rounds 18 and 19 saw him caught up by Yuri Vovk, thesurprise of the tournament, Vladimir Kramnik, and Alexander Grischuk, all sharing 13.5/19. Magnus seemed poised tostage a comeback as he was now at 13.0/19, and anything could happen in the last two rounds. Unfortunately for theNorwegian's fans, that is exactly what took place, and he lost a crucial game to Vassily Ivanchuk when he fell into theUkrainian'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 comingin fourth place with a 2827 performance

Entering the final round, the top four spots were quite surprisingly dominated by the older generation of players withKramnik and Grischuk at 14.5/20 and MVL and Ivanchuk at 14.0/20. It was all decided in the last game, when Grischukovercame 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.

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

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

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

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

Final standings after 21 roundsRk SNo Ti. Name FED Rtg Pts TB Perf1 5 GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2814 15,5 2699 28762 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2854 15,0 2727 28773 15 GM Kramnik Vladimir RUS 2763 15,0 2705 28564 10 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2789 14,5 2691 28275 3 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2831 14,5 2642 27756 1 GM Carlsen Magnus NOR 2914 14,0 2720 28377 25 GM Svidler Peter RUS 2726 14,0 2691 28108 7 GM Navara David CZE 2806 14,0 2646 27679 113 GM Vovk Yuri UKR 2566 13,5 2742 282710 66 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam UZB 2641 13,5 2720 281011 4 GM Aronian Levon ARM 2817 13,5 2710 280512 18 GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2743 13,5 2700 279513 28 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier CUB 2717 13,5 2687 278114 12 GM Mamedov Rauf AZE 2777 13,5 2659 275715 17 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2749 13,5 2648 274416 54 GM Ponkratov Pavel RUS 2666 13,5 2608 269417 16 GM Karjakin Sergey RUS 2759 13,0 2720 280018 59 GM Vitiugov Nikita RUS 2655 13,0 2711 277419 37 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 2694 13,0 2683 276120 31 GM Korobov Anton UKR 2705 13,0 2663 274421 11 GM Andreikin Dmitry RUS 2781 13,0 2663 273422 9 GM Anand Viswanathan IND 2791 13,0 2658 273923 36 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2699 13,0 2647 272724 14 GM Fedoseev Vladimir RUS 2765 13,0 2644 272825 23 GM Alekseev Evgeny RUS 2729 13,0 2633 271726 30 GM Malakhov Vladimir RUS 2707 13,0 2596 267927 78 GM Petrosian Tigran L. ARM 2630 12,5 2745 279828 6 GM Radjabov Teimour AZE 2808 12,5 2730 279429 137 GM Gajewski Grzegorz POL 2520 12,5 2704 277330 121 GM Swiercz Dariusz POL 2555 12,5 2666 2718

Click for complete standings

Photos by Pascal Simon

Links

Official tournament siteAll Rapid games in PGNAll Blitz games in PGN

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chessserver Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a freePlaychess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

0 Twittear

Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved toRio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was champion of Rio de Janeiro with a peak rating of 2240, and was a key designerof Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News.

Feedback and mail to our news servicePlease use this account if you want to contribute to or comment on our news page service

TopicsBerlin, 2015 World Blitz

See also

World Rapid 2015: Magnus Carlsen retains his title10/13/2015 – It was an exciting finish to the World Rapid championship, with many thrillingbattles. For some, the event never really took off, while others rose and fell, but MagnusCarlsen gave a vintage performance as he scored a 11.5/15, a full point ahead of the field,and taking the no.1 spot to boot. In second was Ian Nepomniachtchi, and third wasDominguez. Report and analysis. [Discuss]

2015 World Rapid Day 2: Carlsen rises to the top10/11/2015 – Day two of the World Rapid Championship lived up to the expectations withaction galore on all fronts. Sergey Karjakin fell from grace after a great start, while MagnusCarlsen rose steadily to the top, but to end the tale there would be to miss the surprisessuch as Sergei Zhigalko sharing first or Igor Kovalenko’s brilliant attack and miracle save.[Discuss]

DiscussRules for reader comments

User: Password: Not registered yet? RegisterComment:Leave comment

Submit Reset

A very exciting event. I followed some of the games live - pure entertainment! As always, it wasimpressive to see how well these guys play with so little time.

Last but not least, Jan Gustafsson's commentary was priceless.

Congratulations Maguns and Alexander.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov has shown very good results in both of time controls!

Congrats to Grishuk!! Although i find it funny that in his classical games he usually gets in severetimetrouble

@Cyric The link has been fixed.

Depressnyak!

25 people like this. SignUp to see what yourfriends like.

LikeLike ShareShare

Logos 11 hours ago

Wodzu 9 hours ago

horius 8 hours ago

Bertman 4 hours ago

Catastrophe 2 hours ago

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Grischuk beat Carlsen so there is no complaint I could make.

Great event and very entertaining commentary by Jan Gustafsson, really the best commentator.

As mentioned by horius, it is an interesting paradox that a regular winner of blitz championships is oftenin time trouble in classical games.

Maybe it is a false paradox. Maybe, in a classical game, Alexander is confident that he will find the rightmove even if he has not much time left?

© 2013 ChessBase GmbH | Osterbekstraße 90a | 22083 Hamburg | Germany | Privacy policy | Imprint | Contact | Home

Denix 2 hours ago

algorithmy 1 hour ago

Raymond Labelle 53 minutes ago

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com