Roller coaster results in day 1 (videos)
The World Blitz Chess Championship, taking place 16-18 November, 2010, in Moscow, had an exciting start. Day 1 witnessed multiple surprises, action games, stunning comebacks, and flying chess pieces – all the needed ingredients for a strong blitz championship.
After 14 rounds, a total of ten players are withing 2,5 points difference. Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian are sharing the first place, with Mamedyarov only 0,5 points behind. With 24 rounds remaining any player can grab the first place and the medals.
Follow the live games here – starting at 13:00 CET (15:00 local time).
Magnus Carlsen got off a fantastic start with victory against his arch rival in blitz – Hikaru Nakamura, followed by wins against the ex World Champions Ponomariov and Kramnik, and Sergei Movsesian. Just when everyone thought Carlsen is on a roll to an easy first place in day 1, the junior champion Vachier-Lagrave and the World Cup winner Boris Gelfand stole two consecutive points away from the chess prodigy. Carlsen recovered again with wins against Caruana, Karjakin, Mamedov, Svidler, and a draw against Aronian, and just then surprisingly he lost against Grachev to bring up yet another lock at the top of the table.
Aronian had a random start – draw, lose, win, draw, win, win, draw, draw to leave him with only 5,0/8, a full point behind the temporary leader Svidler. Then Aronian completed one of the longest winning streaks of the day defeating Mamedov, Grachev, Andreikin, Savchenko, and Nepomniachtchi. Everyone thought the Armenian will for sure have the lead, but Nakamura stole a full point in the last round, leaving Aronian with the same points as Carlsen.
Mamedyarov, currently third only 0,5 points behind the leaders, had a strong 6,0/7 start. Then he also got on the roller coaster and registered 3 wins, 1 draw, and 3 loses to the end.
Kramnik and Svidler, sharing 4th with 8,5 points, had different paths through the day. Vladimir Kramnik never achieved more than two consecutive wins, however, he did not register more than two consecutive loses either. Svidler had a great start, but a draw, loss, draw, loss, draw streak in the end did not let him climb to the leaders position.
Nakamura, considered one of the favorites before the start of the World Blitz Chess Championship, started with 3 losses in a row. Despite the victory in round 4, he continued with yet another lost game and one draw, registering a 1,5/5 start. Winning games 10-14 was a relief for Nakamura, and with 24 games coming in the next days he can aspire to top positions again, being 2,5 points away from the leaders.
Scroll down for full standings of the day.
If you ever wondered why the live games transmission had critical errors at times, check out the following videos from day 1 of the World Blitz Chess Championship.
(Videos from the World Blitz 2009 here)
Standings
1 GM Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2802 10
2 GM Aronian, Levon ARM 2801 10
3 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2763 9.5
4 GM Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2791 8.5
5 GM Svidler, Peter RUS 2722 8.5
6 GM Gelfand, Boris ISR 2741 8
7 GM Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2742 7.5
8 GM Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2760 7.5
9 GM Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2771 7.5
10 GM Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2741 7.5
11 GM Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2744 7
12 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian RUS 2720 6.5
13 GM Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2709 6.5
14 GM Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2744 6.5
15 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA 2703 6
16 GM Grachev, Boris RUS 2654 5.5
17 GM Movsesian, Sergei SVK 2721 5
18 GM Andreikin, Dmitry RUS 2683 5
19 GM Savchenko, Boris RUS 2632 4.5
20 GM Mamedov, Rauf AZE 2660 3
All videos by bumblebee1607
