5 months ago
The world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, recovered from a bid of mishaps to triumph some nan World Rapid and Blitz crowns astatine Doha, Qatar, past weekend. The world victories were nan 19th and 20th of nan Norwegian’s illustrious profession and whitethorn springiness him nan separator successful nan longstanding statement connected whether he, Garry Kasparov, aliases Bobby Fischer is chess’s all-time top master.
Peerless endgame method was cardinal to nan 35-year-old Norwegian’s blitz success. He won a knight ending pinch Black against Nodirbek Abdusattorov from a position which elite grandmasters would usually person instantly agreed to halve, and besides scored successful different endings of bonzer subtlety.
In betwixt nan moments of sublime elegance, location were immoderate episodes which threatened to derail Carlsen’s campaign. He blundered rook for bishop and nan crippled against Vladislav Artemiev successful nan rapid, past near nan building and swatted nan camera of a photographer who approached excessively near.
Final starring World Rapid scores were Carlsen 10.5/ 13, Artemiev (Russia, metallic medal) and Arjun Erigaisi (India, bronze), some 9.5. The Rapid clip power was 15 minutes each for nan full game, positive a 10 seconds per move increment. First prize was €70,000.
The World Blitz had 19 rounds of 3 minutes positive 2 seconds per move games, followed by semi-finals and last for nan apical 4 players. Carlsen blundered a rook against Fabiano Caruana, lost connected clip to Erigaisi aft fumbling a piece, and was connected nan brink of elimination aft information 14, erstwhile he spilled respective pieces connected nan committee and was adjudged to person forfeited connected clip to Haik Martirosyan earlier he could switch them.
Carlsen past needed 4 wins and a tie to suffice for nan knockout stage, yet remained assured and continued his argumentation of aiming for endgames at each opportunity. He defeated Uzbekistan’s Abdusattorov 2.5-1.5 successful their last match, and earned different €70,000.
At nan closing property conference, Carlsen stated that he expects to play 2 aliases 3 classical events during 2026. Translated, this astir apt intends Norway Chess astatine Stavanger, nan Olympiad successful Uzbekistan, and nan European Club Cup aliases nan Sinquefield Cup successful St Louis. Asked which of his 20 world titles had been nan hardest, he said nan lucifer against Sergey Karjakin successful 2016.
Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina won nan World Women’s Rapid aft a tie-break pinch China’s Zhu Jiner. Bibisara Assaubayeva hit Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk 2.5-1.5 for nan World Women’s Blitz. At property 21, it was already nan Kazak star’s 3rd world blitz title.
Several blunders successful nan World Blitz had a communal characteristic – overlooking a backward diagonal seizure by a queen aliases bishop. Remember this method adjacent clip you person a mislaid position successful your chess.com aliases lichess blitz crippled – it tin prevention you half a constituent aliases more.
There were nary British competitors successful nan World Rapid aliases Blitz, but an English region champion had a notable result. Talab Rami, who won nan Cornwall Championship 2 years agone aged 10 and represents Syria internationally, scored 5.5/ 13 successful nan Rapid, defeating 2 IMs for a TPR of 2325, and 7/19 successful nan Blitz, defeating 3 GMs and 3 IMs, for a TPR of 2350. Both were acold supra Rami’s charismatic standing successful nan debased 2000s. The Truro schoolboy besides performed astatine 2300+ successful nan caller Coventry international, truthful this was nary fluke and places Rami up pinch nan champion English juniors aft GM Shreyas Royal.
4005: 1 Rxc6+! Kxc6 (if Qxc6 2 Qxg8 wins) 2 d5+! and if Qxd5 3 Be4 aliases Kxd5 3 Bf7 some triumph Black’s queen.
