Written and annotated by: @febloh

The World Fast and Blitz Chess Championship is famend as one of the vital thrilling and broadly adopted chess occasions globally, attracting the best Grandmasters yearly.

The championship unfolded on the Samarkand Congress Heart, from December twenty fifth to December thirtieth. Samarkand, the third largest metropolis in Uzbekistan, is steeped deeply in historical past and tradition. Believed to be one of many oldest cities on the earth, Samarkand has been a significant centre of commerce and cultural alternate for over 2500 years, incomes it the nickname “Crossroad of Cultures.” It was a vital cease alongside the traditional Silk Street, connecting East and West.

The occasion boasted a powerful complete prize fund of 1 million US {dollars}, with $700,000 allotted to the Open class and $300,000 devoted to the Girls’s part.

All annotated video games on the very finish of the report

Fast

Magnus Carlsen, the world’s primary chess participant, has as soon as once more etched his title into the annals of chess historical past by efficiently retaining his World Fast Chess Championship title. This outstanding achievement marks Carlsen’s fifth conquest within the realm of Fast Chess. Within the Girls’s part, IM/WGM Anastasia Bodnaruk has ascended to the throne because the newly topped Girls’s World Fast Chess Champion.

Open Fast

Credit: Anastasia Korolkova/FIDE

Carlsen’s triumph was nothing wanting masterful, with him amassing a commanding 10 factors from 13 video games, together with seven victories, six attracts, and an unblemished file in defeats. His unwavering consistency positioned him on the pinnacle of a formidable area, consisting of 150 gamers. Carlsen’s victory not solely secured his declare to the title but in addition earned him the celebrated first-place prize of $60,000.

After a sluggish begin, drawing GM Nikita Petrov (MNE) within the first spherical, Carlsen received 5 consecutive video games and by the conclusion of the tenth spherical, he stood alone atop the leaderboard, sustaining a slim half-point lead over his closest opponents. He clinched the title with a well-judged draw within the remaining spherical towards the Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa.

Vladimir Fedoseev, who trailed Carlsen by a mere half-point and had a window of alternative to catch up within the remaining spherical, selected the trail of a fast draw towards Dmitry Andreikin, finally clearing the way in which for Carlsen’s victory.

https://lichess.org/research/0nFNefJO/QOwLaKLI#0

Fedoseev versus Carlsen

You will discover the detailed outcomes right here.

Girls’s Fast

Within the girls’s division, Anastasia Bodnaruk claimed her first world championship title by prevailing over India’s Humpy Koneru in a tiebreaker conflict, securing victory with a rating of 2.5:1.5. The gold medal garnered her a considerable prize of $40,000.

With a powerful rating of 8.5/11, Anastasia Bodnaruk, Lei Tingjie, and Humpy Koneru collectively occupied the highest three positions after the final spherical. As a consequence of higher tiebreaks, Bodnaruk and Koneru proceeded to have interaction in a tense playoff, with Koneru rising victorious within the first sport however faltering of their subsequent encounters. After profitable the second sport, the tiebreaker finally tilted in Bodnaruk’s favor, following a dramatic draw within the third sport and a regrettable blunder by Koneru – induced by time constraints – within the fourth.

You will discover the detailed outcomes right here.

Blitz

The 2023 World Blitz Chess Championships got here to an thrilling finish, with Magnus Carlsen profitable his seventh World Blitz title, making it his seventeenth (!) World Crown. Within the Girls’s event, Valentina Gunina had an unstoppable run and secured her second Blitz title regardless of battling with lupus.

Open Blitz

Magnus Carlsen emerged victorious within the Blitz, scoring 16 factors out of 21 video games. Daniil Dubov secured second place with 15.5 factors whereas Vladislav Artemiev, who led for many of the event, completed third not far behind with 15 factors. Nonetheless, Dubov’s quest for the title was marred by a peculiar incident involving a “dance with the knights” (Nepo posted a hyperlink to the well-known classical piece composed by Sergei Prokofiev after Day 1 of Blitz concluded https://twitter.com/lachesisq/standing/1740836196358742316) together with his compatriot, Ian Nepomniachtchi. Each gamers engaged in a sport the place their knights traversed the board with out transferring any pawns or different items.

After twelve strikes, the knights returned to their preliminary positions. The sport was later deemed as prearranged by the chief arbiter, resulting in nullification (sport being scored as 0-0 ). (Chessbase India caught this notorious encounter on tape, the place one can see the gamers discussing their delicate plan proper earlier than the sport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVaNGOaWmDo If not for that incident, Dubov may have tied with Carlsen. However, Dubov carried out effectively on the second day, incomes his well-deserved second place end.

Carlsen skilled his sole defeat (of the entire event!) on the ultimate day, succumbing to the Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Nonetheless, Carlsen bounced again with a powerful streak of six consecutive victories. Surprisingly, he solely took the lead in spherical 18, as Vladislav Artemiev had dominated the event since day one.

This victory marks a big achievement for Carlsen, as he replicated his success from the earlier version of the World Fast and Blitz Championships in 2022, held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

You will discover the detailed outcomes right here.

Girls’s Blitz

Credit: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

Russia ́s Valentina Gunina dominated the Girls’s Blitz event, racking up 14 factors from a complete of 17 video games. Alexandra Kosteniuk, now representing Switzerland, claimed the second spot with 13.5 factors whereas China’s Zhu Jiner secured third place with 12.5 factors.
This marks Valentina Gunina’s second Blitz championship victory, together with her preliminary win courting again to 2012. All through every spherical, Gunina maintained a slim lead, carefully pursued by the previous Girls’s World Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk. A crucial second of the event was absolutely when Gunina received the direct encounter towards Kosteniuk in Spherical 6. You will need to add that Valentina Gunina has been affected by Lupus (an autoimmune dysfunction) which makes her achievement much more outstanding. She talked about that chess acts like a distraction for her, serving to to deal with her illness.

China’s Zhu Jiner secured the Bronze Medal with 12.5 factors, displaying nice combating spirit and profitable seven out of eight video games throughout the second day of the Blitz occasion.

You will discover the detailed outcomes right here

In regards to the creator

Felix Blohberger is an Austrian Grandmaster from Vienna, Austria. He earned the Worldwide Grasp title in 2018 and the Grandmaster title in 2022. He’s the winner of a number of European youth occasions in addition to Austrian Championships. His finest event outcomes embrace profitable the St. Louis Spring Traditional B in 2023, in addition to tying for 1st with 7.0/9 within the 2021 Prague Worldwide. He’s at present working as a chess coach, creator and participant.

Chosen annotated video games

https://lichess.org/research/0nFNefJO/QOwLaKLI#0

https://lichess.org/research/0nFNefJO/wARQfzzd#0

https://lichess.org/research/0nFNefJO/qxjMQnoE#0

https://lichess.org/research/0nFNefJO/VOrDeZBy#0

https://lichess.org/research/0nFNefJO/STrp07pd#0