Following directly on from the Women's World Rapid Championship, which was won by Antoaneta Stefanova, the Women’s World Blitz Championship took place in Batumi, Georgia on 4-5 June.
The format was a 15-round Swiss at a time control of 4 minutes plus 2 second increment, and the reigning European Champion Valentina Gunina destroyed the field to win with an amazing undefeated score of 13/15 points, a full 2½ points clear of her nearest challengers Natalia Zhukova and Anna Muzychuk. Zhukova took second place on superior tie-breaks.
The blitz world champion Valentina Gunina (left) with the rapid world champion Antoaneta Stefanova
.
The top standings in the 2012 World Blitz Championship:
|
Name |
Nat |
Elo |
Pts |
TB1 |
TB2 |
| 1 |
Gunina Valentina |
RUS |
2530 |
13.0 |
116.0 |
133.0 |
| 2 |
Zhukova Natalia |
UKR |
2442 |
10.5 |
113.0 |
129.5 |
| 3 |
Muzychuk Anna |
SLO |
2598 |
10.5 |
110.5 |
129.5 |
| 4 |
Kosteniuk Alexandra |
RUS |
2457 |
10.0 |
113.0 |
131.5 |
| 5 |
Stefanova Antoaneta |
BUL |
2518 |
9.5 |
114.5 |
134.5 |
| 6 |
Dzagnidze Nana |
GEO |
2547 |
9.5 |
112.5 |
132.0 |
| 7 |
Ding Yixin |
CHN |
2353 |
9.5 |
93.0 |
105.0 |
| 8 |
Lahno Kateryna |
UKR |
2546 |
9.0 |
109.5 |
128.5 |
| 9 |
Chiburdanidze Maia |
GEO |
2500 |
9.0 |
108.0 |
127.0 |
| 10 |
Tan Zhongyi |
CHN |
2430 |
9.0 |
102.5 |
119.0 |
| 11 |
Lomineishvili Maia |
GEO |
2366 |
9.0 |
100.0 |
116.0 |
| 12 |
Melia Salome |
GEO |
2410 |
9.0 |
100.0 |
115.5 |
| 13 |
Ushenina Anna |
UKR |
2454 |
9.0 |
99.5 |
116.0 |
| 14 |
Batsiashvili Nino |
GEO |
2436 |
8.5 |
112.0 |
130.5 |
| 15 |
Matnadze Ana |
ESP |
2446 |
8.5 |
101.5 |
118.0 |
| 16 |
Khotenashvili Bela |
GEO |
2500 |
8.5 |
95.0 |
111.5 |
| 17 |
Muzychuk Mariya |
UKR |
2456 |
8.0 |
117.0 |
133.5 |
| 18 |
Cori T Deysi |
PER |
2386 |
8.0 |
112.5 |
131.5 |
| 19 |
Zhao Xue |
CHN |
2549 |
8.0 |
109.0 |
125.5 |
| 20 |
Koneru Humpy |
IND |
2589 |
8.0 |
98.0 |
112.5 |
| 21 |
Mammadova Gulnar |
AZE |
2345 |
8.0 |
97.5 |
111.0 |
| 22 |
Pogonina Natalija |
RUS |
2447 |
8.0 |
92.0 |
105.0 |
| 23 |
Arabidze Meri |
GEO |
2351 |
8.0 |
79.5 |
90.5 |
| 24 |
Huang Qian |
CHN |
2417 |
7.5 |
106.5 |
122.5 |
| 25 |
Paehtz Elisabeth |
GER |
2491 |
7.5 |
99.5 |
113.5 |
| 26 |
Cramling Pia |
SWE |
2478 |
7.5 |
92.5 |
107.0 |
| 27 |
Krush Irina |
USA |
2457 |
7.5 |
89.0 |
101.5 |
| 28 |
Guo Qi |
CHN |
2360 |
7.5 |
86.5 |
101.0 |
.
Here is a brief video summary of the blitz championship:
Picture and video from the official website.