World Mind Games: Grischuk, Gunina Win Rapid
Alexander Grischuk and Valentina Gunina are the winners of the rapid chess tournament at the World Mind Games.
Grischuk won the men's section with 5/7, half a point more than Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Hao, Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Gunina scored 5.5/7 and finished ahead of Hou Yifan (5 points) in the women's section.
The seventh edition of the World Mind Games, the fourth organized by SportAccord, takes place December 11-17 in Beijing.
This multi-sport event includes five mind sports: bridge, chess, draughts, go and xiangqi (Chinese chess).
As always, the chess part is divided into two sections. Usually it's "open" and "women's," but at this tournament the "open" is apparently men's only!
It involves three tournaments: rapid, a blitz and “Basque.” The latter was introduced last year and involves playing two games simultaneously.
The participants in Beijing are Alexander Grischuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Hao, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vassily Ivanchuk, Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand, Leinier Dominguez, Peter Leko, Radek Wojtaszek, Etienne Bacrot, Ruslan Ponomariov, Pentala Harikrishna and Teimour Radjabov.
The women's section has Valentina Gunina, Hou Yifan, Anna Ushenina, Nana Dzagnidze, Anna Muzychuk, Elisabeth Paehtz, Tatiana Kosintseva, Mariya Muzychuk, Antoaneta Stefanova, Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue, Harika Harika Dronavalli, Bela Khotenashvili, Koneru Humpy, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Pia Cramling.
The rapid tournament was played on Thursday and Friday. It was a seven-round Swiss; the time control was 20 minutes plus 10 seconds increment.
The first prize in the men's section (a very decent U.S. $18,000) was won by Alexander Grischuk. Also in the women's section there was a winner from Russia: Valentina Gunina, who pocketed $10,000.
After the first day of play one of the local grandmasters topped the standings: Chinese #4 Wang Hao. An excellent score, taking into account that he had already played top seed Grischuk! Here's his game from round one:
In round four, the two Wangs played each other, and it was nowhere near a friendly draw:
A crazy game from that first day was the following:
Speaking of king marches:
And what about this one?
Friday was somewhat disappointing for the local fans as Wang Hao and Wang Yue only scored two points in their remaining six games.
The tournament saw a remarkable finish: Grischuk and Wang Hao were both on 4.5/6 with one round to go. Grischuk played a 15-move draw with Ian Nepomniachtchi, which was enough for gold as Wang Hao lost to Levon Aronian!
That was a pretty nice win for the Armenian number one:
2014 World Mind Games | Rapid Chess (Men) | Final Standings
| Rank | SNo. | Title | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2828 | RUS | 5 |
| 2 | 12 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2728 | FRA | 4.5 |
| 3 | 14 | GM | Wang Hao | 2719 | CHN | 4.5 |
| 4 | 2 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2813 | ARM | 4.5 |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2739 | AZE | 4.5 |
| 6 | 4 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2801 | RUS | 4 |
| 7 | 3 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2811 | UKR | 4 |
| 8 | 7 | GM | Wang Yue | 2765 | CHN | 3 |
| 9 | 13 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2719 | ISR | 3 |
| 10 | 8 | GM | Dominguez Perez Leinier | 2763 | CUB | 2.5 |
| 11 | 6 | GM | Leko Peter | 2773 | HUN | 2.5 |
| 12 | 16 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2684 | POL | 2.5 |
| 13 | 11 | GM | Bacrot Etienne | 2731 | FRA | 2.5 |
| 14 | 10 | GM | Ponomariov Ruslan | 2738 | UKR | 2.5 |
| 15 | 15 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2701 | IND | 2.5 |
| 16 | 5 | GM | Radjabov Teimour | 2776 | AZE | 2 |
The women's section saw a similar scenario: Nana Dzagnidze was leading with 3.5/4 after the first day, but eventually shared third after a loss and two draws on Friday. Valentina Gunina's finish of 3/3 was good for the first prize though!
This was the crucial game, played in the penultimate round:
2014 World Mind Games | Rapid Chess (Women) | Final Standings
| Rank | SNo. | Title | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts |
| 1 | 6 | GM | Gunina Valentina | 2552 | RUS | 5½ |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Hou Yifan | 2600 | CHN | 5 |
| 3 | 10 | GM | Ushenina Anna | 2489 | UKR | 4½ |
| 4 | 7 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2547 | GEO | 4½ |
| 5 | 8 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2546 | UKR | 4 |
| 6 | 11 | IM | Paehtz Elisabeth | 2485 | GER | 4 |
| 7 | 9 | GM | Kosintseva Tatiana | 2505 | RUS | 3½ |
| 8 | 13 | IM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2445 | UKR | 3½ |
| 9 | 3 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2578 | BUL | 3½ |
| 10 | 5 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2555 | CHN | 3½ |
| 11 | 12 | GM | Zhao Xue | 2485 | CHN | 3 |
| 12 | 15 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2421 | IND | 3 |
| 13 | 16 | GM | Khotenashvili Bela | 2407 | GEO | 2½ |
| 14 | 1 | GM | Koneru Humpy | 2611 | IND | 2 |
| 15 | 4 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2577 | RUS | 2 |
| 16 | 14 | GM | Cramling Pia | 2443 | SWE | 2 |
More info
- Games in PGN via TWIC: Men | Women
- World Mind Games Newsletter
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.
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