World Blitz Chess Championship Day 1: Aronian and Assaubayeva Lead

GM Levon Aronian, the Armenian star-player who recently moved to and now represents the United States, finished day one of the World Blitz Chess Championship with 10/12 and in clear first. Behind him are Egyptian GM Bassem Amin, the five-time African champion with 9.5/12, and 21-year-old Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo, with 9/12.

After finishing with a silver medal in the World Rapid Chess Championship, 17-year-old Kazakh IM Bibisara Assaubayeva finished in clear first with 8/9. She is followed by two Indian players: IM R Vaishali, with 7.5/9, and former women's rapid champion GM Humpy Koneru, with 7/9.

The World Blitz Chess Championship will conclude on Thursday, December 30, starting at 5 a.m. Pacific/14:00 Central Europe. 

The marathon event was jam-packed with action as 179 participants in the open section played no fewer than 12 games in one day, and they will play another nine tomorrow. The main story of the day was the rise of the underdog as many of the pre-tournament favorites suffered defeats and were unable to break into the top of the pack.

Whether due to a boom in online chess blitz-play over the pandemic, as players were unable to participate in over-the-board events, or as a response to Carlsen's statement that he wishes to only defend his title against the next generation, many players—young and not-as-young— proved their speed-chess prowess to be equal to established grandmasters.

GM Magnus Carlsen, who peaked at a 2900 blitz-rating at the beginning of the day (his peak was 2986 in December, 2017), lost three games and ended with 8.5/12.

Some viewers may have wondered why the world champion was still seated on board one in every round despite not having the highest score in the tournament. He was seated there to be in proper view of Norwegian news company NKR.

Nevertheless, GM commentators Irina Krush and Jon Ludvig Hammer repeated a similar sentiment throughout the day: "Where are the tournament favorites?" asked the latter, listing several names, including GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk, Alireza Firouzja, among others, "Where are you right now?" Indeed, not one of these players sits above 8.5/12 by Wednesday's end.

Where are the tournament favorites?
—GM Jon Ludvig Hammer

Carlsen, who lost the opportunity to win the rapid world title amid controversy, hoped to redeem himself in the blitz tournament. These hopes were dampened as he first lost to GM Bartosz Socko in round five, where the Polish grandmaster won a piece in a Catalan middlegame on move 30 after Carlsen blundered with 29...Qxe4??. Although Socko was the last player with a perfect score, and led sole first on 5/5 later, he went on to lose four games.

The following round, Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev forged a lethal counterattack with the white pieces. Hammer called him the "Magnus Slayer" on the broadcast after this game. Fedoseev had a decent ending to the day, considering how things are going for top players, with 8.5/12.

Finally, Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat the Norwegian in the ninth-round game, described as "one of the worst games we have seen today" by Hammer, with Krush adding it was "not the kind of game that you would expect from those players." Both super-grandmasters made mistakes starting on move six and continued to make some minor errors until Carlsen slipped with a serious blunder on move 25.

...not the kind of game that you would expect from those players.
—GM Irina Krush

Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who had just won the world rapid title the day prior, was unrecognizable on Wednesday as he lost no fewer than five games. The disaster started with and only snowballed after his loss to Bosnian GM Denis Kadric, who won in only 22 moves. Despite even having a chance to beat Nakamura later, but failing to win with an extra piece in round eight, Kadric finished the day with 6.5 points.

Aronian, the ultimate leader of the open section, took down many big names including Grischuk in round eight, Jan-Krzysztof Duda in round nine, Fedoseev in round 10, and Daniil Dubov in round 12.

While all impressive, the flashiest game had to be his against the Polish number-one, where castling turned out to be a blunder for the latter, and Aronian was able to trade his queen for three minor pieces and a decisive attack.

Amin, who will play Aronian with the white pieces in the first round tomorrow, earned his highest scalp today against French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, receiving a surprising blunder-gift.

Of course, as one would expect in a blitz tournament, some unusual openings were showcased even in such an important event, although not many. Nepomniachtchi won against Russian GM Sanan Sjugirov after playing a King's Gambit and Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov defeated Mamedyarov after employing the Evans Gambit. We also had, fittingly, the Polish Opening (also known as the Sokolsky or Orangutan) played by Fedoseev.

It should also be included that, after the controversy surrounding the tiebreaks the previous day, FIDE published the following tweet.

As per decision made at the FIDE Council meeting on December 27, a playoff has been introduced for the Candidates Tournament and the Women's Candidates Tournament, to be played in the case of a tie for first place. pic.twitter.com/qRgFMDwTt9

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 29, 2021

2021 World Blitz Championship | Round 12 Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

All World Blitz Championship Games