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Dubov, Nepomniachtchi Punished As 6 Lead; Gunina Dazzles With 8.5/9
Gunina dominated day one of the World Blitz with a powerful 8.5/9 start. Photo: Anastasia Korolkova/FIDE.

Dubov, Nepomniachtchi Punished As 6 Lead; Gunina Dazzles With 8.5/9

VSaravanan
IM VSaravanan
| 75 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Vladislav Artemiev, Magnus Carlsen,  Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi, and Alexander Riazantsev scored nine points apiece to share the lead at the end of day one of the 2023 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship. The sixth-round game between GMs Andrew Hong and Yu Yangyi saw a dispute when Hong complained of a clock malfunction, resulting in an hour's delay before the seventh round. That meant the action stretched to 10 p.m. at night in Samarkand, leaving the players visibly tired towards the end.

GMs Daniil Dubov and Ian Nepomniachtchi were penalized with a 0-0 score for their "unusual" way of playing out a draw with only knight moves, thus losing half a point each and being downgraded from the leading pack.

In the most dominating performance of the day, GM Valentina Gunina powered to a point-and-a-half lead over the rest of the field at 8.5 points from nine games. She is trailed by GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, IM Anastasia Bodnaruk, and GM Kateryna Lagno, all on seven points each. 

The 2023 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship ends on Saturday, December 30, starting one hour earlier at 4 a.m. ET/10:00 CET/2:30 p.m. IST.

Thrill Of Blitz

Blitz tournaments are spectators' delights, and even a tournament of such strength had its share of entertainment. In the very first round, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov suffered a curious spot of blindness.

44.a6?? leaves the white queen overloaded, and White suffers material loss after 44...Bxg3 45.Kh1 Bxf2 46.Rxg6 and Black was winning.

Even worse came from a player considered to be one of the best in the world in online blitz, Nihal.

In a clearly better position, Nihal's 39...Bf3?? allowed the basic tactic 40.Ne6+ Kf6 41.Nxg5 after which Black was in difficulties, though he managed to salvage a draw.

Commentator GM Robert Hess helped enjoy a typical tragicomic moment with a quick one-liner.

There were many such moments of tactical mishaps, but probably the most heartbreaking of them was suffered by Kosteniuk. Achieving a clear advantage in the queen ending, she decided to walk her king up the board to aid her passer to promote.

Carlsen is an obvious tournament favorite, who also knows his fun in his blitz games. His start of the third round left GM Viswanathan Anand quite amused.

"The first few games are not so easy. Especially after playing Rapid, finding rhythm is not so easy, so I am happy!" Carlsen confessed after a start of 4.5/5. The rhythm indeed wasn't entirely smooth, as he had a curious moment of blindness against GM Jakhongir Vakhidov in the second round.

Carlsen's 20...Rhb8?? could have lost him the game, if Vakhidov had found 21.Be4 here, winning an exchange. However, White continued with 21.Rab1?, and the game ended in a draw after 42 moves.

When asked about the skills needed to be good at blitz, Anand opined: "Blitz is about feeling. It's about that feeling for the game that you have from all your life." One such moment of courage helped GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov create an amusingly original idea.

Anand called White's decision to play Kh2-g3-g4-h5 followed by Nh4-f5 and g2-g4 as "lock the door and throw away the key!" to protect the white king. The subsequent position was equal, but probably Caissa deserved to smile at Rakhmanov for his creativity.

Rakhmanov (right) playing against Rapport—"lock the door and throw away the keys." Photo: Anastasia Korolkova/FIDE.

The most dramatic incident of the day was in the 11th round, in Artemiev's game against GM Sanan Sjugirov, played on the third board.

After the natural 58...Nd6 the position could be defended. But with just two seconds on the clock, Sjugirov suddenly continued 58...Ke6??, which is obviously an illegal move. Not realizing the mishap, Artemiev too continued with 59.Nxe4 and he went on to win the game and even jump into the joint lead with this win.

The Turning Point

The seventh round was delayed when GM Andrew Hong lost on time against GM Yu Yangyi but claimed a clock malfunction. Hong claimed that he had made a move and pressed the clock, but after a few seconds saw that his clock had flagged even though his opponent had not made any move.

Curiously, Hong revealed that he was asked not to sign any document, probably meaning he was asked not to make it an official protest. Hong speculated on the reason as, "...FIDE, they don't want to delay the rounds, easier for them to shove this under the rug—kinda ridiculous."

After an hour-long deliberation, the game was awarded in favor of Yu.

Andrew Hong with the arbiters. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

This decision was later explained by FIDE.

This unfortunate disruption of about an hour seemingly played a big part in the subsequent course of the event. The players seemed to get tired, resulting in many yawns on the board and short draws towards the end of the day.

The Weary Warriors

Late into the evening, strange things happened in Samarkand, when friends happened to face each other on the board, even if they happened to be top boards.

This game was from the eighth round after Artemiev had captured the lead on 6.5/7, after holding Carlsen to a draw in the previous round with the black pieces. Just when another big fight on the top board was expected, the players agreed to a draw after just two moves.

And an even stranger incident happened in the Dubov-Nepomniachtchi "immortal".

But, as we shall see soon, this had major consequences.

The 12th and last round of the day was the worst, as three of the top four boards ended in draws in no time, the tired players deciding to retire for an early dinner rather than fighting it out on the board.

2023 FIDE World Blitz Championship

While it took Carlsen a little while to pick up steam, it was Artemiev who dazzled early in the tournament to reach a perfect score after six rounds with a win over GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. His win against GM Anton Smirnov was a beautiful positional achievement and our Game of the Day, analyzed by GM Dejan Bojkov below.

Commentator GM Peter Leko had real praise for Artemiev's play: "Artemiev's style is so similar to Magnus... his moves have perfect harmony—it's almost like music, watching his games, when he gets his structures."

But he seemed to be losing steam afterward, caught up by Carlsen and Dubov by round nine, and he even had his first defeat against Nihal in the tenth round. The game featured one of the most curious sights on the chessboard.

Understandably, this is where we say a moment's prayer for the knight on h8, especially in a crucial game that happened on the second board.

Dubov came to the top with an impressive win over Praggnanandhaa in the seventh round.

But as the day got longer and players got tired, the games featured many little inaccuracies, which happened even for two of the players who fought in a World Chess Championship match not long ago.

14.c5? was a blunder here, which allowed 14...Bxc5, as 15.dxc5 Qxd2 16.Bxd2 Rxe2 sees Black win a pawn. When Nepomniachtchi pointed out the blunder, Carlsen's reaction was obviously one of exasperation.

We finally end with a brilliant fight of wills between GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and his fellow countryman GM Aydin Suleymanli. Such a complicated game cannot be played perfectly in a blitz tournament. What warrants praise is the high level of fighting spirit and courage shown by both the players.

Mamedyarov scored an exciting win over fellow countryman Suleymanli. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

2023 World Blitz Championship | Round 12 Standings (Top 20)

Ranking Seed Title Name FED Rtg Pts.
1 3 GM Artemiev, Vladislav 2799 9
2 1 GM Carlsen, Magnus 2887 9
3 11 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2748 9
4 20 GM Nihal, Sarin 2689 9
5 14 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2729 9
6 42 GM Riazantsev, Alexander 2621 9
7 8 GM Dubov, Daniil 2763 8.5
8 78 GM Sjugirov, Sanan 2569 8.5
9 74 GM Tabatabaei, M. Amin 2573 8.5
10 59 GM Murzin, Volodar 2591 8.5
11 4 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2795 8.5
12 49 GM Shimanov, Aleksandr 2611 8.5
13 16 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2716 8.5
14 5 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2775 8
15 105 GM Makhnev, Denis 2528 8
16 17 GM Sarana, Alexey 2707 8
17 41 GM Tsydypov, Zhamsaran 2626 8
18 82 GM Narayanan, S L 2564 8
19 25 GM Radjabov, Teimour 2664 8
20 39 GM Indjic, Aleksandar 2631 8

(Full standings here.)

2023 FIDE Women's World Blitz Championship

The 2023 Women's World Blitz Championship was a thorough Gunina show. She dazzled from early on, and effortlessly dominated the event from the very start. In many games, she came up with simple tactics to further her advantage and smoothly won with error-free play.

2023 Women's World Blitz Championship | Round 9 Standings (Top 20)

Rk. Seed Title Name Fed Rating Points
1 24 GM Gunina, Valentina 2348 8.5
2 7 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2455 7
3 12 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2420 7
4 48 IM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 2260 7
5 60 IM Garifullina, Leya 2216 7
6 3 GM Lagno, Kateryna 2522 7
7 15 IM Mammadzada, Gunay 2408 6.5
8 63 WGM Munkhzul, Turmunkh 2211 6.5
9 6 GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra 2475 6.5
10 87 WFM Shukhman, Anna 2093 6.5
11 5 IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara 2476 6
12 40 IM Narva, Mai 2292 6
13 32 WGM Divya, Deshmukh 2315 6
14 25 IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 2348 6
15 36 WIM Omonova, Umida 2304 6
16 27 IM Salimova, Nurgyul 2343 6
17 16 GM Stefanova, Antoaneta 2398 6
18 77 WIM Mkrtchyan, Mariam 2150 6
19 22 GM Danielian, Elina 2352 6
20 33 WGM Kamalidenova, Meruert 2314 6

(Full standings here.)

Gunina defeated defending champion Assaubayeva in the fourth round en route to a 7/7 start. Photo: Anastasia Korolkova/FIDE.

The Anti-Climax

Just when the day ended, we had an announcement from FIDE that the draw between Dubov and Nepomniachtchi was being penalized by the chief arbiter with a 0-0 result.

The decision was appealed against, but the appeal was rejected.

Dubov and Nepomniachtchi were thus downgraded by half a point apiece, to 8.5/12, and eight leaders had become six. Nepomniachtchi didn't seem to take it too badly, all things considered.

Both players are just half a point off the lead, and may feel some extra motivation for the nine rounds ahead. 

How to watch?

You can watch the 2023 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on Twitch and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page: World Blitz | Women's World Blitz.

The live broadcast was hosted by GMs Robert Hess and Peter Leko.

The FIDE World Blitz Championship is an over-the-board event that determines the FIDE World Blitz open and women's champions. The event starts on December 29 at 5 a.m. ET/11:00 CET/3:30 p.m. IST and features a $500,000 prize fund.

The current rapid and blitz chess champion Carlsen will attempt to defend his titles in a stacked field including Nepomniachtchi, Duda, Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, and many more 2700+ players.

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