Carlsen Is World Blitz Champion

Magnus Carlsen is the World Blitz Champion after a strong performance on the final day which saw him extend his lead over Vishy Anand to three points at the close of play.

A win by Carlsen over Anand in round 38 virtually sealed the victory for the young Norwegian with a few rounds to go.  He eventually finished on 31 points out of a possible 42, with Anand in a clear second place on 28 points. Karjakin held on to third place with 25 points, just half a point ahead of Kramnik.

During the tournament, Carlsen beat Anand, Karjakin and Kramnik 2-0!  Nice work!

The World Blitz Championship was instituted comparatively recently in 1987, and has only become a fairly regular fixture in the last few years.  Vassily Ivanchuk won in 2007, and Leinier Dominguez won last year.  This year's tournament was certainly the strongest to date!

The scores of all the games played can be found here, with detailed results from each round available here, including full cross-tables.  Once again, a few games from the third and final day can be replayed below.

The final standings were: