Gunina Wins Women's World Blitz Title
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
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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 |
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Here is a brief video summary of the blitz championship:
Picture and video from the official website.
