Mamedyarov Tops World Blitz Qualifier
After the main business of the Aeroflot Open was completed in Moscow, a qualification event took place for the 2011 World Blitz which takes place later this year.
The format was a double nine-round Swiss blitz at 3 minutes per game, plus a 2 second increment. Nearly 200 competitors took part!
Azerbaijani Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (pictured) finished clear first with a total of 14.5 points in an impressive display which earned him €10,000.
The other qualifiers are Ruslan Ponomariov, Dmitry Andreikin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Wesley So and Nikita Vitiugov.
Wesley So had earlier dropped out of the Aeroflot Open due to illness, so his strong result will be a welcome tonic for the Pinoy star, who is considering taking a break from chess to pursue his academic studies at a University.
All the results can be found here, but unfortunately the games are not yet available.
The top standings:
| Name | Nat |
ELO | Total | MBch. | Bch. | Wins | |
| 1 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2772 | 14.5 | 74.5 | 95.5 | 7 |
| 2 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2744 | 14.0 | 77.0 | 98.5 | 7 |
| 3 | Andreikin, Dmitry | RUS | 2689 | 13.5 | 77.5 | 100.0 | 6 |
| 4 | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | RUS | 2695 | 13.5 | 74.5 | 94.5 | 6 |
| 5 | So, Wesley | PHI | 2673 | 13.0 | 77.5 | 95.5 | 6 |
| 6 | Vitiugov, Nikita | RUS | 2709 | 13.0 | 70.0 | 89.5 | 6 |
| 7 | Motylev, Alexander | RUS | 2687 | 12.5 | 77.5 | 101.0 | 5 |
| 8 | Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2773 | 12.5 | 75.5 | 96.5 | 4 |
| 9 | Mamedov, Rauf | AZE | 2660 | 12.5 | 75.0 | 98.0 | 5 |
| 10 | Ismagambetov, Anuar | KAZ | 2499 | 12.5 | 71.5 | 91.5 | 6 |
| 11 | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | 2665 | 12.5 | 70.5 | 89.5 | 6 |
| 12 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | RUS | 2733 | 12.5 | 68.5 | 86.5 | 5 |
| 13 | Pridorozhni, Aleksei | RUS | 2543 | 12.0 | 78.5 | 98.0 | 6 |
| 14 | Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2730 | 12.0 | 77.0 | 98.0 | 6 |
| 15 | Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2681 | 12.0 | 69.5 | 89.5 | 5 |
| 16 | Dreev, Aleksey | RUS | 2694 | 12.0 | 68.5 | 87.0 | 4 |
| 17 | Le, Quang Liem | VIE | 2664 | 12.0 | 66.5 | 87.0 | 5 |
| 18 | Malakhov, Vladimir | RUS | 2714 | 12.0 | 66.0 | 85.5 | 4 |
| 19 | Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2776 | 12.0 | 66.0 | 84.5 | 6 |
| 20 | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 2698 | 11.5 | 81.5 | 103.0 | 4 |
| 21 | Papin, Vasily | RUS | 2568 | 11.5 | 77.5 | 100.0 | 3 |
| 22 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2715 | 11.5 | 76.5 | 95.5 | 5 |
| 23 | Predojevic, Borki | BIH | 2626 | 11.5 | 74.0 | 91.5 | 4 |
| 24 | Petrosian, Tigran L. | ARM | 2604 | 11.5 | 73.5 | 93.5 | 5 |
| 25 | Korobov, Anton | UKR | 2670 | 11.5 | 72.0 | 89.5 | 4 |
| 26 | Zhou, Jianchao | CHN | 2655 | 11.5 | 71.0 | 90.5 | 5 |
| 27 | Durarbeyli, Vasif | AZE | 2504 | 11.5 | 71.0 | 87.5 | 5 |
| 28 | Moiseenko, Alexander | UKR | 2670 | 11.5 | 68.5 | 86.5 | 4 |
| 29 | Alavkin, Arseny | RUS | 2393 | 11.5 | 68.0 | 87.5 | 6 |
| 30 | Edouard, Romain | FRA | 2634 | 11.5 | 67.5 | 87.5 | 4 |
| 31 | Salgado Lopez, Ivan | ESP | 2626 | 11.5 | 66.5 | 85.0 | 5 |
| 32 | Zvjaginsev, Vadim | RUS | 2660 | 11.5 | 65.5 | 86.0 | 4 |
| 33 | Khairullin, Ildar | RUS | 2640 | 11.5 | 64.0 | 81.5 | 5 |
| 34 | Zhao, Jun | CHN | 2599 | 11.5 | 59.5 | 75.5 | 5 |
| 35 | Mamedov, Nidjat | AZE | 2580 | 11.0 | 76.5 | 98.5 | 3 |
| 36 | Dlugy, Maxim | USA | 2518 | 11.0 | 76.0 | 96.0 | 4 |
| 37 | Lenderman, Aleksandr | USA | 2549 | 11.0 | 70.5 | 84.5 | 5 |
| 38 | Ovetchkin, Roman | RUS | 2498 | 11.0 | 69.0 | 89.5 | 6 |
| 39 | Yu, Yangyi | CHN | 2607 | 11.0 | 68.5 | 88.5 | 4 |
| 40 | Wen, Yang | CHN | 2509 | 11.0 | 68.0 | 85.5 | 4 |
| 41 | Nakhapetiane, Pogos | RUS | 2469 | 11.0 | 68.0 | 85.0 | 4 |
| 42 | Bologan, Viktor | MDA | 2693 | 11.0 | 64.0 | 82.5 | 4 |
| 43 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | RUS | 2498 | 11.0 | 63.0 | 78.5 | 4 |
| 44 | Kobalia, Mikhail | RUS | 2666 | 11.0 | 60.5 | 76.0 | 4 |
