Magnus Carlsen Wins World Rapid Championship

Humpy Koneru is triumphant in the women's section.

The King Salman World Rapid Championships finished in the VIP zone of the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow on December 28. 205 players took part in the open section and 121 in the women's.

The Norwegian top seed Magnus Carlsen took 11.5 points out of 15 without a single loss and became the world rapid champion for the third time in his career. 

Magnus Carlsen: "The tournament was quite difficult for me, I took some time to keep going and made some draws, so there were some players ahead of me. In general, I am very happy about my performance. I feel I've faced all the best players but I never think I was a kind of lost in any game. That's a really good thing to go 15 games without being lost. I am proud of it. Although these days are very long, it's possible to give you all in all the games. But I think it also helps that I'm better than the others (laughs). But the job is half done for me. I want to win the blitz as well. There is no time to rest on laurels»

Besides, the world champion said that he is happy with the venue and conditions of the WRBC-2019 in the capital of Russia, in particular with a spacious playing hall and a great number of chess fans.  

Alireza Firouzja, who is playing under FIDE flag, Hikaru Nakamura (USA), and Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) are 1 point behind. Thanks to the superior tie-break, Firouzja took the second place, while Nakamura became third. 

The finish of the women's championship turned out to be highly dramatic. In the 12th round, the leader Lei Tingjie (China) lost to Ekaterina Atalik (Turkey) and was caught by the latter and Humpy Koneru (India, who defeated a former world women's champion Tan Zhongyi (China). 

Thus, Lei Tingjie, Humpy Koneru, and Ekaterina Atalik shared the first place with 9 points out of 12. The Chinese and Indian players had superior tiebreak and according to the Regulations determined the champion in the playoff match. 

The players exchanged blows in blitz (Lei Tingjie won the first one but then Koneru store back) which were followed by a sudden death game. Lei Tingjie had the white pieces, however, Humpy Koneru managed to outplay her and made a draw from the position of strength to win the title for the first time in her career. 

Ekaterina Atalik won bronze. The Russians Olga Girya and Natalija Pogonina are trailing by half a point from the medalists.  
 


The King Salman World Blitz Championships will be held in Luzhniki on December 29-30.

The tournament is held with support of Gazprom and General Sports Authority.  

General partner is Saudi Chess Federation. 

Title sponsor of FIDE Women's Rapid and Blitz Championships is Total. 

CFR General Sponsor is PhosAgro. 

Partner is SILA International Lawyers.

Official water is Aquanika.


Official website  

Photos by Lennart Ootes