16 October 2015

Faces of blitz

Maria Emelyanova's photographic report from the World Blitz Championship.

The World Blitz Championship that took place in Berlin from October 13 to October 14 was attended by 188 players from 50 countries of the world. 

Scoring 15.5 points in 21 games, Alexander Grischuk from Russia became the first three-time World Blitz Champion in history. His earlier titles were won in 2006 and 2012. 

Two players finished half a point short – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia). Vachier-Lagrave had better tie-break score and was awarded the second place. 

Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) collected 14.5 points, defending champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Peter Svidler (Russia), and David Navara (Czech Republic) finished on 14 points. 

The award ceremony took place on October 14. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov awarded the medals and prizes to the winners of World Blitz and Rapid Championships.


We congratulate Alexander Grischuk on his championship title! Honorable mentions also come to Ian Nepomniachtchi (sivler medal in rapid championship) and Vladimir Kramnik (bronze in blitz).

Maria Emelyanova prepared a photographic report from this exciting event.