"VAN" (Sports Desk - 06.08.2024) :: With a dominant performance in the tournament, last year's World Rapid winners claimed another title, this time in the Blitz, coming out on top among 40 teams featuring top players from around the globe. In the finals, WR Chess defeated the Indian squad MGD1, who took the silver.
This year's event saw the debut of The World Blitz Team Championship alongside the World Rapid. In the 2023 edition in Dusseldorf, only the rapid championship was held. The intense one-day event saw 40 teams compete for the World Blitz Championship and a prize fund of 100,000 Euros.
The Blitz Championship had two parts – the pool stage and the knockout stage. Only 16 teams out of 40 advanced to the playoffs: the top three in each pool and the best team among all teams that finished in 4th place in the pools. With the time control of three minutes plus a two-second increment per move, the players had to think and move quickly. The scoring mirrored the rapid format, with two match-points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss.
WR Chess got off to a good start. In Pool A, they dominated all their competitors, including GMHans.com, led by Hans Niemann. There was little uncertainty for WR in the knockout stages. First, they faced an easy challenge against Mongolia's Hunnu Air, defeating them both times with 4.5:1.5. Then, in the quarter-finals, they had their second encounter of the day with GMHans.com. While Magnus Carlsen did not play, WR took the first match with a narrow victory but came back much more confident in the second, entering the semi-finals with a 5.5:0.5 victory.
In the semi-finals, WR was up against a team they had a score to settle with: Chessy, who knocked them out of the lead on the first day of the World Rapid. Magnus Carlsen avenged his loss in the rapid against Richard Rapport, defeating him convincingly in the first knockout match. In the rematch, Chessy had a chance to stage a comeback: Anna Muzychuk had a significantly better position against Alexandra Kosteniuk but misplayed and lost. The match was tied, which meant WR Chess moved on to the finals, where they played MGD1.
The Indian squad of MGD1 came to Astana with the similar lineup they had in the World Rapid Team in 2023. In Dusseldorf, they won bronze in the World Rapid, but in this year's event, they finished fifth. The Blitz Championship was their big chance. They had a great run in the pool stage, winning all their matches. In the knockouts, they started with a strong performance against the local team of Astana-2. The first big challenge for them came in the quarter-finals against the Ashdod Chess Club from Israel. Not even their compatriot, Nihal Sarin, who played the first board for Ashdod, could do much to stop MGD1, who had the most convincing results of all the teams in the quarter-finals.
The first serious challenge for MGD1 came from World Rapid winners Al-Ain, who got to the semis by eliminating the Decade China team in the tiebreaks. Both matches ended in tense 3:3 draws, which meant that the finalist was decided in the third round. MGD1 came out strong from the beginning of the round, creating better positions on all boards. In the end, they reached the finals in style by defeating Al-Ain 5.5:0.5 in the playoffs.
This meant that WR would face MGD1 in the finals, a match where the 2023 World Rapid winners faced the 2023 World Rapid bronze medalists.
The Blitz finals
In the first round of the finals, WR's top player, Magnus Carlsen, played as Black on the top board against India's No. 1 player, Arjun Erigaisi. Carlsen ended up with an exchange down and a poor position where he could do nothing more but resign. WR also lost on the non-professional board. However, the team then struck back on other boards, scoring 3.5 out of four, winning the match. Things could have easily gone the other way as WR's Jan-Krzysztof Duda had a lucky escape from a lost position against Narayanan and ended up winning.
In the second round of the finals, the WR team was the first to score: Ian Nepomniachtchi had a lucky break as Black against Raunak Sadhwani, who blundered an even endgame. MGD1 made a comeback on the final board. In a wild game on board five, Alexandra Kosteniuk emerged victorious against Harika Dronavalli, giving an edge to WR Chess. But Narayanan won, leveling the score. On board four, Pranav had a winning endgame against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
It all came down to the duel on board one between Carlsen and Erigaisi. All WR needed was a draw. It seemed that the world number one player got into difficulties again, but as the game progressed, he took control of the position. Carlsen didn't want to draw but to win and finish the tournament in style. Ultimately, that was the case. The round ended in a tie, 3:3, but that was enough for WR to claim the title of World Blitz Team Champions.
The best performers
Apart from team medals, individual players were also awarded for their performance in the Rapid. Magnus Carlsen took the gold for best performance on the first board, silver went to Erigaisi while the World Champion Ding Liren from Decade China took the bronze.
Apart from board one, WR Chess took the gold for the third board as well (Duda). Decade China took as many as three gold medals – for the second board (Wei Yi), women's board (Ju Wenjun) and the non-professional board (Pang Bo).
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