World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2012 begin in Astana

The qualifiers to the World Rapid Chess Championship 2012 and World Blitz Chess Championship have begun in Astana Kazakhstan. In fact, the championships for this format of chess tournament are being held for the first time in the history of chess. The championships will be held in Astana from July 1-11. The top ten players of the current FIDE rating list were invited to take part in the event. Kazakhstan had nominated Murtas Kazhgaleyev and Anuar Ismagambetov in rapid chess and Pavel Kotsur and Rinat Dzhumabayev in blitz. Three winners of the blitz and rapid qualifiers would receive an entry into the finals. World Chess Champion India’s Viswanathan Anand qualifies according to rating, but is not playing. However, his challenger, Israel’s Boris Gelfand is playing.

Qualifiers by rating for finals (6-10 July)

01. Magnus Carlsen 283502. Teimour Radjabov 278403. Sergey Karjakin 277904. Alexander Morozevich 276905. Vassily Ivanchuk 276406. Alexander Grischuk 276107. Veselin Topalov 275208. Peter Svidler 274109. Boris Gelfand 272710. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2726Nominee of FIDE PresidentEhsan Ghaem Maghami 2578

Two players for each event are nominated by the host organisers – Kazakhstan Chess Federation

RAPIDKazhgaleyev, Murtas 2595Ismagambetov, Anuar 2478

BLITZJumabayev, Rinat 2556Kotsur, Pavel 2548

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bbKecSLAC7k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nABQbits_oA

Five rounds were played on the first day for the qualifying in the rapid section with GM Igor Kurnosov taking lead with four points. He is closely followed by GM Dmitry Andreikin, GM Alexander Moiseenko, GM Vladislav Tkachiev, GM Alexey Dreev, and GM Nikolai Chadaev who have 3.5/5. GM Kuderinov, GM Gagunashvili, GM Le Quang Liem, and GM Anton Filipov are with 3.0/5.

Here are the results of the first day of the World Rapid Blitz qualifier.

Round 11 Andreikin, Dmitry – Papin, Vasily 0,5-0,52 Neverov, Valeriy – Moiseenko, Alexander 0,5-0,53 Le, Quang Liem – Kuderinov, Kirill 1_04 Iulda?hev, Saidali – Dreev, Alexey 0-15 Tkachiev, Vladislav – Khusnutdinov, Rustam 1_06 Rychagov, Andrey – Jumabayev, Rinat 1_07 Kotsur, Pavel – Mankeyev, Rauan 0,5-0,58 Akkozov, Berik – Kurnosov, Igor 0-19 Aleksandrov, Aleksei – Igambergenov, Alibek 1_010 Saduakassova, Dinara – Chadaev, Nikolai 0,5-0,511 Gagunashvili, Merab – Minko, Vladimir 1_012 Akhmetov, Ayan – Filippov, Anton 0-1

Round 21 Aleksandrov, Aleksei – Le, Quang Liem 1_02 Dreev, Alexey – Gagunashvili, Merab 0,5-0,53 Filippov, Anton – Tkachiev, Vladislav 0-14 Kurnosov, Igor – Rychagov, Andrey 1_05 Mankeyev, Rauan – Andreikin, Dmitry 0-16 Moiseenko, Alexander – Saduakassova, Dinara 1_07 Papin, Vasily – Kotsur, Pavel 0-18 Chadaev, Nikolai – Neverov, Valeriy 1_09 Jumabayev, Rinat – Akkozov, Berik 1_010 Kuderinov, Kirill – Igambergenov, Alibek 1_011 Minko, Vladimir – Iulda?hev, Saidali 0-112 Khusnutdinov, Rustam – Akhmetov, Ayan 1_0

Round 31 Tkachiev, Vladislav – Kurnosov, Igor 0,5-0,52 Andreikin, Dmitry – Aleksandrov, Aleksei 1_03 Kotsur, Pavel – Dreev, Alexey 0-14 Gagunashvili, Merab – Moiseenko, Alexander 0,5-0,55 Le, Quang Liem – Chadaev, Nikolai 0-16 Rychagov, Andrey – Kuderinov, Kirill 0,5-0,57 Khusnutdinov, Rustam – Filippov, Anton 0,5-0,58 Iulda?hev, Saidali – Jumabayev, Rinat 1_09 Saduakassova, Dinara – Papin, Vasily 0-110 Neverov, Valeriy – Mankeyev, Rauan 1_011 Akkozov, Berik – Minko, Vladimir 1_012 Igambergenov, Alibek – Akhmetov, Ayan 1_0

Round 41 Dreev, Alexey – Tkachiev, Vladislav 0,5-0,52 Chadaev, Nikolai – Andreikin, Dmitry 0,5-0,53 Kurnosov, Igor – Aleksandrov, Aleksei 0,5-0,54 Moiseenko, Alexander – Iulda?hev, Saidali 0,5-0,55 Kotsur, Pavel – Gagunashvili, Merab 0-16 Kuderinov, Kirill – Neverov, Valeriy 1_07 Filippov, Anton – Rychagov, Andrey 1_08 Papin, Vasily – Khusnutdinov, Rustam 0,5-0,59 Jumabayev, Rinat – Le, Quang Liem 0-110 Igambergenov, Alibek – Akkozov, Berik 0,5-0,511 Mankeyev, Rauan – Saduakassova, Dinara 0-112 Akhmetov, Ayan – Minko, Vladimir 1_0

Round 51 Tkachiev, Vladislav Chadaev, Nikolai 0,5-0,52 Andreikin, Dmitry Dreev, Alexey 0,5-0,53 Gagunashvili, Merab Kurnosov, Igor 0-14 Aleksandrov, Aleksei Moiseenko, Alexander 0-15 Iulda?hev, Saidali Filippov, Anton 0,5-0,56 Khusnutdinov, Rustam Kuderinov, Kirill 0,5-0,57 Le, Quang Liem Papin, Vasily 1_08 Rychagov, Andrey Saduakassova, Dinara 1_09 Akkozov, Berik Kotsur, Pavel 0-110 Neverov, Valeriy Igambergenov, Alibek 1_011 Akhmetov, Ayan Jumabayev, Rinat 0-112 Minko, Vladimir Mankeyev, Rauan 0-1

You can watch the live broadcast of the event daily at the official website of the World Blitz and Rapid Chess Championships 2012.