World Blitz Chess Champion 2012 is Alexander Grischuk of Russia

Russia continues to rule the chess world. Not only the World Rapid Chess Champion 2012 belongs to them, but now even the World Blitz Chess Champion 2012. Alexander Grischuk won the World Blitz Chess Champion 2012 title in Astana, Kazakhstan on Monday - half-a-point ahead of World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. 

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Carlsen 'Chuks' It; Karjakin is World Rapid Chess Champion 2012

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen going into the third day at the Astana World Rapid Chess Championship 2012 'chuk'ed his title win with back-to-back losses to Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Grischuk in the 12th and 13th rounds. In fact, he came close to losing the last round as well against Veselin Topalov.

The three winners: Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria (third), Sergey Karjakin of Russia (World Champion) and Magnus Carlsen (second).

Russia's Sergey Karjakin - with only one loss to Magnus Carlsen - steady performance and quality chess is the new World Rapid Chess Champion. Karjakin quickly got over his Carlsen debacle to post four wins on the final day!  

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Magnus Carlsen Unstoppable at World Rapid Chess Championship in Astana

World No. 1 Norway's Magnus Carlsen is going to run away with the World Rapid Chess Championship currently on in Astana, Kazakhstan. Magnus Carlsen is leading with a massive 1.5-point lead with 8.5/10. Five games had been played on Day. Karjakin and Carlsen were in joint lead at the beginning of second day's play. By the end of the day, Karjakin had lost two games against Mamedyarov and Carlsen. Carlsen, earlier in the day, drew with Gelfand and Dreev, but beat Mamedyarov and Tkachiev as well.

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World Rapid Chess Championship Day 1 Today: Karjakin, Carlsen Lead After Five Rounds

The world's best players are in Astana for the first-ever World Rapid Chess Championship that began today in Kazakhstan. Five rounds were played on the first day of the tournament. Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen both notched up four wins and a draw each to lead the field with 4.5 points each.

Karjakin's wins came against Gelfand, Tkachiev, Ismgambetov and Grischuk plus a draw against Topalov in round 5. Carlsen picked up wins against Kazhgaleyev, Morozevich, Bologan, Kurnosov and a draw against Svidler in the third round.

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Igor Kurnosov, Alexey Dreev, Vladislav Tkachiev Qualify for World Rapid Chess 2012

GM Igor Kurnosov has won the qualifier of the World Rapid Chess Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan. He was already leading on the first day and finished the qualifier with a point ahead of the rest of the field. Second place was shared by four players, but 2nd and 3rd on tiebreak were Alexey Dreev and Vladislav Tkachiev, who also qualified for the World Rapid Chess 2012 finals.

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World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2012 Begin in Astana - Magnus Carlsen Top Seed; Gelfand is Playing

The qualifiers to the World Rapid Chess Championship 2012 and World Blitz Chess Championship have begun in Astana Kazakhstan. In fact, the championships of 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 2835
02. Teimour Radjabov 2784
03. Sergey Karjakin 2779
04. Alexander Morozevich 2769
05. Vassily Ivanchuk 2764
06. Alexander Grischuk 2761
07. Veselin Topalov 2752
08. Peter Svidler 2741
09. Boris Gelfand 2727
10. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2726

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Magnus Carlsen in his Blog on Winning 7th Tal Chess Memorial in Moscow

World's strongest chess player Magnus Carlsen of Norway has just won the 7th Mikhail Tal Chess Memorial in Moscow with an exciting last-round win. Carlsen's blog is a sponsoring agreement between Arctic Securities and the Magnus Carlsen. Magnus became an International Grandmaster at the age of 13, the youngest at the time.

After Tal Memorial, Carlsen will get the super-strong rating of 2837! He is surpassed only by the legendary Garry Kasparov who reached a rating of 2851 in January, 2000.

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World Chess Blitz/Rapid Player's List Released; Ruslan Ponomariov on His Exclusion

Full list for Astana World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, 1-11 July 2012.

Qualifiers by rating for finals (6-10 July)
01. Magnus Carlsen 2835
02. Teimour Radjabov 2784
03. Sergey Karjakin 2779
04. Alexander Morozevich 2769
05. Vassily Ivanchuk 2764
06. Alexander Grischuk 2761
07. Veselin Topalov 2752
08. Peter Svidler 2741
09. Boris Gelfand 2727
10. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2726

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