World Chess Championship Blitz & Rapid Inauguration Ceremony Today in Astana

The chess world is going to witness the first-ever World Chess Championship in Rapid and Blitz formats of the sport in Astana, Kazakhstan. The head of the country of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev will officially declare open the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Astana today - July 5.

The inauguration ceremony would be held in Astana at the Radisson hotel and would include the drawing of colours for the pairings. Not only is the format exciting, but so is the line-up of players: the strongest in the world.

Read more »

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

Read more »