Uzbekistan's Magnus Carlsen aims to defend his World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship title, from December 26th to 30th.
Carlsen has won 15 world championships in various chess categories, including standard, rapid, and blitz, not to mention the Chess World Cup. Last year in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the Norwegian player won a double title in rapid and blitz chess. This time, he is again the top seed at the 2023 World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Magnus Carlsen with his World Rapid and Blitz Chess titles in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on December 30, 2022. Photo: FIDE
The rapid chess tournament will take place over three days, from December 26th to 28th, with 13 rounds using the Swiss system. In each round, players have 15 minutes plus 10 seconds after each move. The tournament begins today, December 26th, at 5 PM Hanoi time.
Carlsen is the only player in the tournament with a rapid chess Elo rating above 2,800. The reigning world standard chess champion, Ding Liren, has the highest rapid chess Elo rating, but he is not participating in Uzbekistan this time.
In addition, the tournament was missing top 10 standard chess players such as Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin, and Leinier Dominguez. Nakamura explained that the travel from the US to Uzbekistan was expensive, and he also wanted to spend the holiday with his family.
Firouzja's reason is that he is focusing on standard chess to improve his Elo rating and earn a spot in the 2024 Candidates Tournament, even though the French player initially registered to go to Uzbekistan. Karjakin, on the other hand, has not focused on his chess career since being banned from competing last year for political reasons.
However, Carlsen will still find it difficult to defend his title, as the tournament still features big names like world runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi, world number two Fabiano Caruana, and former champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Dutch player Anish Giri also has ambitions to win the tournament, in order to qualify for the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
Vietnam did not have any players participating in the tournament due to travel costs. Last year, only Le Tuan Minh represented Vietnam in Kazakhstan, where he finished 22nd in rapid chess and 55th in blitz chess. The prize fund for the rapid chess tournament is $350,000, with $60,000 for the champion and $1,500 for the player in 35th place.
The 2023 World Blitz Chess Championship also took place at the same location, from December 29th to 30th, with 21 rounds using the Swiss system. Players had three minutes per game, plus two seconds after each move.
Xuan Binh
Source link
Comment (0)