Hikaru Nakamura won just 2 games in the World Rapid Championship in Almaty, but on Day 1 of the World Blitz he won 8 to take a 1-point lead and give himself every chance of winning his first ever World Rapid or Blitz title. Magnus Carlsen is among the 5-player chasing pack after making a dramatic late arrival midway through Round 1, still dressed in casual gear. Ian Nepomniachtchi would also fall foul of the dress code.
Talk about making an entry! | photo: Lennart Ootes, FIDE
The 1st day of the World Blitz Championship is a marathon, with 12 rounds in the Open section and 9 in the Women's, but Magnus Carlsen took things a bit too literally as he found himself running to the board and making his move 2 minutes and 30 seconds after his clock had been started — a serious handicap given the players only receive 3 minutes.
The whole sprint was captured.
It was later revealed that Magnus had gone skiing in the morning but got caught in traffic on the way back.
At the board, Carlsen’s opponent Vladislav Kovalev, who had been overruled by the arbiter when he tried to wait for Magnus, didn’t try to play on time, and Magnus did Magnus things as he went on to win anyway.
Magnus had the decency to look apologetic | photo: Anna Shtourman, FIDE
That would be the start of a 5-game winning streak for Magnus, but his late arrival had also drawn attention for his Puma gear, completely in contravention of the strict dress code.
If it was deliberate, it could have been an inspired marketing ploy, similar to the one Pelé, the Brazilian footballing legend who died the same day, once employed.
It seems more Magnus just didn’t have time to change, but he had before Round 2 began, when he showed up in a suit.
Magnus wasn’t the only player whose appearance raised questions, however, since Ian Nepomniachtchi was wearing a T-shirt that was a tribute to another footballing legend, Lionel Messi. It contained a phrase (roughly = “What are you looking at, stupid?”) Messi had famously spoken to a Dutch player in an interview after Argentina beat the Netherlands in the recent World Cup.
This was the scene as the announcer explained that players not following the dress code would be expelled from the tournament.
The Head of the Appeals Committee Pavel Tregubov and even a FIDE lawyer were dispatched to talk to Ian, who was unimpressed.
Nevertheless, Ian did change his outfit, even if it was perhaps a case of careful what you wish for!
What made the discussions more pointed is that just when FIDE were pushing for players to wear suits they appeared to have miscalculated something in the venue, with Hikaru Nakamura commenting after a draw against Magnus:
My performance is pretty good, considering the conditions… It’s 9000 degrees in the playing hall, it’s affecting everybody, so that’s not great.
Magnus Carlsen also complained about the air in the venue, but for most of the day he kept pace with or led Hikaru.
The Nakamura-Carlsen game was more breather than showdown | photo: Lennart Ootes, FIDE
It was only Magnus and Yu Yangyi who began with a perfect 5/5, but after that the World Champion added just one win in the remaining 7 games. That was in a turbulent clash with Anish Giri, where 24.c4! would have been winning for White.
“I had a golden opportunity to beat him again finally, but I messed that one up in royal fashion,” said Anish, who played 24.Ne2?, allowing Magnus to play 24…Rxb1 25.Rxb1 c4! and lock the bishop out of the position. What followed was a positional masterclass, with Anish losing on time in an already hopeless position.
Jan Gustafsson chose that encounter as his Game of the Day.
Magnus also stared defeat in the face against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, but instead remained unbeaten to end the day in joint second place.
Hikaru also survived some scary moments, for instance against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, but pulled away in the last two games with wins over Haik Martirosyan and Vladimir Fedoseev. In that latter game he struck with 19.Nxb5! cxb5 20.e5!, exploiting the undefended rook on a8.
Everything worked like clockwork for Hikaru as he went on to score an impressive 10/12. Hikaru has scored two bronze and one silver medal (2019) in the World Blitz Championship, and another two bronze medals in Rapid, but he’s never won gold in events that are considered his speciality. He has his best chance yet.
There are still 9 rounds to go, however, so that absolutely anything can happen. Only Martirosyan of the players on 9/12 is not a super-tournament regular, while just behind them are more monsters, including Ian Nepomniachtchi, who after losing three games in a row as the dress code controversy raged then went on to score 6.5/7.
An illustration of how fine the margins can be was given by the game Duda-Giri.
Here 34.Qd5+! is mate-in-4, but also just clearly wins on the spot e.g. it might be followed by 34…Kg7 35.Rxf7+ Kg8 36.Rg7+ Kh8 37.Rg8#, an echo of a brilliant game Duda won against Giri in the recent Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals. 2018 and 2021 silver medallist Duda would have been in the group of players in joint 2nd place.
Instead Duda went for 34.Qh6!? Rh1+ 35.Kg3 Qb7 and could still have won with 36.Rxg6+!, but after 36.Rf4? there was no longer a win and instead Anish Giri won to move to 9/12.
Raunak Sadhwani is the top-scoring Indian star | photo: Lennart Ootes, FIDE
In an event where endurance may be key, it’s notable how many young players are in the mix. 17-year-old Raunak Sadhwani from Indian is on 8.5/12, while there’s an army of teenagers on 8/12: 16-year-old Christopher Yoo (USA), Mukhiddin Madaminov (Uzbekistan) and Denis Lazavik (Belarus) and 18-year-old Vincent Keymer (Germany) and Nihal Sarin (India).
It's been a disappointing event for 2021 World Blitz Champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | photo: Anna Shtourman, FIDE
It's also worth noting 27-year-old late developer Jules Moussard, who ended a 6.5/7 streak with a win over Fabiano Caruana. On 8.5/12 he’s a full two points clear of fellow Frenchman and defending champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who has a mountain to climb after losing three of his last four games.
It wasn’t just the leader of the Open section who complained about the heat in the playing hall, with Valentina Gunina describing the playing hall as “so hot”. She also wasn’t thrilled with her own play, but…
I didn’t like the quality of my play, but in blitz the faster you move your hands, the more points you get!
Valentina, who already has World Blitz gold, two silvers and bronze, scored an unbeaten 7.5/9, including big wins over Women’s World Rapid Champion Tan Zhongyi and Polina Shuvalova.
Polina Shuvalova is hard to miss | photo: Lennart Ootes, FIDE
Polina, aiming for her first medal, led for most of the day, however, and shrugged off that defeat to win in the final round and also end on 7.5/9.
There are 8 rounds to go in the Women’s section and 9 in the Open, with the action kicking off an hour earlier at 9:00 CET. Don’t miss the final chess action of 2022, with Jan Gustafsson and Peter Leko commentating!
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