Carlsen's hat-trick, fourth places of Artemyev and Giri, failure of Karjakin and Nepomnyashchy: how the World Rapid Championship ended in Moscow

Carlsen became the absolute world champion

Chess player Magnus Carlsen won the World Rapid Championship with a time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds per turn. On the final day of the tournament in Moscow, the Norwegian grandmaster won two victories and reduced three games to a draw. He was opposed by exceptionally strong rivals. So, Carlsen began the Saturday party program with the Frenchman Maxim Vachier-Lagrave black pieces. Clarification of relations passed into the endgame. On move 58, when only a rook and three pawns remained on the board, the opponents agreed to a draw.

Then Carlsen won two points, which predetermined his success. First, the leader of the tournament defeated Levon Aronian. Carried away by the attack on the black king, on the 59th move the Armenian “yawned” the queen and was forced to capitulate. In the next game, the Norwegian White forced the Azerbaijani Shahriyar Mamedyarov to surrender on the 33rd move. At the finish of the championship Carlsen could afford to share points with opponents.

A peaceful outcome with the Americans Leinier Dominguez and Hikaru Nakamura brought him 11.5 points in total and the third championship title in his career. Carlsen previously became king of rapid chess in 2014 and 2015. He was the first in history to get a hat trick. In addition, from now on, the Norwegian is the absolute world champion, owning titles in classical chess, rapid and blitz. Nobody could do anything like it before him. Carlsen celebrated his triumph with a football game.

After winning the World Rapid Chess championship two hours ago, Magnus Carlsen is getting ready to play some football! pic.twitter.com/p7NTu1p38d

Alirez Firuj sensationally won second place. On the eve of the competition, he became one of the main newsmakers, defiantly refusing to represent Iran. In agreement with the organizers, the 16-year-old grandmaster appeared under the flag of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Firuja lives and trains in France. On the first day of the World Cup, he attracted attention by beating Sergey Karjakin with black pieces. However, already in the next game he lost to Pole Jan-Krzysztof Dude and rolled back into the bowels of the standings.

Hardly anyone considered Firuja as a contender for getting into the top three before the final day. But the young genius again managed to surprise everyone. On Saturday, Firuja scored four wins with one draw. Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia, Vietnamese Le Quang Liem, Chinese Wang Hao and Mamedyarov, who was the leader after the first third of the tournament, lost to him. Only the Russian Dmitry Andreikin was able to resist the raging athlete. The prize three was closed by Nakamura. The American managed to perform stably and smoothly throughout the tournament.

It's official! 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja took World Rapid Championship silver, Hikaru Nakamura got bronze and Vladislav Artemiev missed out on a medal but gets the consolation of sharing the prize money equally with the other two: https://t.co/6VHUpvjwVn# c24live # RapidBlitzpic.twitter.com / UVDYgpN2gT

Kettlebell upset about fourth place

The best representative of Russia was Vladislav Artemyev. Like Firuja and Nakamura, he earned 10.5 points, but lost to competitors in additional indicators. The Russian is only 21 years old, and in his track record he has won the European Championship 2018 in blitz and the continental championship in classical chess in 2019. More eminent Russians played modestly in the final segment of the race.

Last year's champion Daniil Dubov with 10 credits remained in eighth position. And having a good chance of a high place after two days, Jan Nepomniachtchi rolled back from seventh to 29th place. In five games, he could not win at least one victory - four draws and defeat. Perhaps the results of Russians were negatively affected by the need to play with each other many times. Parties of compatriots on Saturday basically ended in a peaceful outcome.

Similarly, on the third day, Sergey Karjakin also spoke. He lost to White Ilya Smirin from Israel, who in the 1990s was considered one of the best specialists in the world in rapid speed.

Hampi Koneru from India excelled in the women's branch of the competition. The chess players played 12 games each. Upon completion of the “smooth” part, two participants had equal performance. The prize of $ 30 thousand was won in a mini-series between Koneru and Chinese woman Lei Tingjie.

The Indian lost the first game in a tie-break with white, but immediately took revenge with black. The third - Armageddon - ended in a draw. Since Koneru again played it in black, she was given the final victory. Third place went to Ekaterina Atalyk, a native of Russia, who plays for Turkey.

Olga Girya finished fourth, half a point behind the prize three. In the ninth and 10th rounds, she made a good bid for a high position, defeating compatriot Ekaterina Lagno (black) and Irina Bulmagu from Romania. Then, however, followed by a defeat from the Chinese woman Tan Zhongyi. It crossed out the hopes of Geary.

“Before the tournament, I thought that 8.5 points is a good result. Now I’m a little upset, because everything turned out to be more successful than could be expected. But in the penultimate round, offensively lost the game with white pieces. I could not decide if I should make a draw, because the position was equal. But I wanted to “tighten up” something, and I lost. Probably, the result is not bad, the increase in the rating will be 60–70 points, but there is a small proportion of regret. Because I spent the whole tournament at the top of the table. There were a lot of mistakes, but I am satisfied with my spirit and excitement, ”the RIA Novosti chess player quotes.

On Sunday, December 29, in the Luzhniki Stadium, blitz competitions will start.