The World Rapid Chess Championship in Alma-Ata continued with a blitz tournament, which will last for two days.
Leadership after the first 12 rounds of the competition was taken by the American Hikaru Nakamura.
He has 10 points.
He was followed by a whole group of pursuers who scored nine points each.
It included the Dutchman Anish Giri, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who became the winner in rapid the day before, and the Russian Daniil Dubov.
Nakamura and Carlsen took the lead after the seventh round, with 6.5 points each, and then parted in the world and in the face-to-face meeting, maintaining parity.
However, after the tenth round they were overtaken by Dubov and Hayk Martirosyan - all four had 8 points each.
In the next round, they had to play each other: the Russian examined the Norwegian, and the Armenian - the American.
It was at this moment that the newly-baked world rapid champion lost his leading position.
His meeting with Dubov ended in a draw, but Nakamura won his game, and then consolidated his success by defeating Russian Vladimir Fedoseev in the final match of the day.
Meanwhile, Dubov did not suffer a single defeat on the first day of the tournament, and was also one of the few who could share points with the leading American.
The Russian is fourth and retains all chances of winning.
In addition to Daniil, the top ten after 12 rounds included Fedoseev, Vladislav Artemiev and Alexander Shimanov (all 8.5).
Ian Nepomniachtchi, who also scored 8.5 points, is currently in 13th place.
The Russian got off to a good start, scoring two victories over compatriots Maxim Chigaev and Daniil Linchevsky, but then lost three games in a row.
Yang lost to Shimanov, Georgian Giga Kuparadze and Indian Sunildut Narayanan.
Then the contender for the title of world champion in classical chess managed to reverse the unpleasant course of the tournament and take the upper hand in six of the seven remaining meetings.
Nepomniachtchi finished another game in a draw.
Perhaps the Russian’s disastrous segment was influenced by an incident related to his clothes.
The fact is that Jan decided to wear a black T-shirt with an inscription in Spanish in the colors of the Argentine flag for the competition.
These were the rude words of Lionel Messi, spoken by him to the Dutch footballer Wout Weghorst after the World Cup match in Qatar: “What are you staring at, idiot?
Go away".
FIDE representatives considered this a violation of the dress code and asked the chess player to change clothes.
He also received a warning.
Nepomniachtchi was extremely dissatisfied with this decision.
He called the uniform requirements "weird" and opined that the rules should take players' comfort into account first.
His compatriot Alexander Grischuk supported him, emphasizing that the dress code at tournaments of this kind makes no sense.
Carlsen excelled that day as well.
Magnus was not only late for the starting game with Belarusian Vladislav Kovalev, but also appeared in a tracksuit and sneakers.
As it turned out, he got stuck in a traffic jam after skiing and did not have time to change clothes.
The Norwegian ran into the hall when the clock was already running and he had 30 seconds to move.
At the same time, Kovalev asked to wait for the opponent, but the organizers showed integrity and started the countdown.
This incident, however, did not affect the game of the famous chess player in any way - he won.
In the women's part of the tournament, nine rounds were held, and the Russians Valentina Gunina and Polina Shuvalova took the lead after them.
The girls scored 7.5 points each.
Only half a point behind the leaders is the Chinese Tan Zhongyi, who won the World Championship in rapid the day before, as well as two more domestic chess players - Alexandra Goryachkina and Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Shuvalova had a dizzying start, winning five in a row and drawing against the Chinese.
And the only defeat of the 21-year-old chess player was inflicted by compatriot Gunina.
Meanwhile, Valentina herself did not lose a single game, but shared points with her rivals three times.
Vice World Blitz Champion 2021 Kosteniuk started the tournament with a loss to compatriot Baira Kovanova, and in the fifth round she lost to experienced Indian athlete Tanya Sachdev.
Alexandra won all the other games of the day, including against the three-time winner of the World Championship in this event, compatriot Ekaterina Lahno.
Goryachkina, who stopped a step away from the podium in rapid, also did not avoid losses.
She lost to experienced Armenian chess player Elina Danielyan, and also drew with former Asian champion Harika Dronovalli and compatriot Gunina.
The winners and prize-winners of the World Blitz Championship will be determined on Friday, December 30th.