Gold for Le Quang Liem at World Blitz

Le Quang Liem won the gold medal at the FIDE World Rapid Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia and took home the first prize of US $40,000. Not bad at all for two days of blitz! But it was far from easy: the players had to go through thirty gruelling rounds and in the end the Vietnamese managed to score just half a point more than three players: Alexander Grischuk(Russia), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia).

The World Blitz was the second of two tournaments organized under the aegis of FIDE and held at the Ugra Chess Academy in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It started right after the World Rapid Championship, in was fought out on June 9th and 10th at the same venue and among the same players, 60 in total, from 18 different countries.

The tournament was one big Swiss event with fifteen double rounds. This meant that each time the new pairings were known, the players would not play one, but two blitz games against each other, with both colours. Eight of these mini-matches were held on Sunday, and seven more followed on Monday.

After the first day, two players were at the top of the leader board: Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. They were on 12 points out of 16 games. Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) was just behind with 11.5/16, and Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (also Vietnam!) followed, with 11/16.

After the second day, Le had collected just enough points to keep that half point lead. Vietnam's number one finished on 20.5 out of 30, ahead of three players with 20 points: Alexander Grischuk (who won the silver medal), Ruslan Ponomariov (bronze) and Ian Nepomniachtchi. The latter won silver in the Rapid tournament, but just missed out on the medals in the Blitz.

Afterwards, Ruslan Ponomariov tweeted:

Which 3 things most important for playing good in blitz? First is luck... second is luck, and third is luck! This is my secret of play :)

— Ruslan Ponomariov (@Ponomariov) June 10, 2013

Le Quang Liem (Vietnam)

World Blitz Championship 2013 | Final standings

Place	Title	Name	Fed.	FIDE	Total
1	GM	Le, Quang Liem	VIE	2771	20.5
2	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2858	20.0
3	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2743	20.0
4	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	2813	20.0
5	GM	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2665	19.5
6	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2718	19.5
7	GM	Dubov, Daniil	RUS	2655	18.0
8	GM	Movsesian, Sergei	ARM	2696	18.0
9	GM	Andreikin, Dmitry	RUS	2824	17.5
10	GM	Tkachiev, Vladislav	FRA	2657	17.0
11	GM	Smirin, Ilia	ISR	2650	17.0
12	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	ARM	2723	17.0
13	GM	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	2691	17.0
14	GM	Najer, Evgeniy	RUS	2633	16.5
15	GM	Dreev, Aleksey	RUS	2711	16.5
16	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2777	16.5
17	GM	Kamsky, Gata	USA	2734	16.5
18	GM	Grachev, Boris	RUS	2590	16.5
19	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	AZE	2597	16.0
20	GM	Riazantsev, Alexander	RUS	2606	16.0
21	GM	Bologan, Viktor	MDA	2650	16.0
22	GM	Ponkratov, Pavel	RUS	2565	16.0
23	IM	Artemiev, Vladislav	RUS	2584	16.0
24	GM	Khairullin, Ildar	RUS	2603	15.5
25	GM	Khismatullin, Denis	RUS	2693	15.5
26	GM	Rublevsky, Sergei	RUS	2637	15.5
27	GM	Vitiugov, Nikita	RUS	2734	15.5
28	GM	Kurnosov, Igor	RUS	2602	15.5
29	GM	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2693	15.5
30	GM	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	ESP	2617	15.0
31	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2678	15.0
32	GM	Georgiev, Kiril	BUL	2725	15.0
33	GM	Gundavaa, Bayarsaikhan	MGL	2561	15.0
34	GM	Moiseenko, Alexander	UKR	2690	15.0
35	GM	Inarkiev, Ernesto	RUS	2728	15.0
36	GM	Guseinov, Gadir	AZE	2610	14.5
37	GM	Zvjaginsev, Vadim	RUS	2659	14.5
38	GM	Frolyanov, Dmitry	RUS	2533	14.5
39	GM	Bezgodov, Alexei	RUS	2472	14.5
40	GM	Potkin, Vladimir	RUS	2654	14.5
41	GM	Rakhmanov, Aleksandr	RUS	2583	14.0
42	GM	Kobalia, Mikhail	RUS	2607	14.0
43	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	UKR	2504	14.0
44	GM	Popov, Ivan	RUS	2650	14.0
45	GM	Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan	IRI	2557	14.0
46	GM	Vasquez Schroeder, Rodrigo	CHI	2542	14.0
47	GM	Cherniaev, Alexander	RUS	2486	14.0
48	IM	Pasiev, Rakhim	RUS	2523	13.5
49	FM	Gordievsky, Dmitry	RUS	2584	13.5
50		Ram, S. Krishnan	IND	2341	13.5
51	IM	Nadanian, Ashot	ARM	2428	13.5
52	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	2538	13.0
53	GM	Pridorozhni, Aleksei	RUS	2560	13.0
54	GM	Skatchkov, Pavel	RUS	2486	13.0
55	IM	Potapov, Pavel	RUS	2516	12.5
56	GM	AL-Sayed, Mohammed	QAT	2504	10.0
57	GM	Kabanov, Nikolai	RUS	2440	10.0
58	FM	Byambaa, Zulzaga	MGL	2273	8.5
59	FM	Sibriaev, Aleksandr	RUS	2239	6.0
60	IM	Akbaev, Kazbek	RUS	2475	3.0

Tournament website, games via TWIC, photos by Kirill Merkuryev & Maria Emelianova courtesy of FIDE