Daniil Dubov, Ju Wenjun Win World Rapid Chess Championships
Daniil Dubov of Russia kept his cool in the last round to win first prize at the World Rapid Chess Championship in St Petersburg, Russia. He went home with USD 60,000 (KES 6,000,000 after ending up with a score of 10.5 points out of 15 games.
Ju Wenjun of China retained her title with a score of 10 points out of 12 games to go home with USD 40,000 (KES 4,000,000).
Dubov Daniil faced World Champion Magnus Carlsen in round 11 and managed to draw. It is interesting to note that Dubov was part of Carlsen’s team during the 2018 Championship Match against Fabiano Caruana.
In the Open section 4 players were tied on joint second place with 10.5 points each. Mamedyarov Shakhriyar took silver while Nakamura Hikaru took the bronze. Vladislav Artemiev and Magnus Carlsen just missed out on the medals. This group of four shared prizes and got USD 36,250 each.
Sarasadat Khademalsharieh took silver and Aleksandra Goryachkina took bronze in the Ladies section.
African Stars
Let us find out what happened to our stars from Africa.
GM Amin Bassem of Egypt (2603) ended in position 78 with a respectable 8 points out of 15 games.
GM Adly Ahmed of Egypt (2603) ended in position 65 with 8.5 points as well out of 15 games.
IM Mohamed Tissir of Morocco ended in position 149 with a 6.5 points out of 15 games.
Ahmed Hassan Abdillahi (1570) of Djibouti found the going tough and ended in position 198 with 4 points. One point was from a bye.
Bassem Amin in round 12 defeated Vladmir Fedoseev of Russia who is rated almost 200 Elo points higher.
Bassem Amin v Vladmir Fedoseev
Another interesting game was Adly Ahmed of Egypt against Valerij Popov of Bulgaria. Slow patient attack on the King side by Adly finally gave him his point in round 14.
Adly Ahmed v Valerij Popov
Mohamed Tissir v Saveliy Golubov
Ukrainian Champion Anton Korobov versus Daniil Dubov was another interesting game.
Anton Korobov v Daniil Dubov
Zhansaya Abdumalik who is a former Junior World Champion played well in her game against eventual winner Ju Wenjun.
Zhansaya Abdumalik v Ju Wenjun
Zansaya Abdumalik obtained 8.5 points to end up in joint 3rd place.
Other Activities
A rapid tournament for seniors was held where the prize fund was 50 000 Roubles.
Links
Photos of World Rapid & Blitz Championship
