Format affairs: Carlsen and Asaubayeva win the Blitz World Cup

Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Bibisara Asaubayeva of Kazakhstan once again became the world blitz champions, which took place in Doha. This is the ninth title in Magnus' career, and the third for Bibisara. It is worth noting that FIDE has changed the format of this tournament again. Last year, the top eight players entered the playoffs on the first day, but now there are only four. In this regard, the Russians were very unlucky. Valentina Gunina scored the same number of points as the top four, but remained the fifth extra in terms of additional indicators. Maxim Matlakov, following the results of 19 rounds, entered the division of 4-9 places, but failed to make it to the semifinals.

Fallen figures

The World Blitz Championship was just as difficult for the world chess leader as it was for the Rapid World Cup he won the day before. At the end of the first day, Magnus was in 11th place, one point behind the leader Arjun Erigaisi. Moreover, Carlsen lost to Erigaisi in a face-to-face game, which turned out to be very dramatic. The Norwegian was running out of time: there were only four seconds left on the clock, Magnus was in a hurry and during the next move knocked the queen off the board onto the floor, almost hitting Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk as he passed by. Realizing that he would not be able to raise the piece before the time expired, Carlsen slammed his fist on the table. After that, he drew with Grischuk and lost to Fabiano Caruana.

Magnus started the second day of the tournament by losing to Hayk Martirosyan due to a technical error. He accidentally knocked down several pieces and, without putting them in their original places, pressed the time control clock button, which is prohibited by the rules. After this setback, the Norwegian dropped out of the top 20 and it seemed that he would no longer be able to compete for a place in the coveted four.

But Carlsen did the same trick as he did at the Rapid Chess World Cup. Then he scored 5.5 points in the final six rounds. Now it is 4.5 out of 5, having defeated all direct competitors (including Russian Rudik Makaryan and Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave).

Only Erigaisi (15 points out of 19, a fantastic result) and Caruana (14) finished above the Norwegian. The fate of the fourth ticket was decided in the division between Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Nihal Sarin, Denis Lazavik and Maxim Matlakov, who scored 13 points each. As a result, according to additional indicators, Abdusattorov, who won the Rapid World Cup in 2021, entered the playoffs.

Jumping into the last car (Nodirbek scored an important victory over Vladislav Artemyev in the penultimate round), the representative of Uzbekistan unexpectedly easily beat Erigaysi. Arjun, who played brilliantly throughout the tournament, failed in the semifinal match: Nodirbek won two games, and in the third he recorded a draw from a position of strength.

Predictably, Carlsen became the second finalist. The first two games between Magnus and Caruana ended in a draw, and then the Norwegian managed to win with black pieces. Fabiano failed to win back — as a result, the match ended with a score of 3:1 in favor of the reigning champion.

In the final, the Norwegian grandmaster defeated Abdusattorov in a more stubborn fight (2.5:1.5), becoming a nine-time world blitz champion. He had previously won this title in 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Let's remind that last year Magnus and Jan Nepomniachtchi shared the title of world champion for the first time in history, without revealing the winner in a face-to-face mini-match. This year, the Russian became the 13th, scoring 12.5 points.

"A year ago, at the Blitz World Cup, I was lucky to win at least two hopeless [games] in Switzerland, with Swann and Caruana, but this time it's the other way around," Nepomnyashchy wrote on his social networks. — With Radjabov, Pranav and Gukesh, I scored 0.5 out of 3, although each had a score of +3 in my favor and an extra minute on the clock. Apparently, "luck" and various "arrivals" are one of the indicators of the form. Such is the blitz. Well done, Father!"

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A double triumph

There was also a lot of uncompromising fighting in the women's tournament. Following the results of the first day of play, the 17th seed Elin Rubers unexpectedly broke into the sole leaders, scoring 8.5 points out of 10 possible. Three more chess players scored half a point less, including Russian Alexandra Goryachkina, who has already won the World Rapid Chess Championship in Doha.

However, this time our strongest chess player of recent years did not succeed in intervening in the fight for medals. After losing to Bibisara Asaubayeva in the 11th round, Alexandra recorded four draws and became only the seventh. It should be noted that the current Russian classics champion Anna Shukhman also got into the top 10. The 16-year-old chess player had a brilliant year and in Doha only confirmed that she would compete for major titles in women's chess in the future.

The headliner of the second day was Valentina Gunina. The two-time world blitz champion won seven games in a row in her uncompromising style and was in clear first place before the final round. However, the defeat of Ukrainian Anna Muzychuk pushed Valentina back to fifth place (according to additional indicators), which did not allow her to reach the semifinals.

— Honestly, it's hard to understand why the format of the tournament should be changed every year, — Gunina told Izvestia. — Was it better last year (11 rounds and eight playoffs)? No, it's not better. There are very few rounds to determine the strongest. I won the World Cup when there were 17 rounds without playoffs. Was it less colorful? No, it wasn't. It was also interesting, in my opinion. Many people on the sidelines share this opinion.

In the semifinal matches, Bibisara Asaubayeva defeated Zhu Jin'er (3:0), and Anna Muzychuk defeated Elin Rubers (2.5:1.5). In the decisive match of the tournament, Asaubayeva was stronger than Muzychuk (2.5:1.5) and became the world blitz champion for the third time in her career. She previously won this title in 2021 and 2022.

In addition to her triumph in Qatar, Bibisara also won a ticket to her debut candidates tournament, becoming the best in the overall standings of the tournaments for the year.