Scoring a point more than last year in Riyadh, Magnus Carlsen retained his $60,000 world blitz title with 17/21, half a point more than Jan-Krzysztof Duda ($50,000). Like in the rapid, bronze went to Hikaru Nakamura ($40,000).
Kateryna Lagno won the world blitz title with 13.5/17 ($40,000). IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh scored her second silver medal ($30,000) and bronze went to Lei Tingjie ($20,000).
The fifth and final day in St. Petersburg saw nine rounds of blitz in the open section and eight rounds in the women’s. Once again the venue was packed; according to FIDE official Emil Sutovsky each day about five thousand spectators came along but that sounded a bit exaggerated; our reporters on-site estimated between two and three thousand.
That’s still a very impressive number and possibly rather unique for chess events in modern times. Taking into account that the organizers had about three weeks to prepare everything, the event has been a huge success from an organisational point of view.
Two players finished with an absolutely outstanding score. Carlsen’s 17/21 was not only a point more than last year <www.chess.com/news/view/carlsen-magnificent-on-final-day-wins-world-blitz>, but he also remained undefeated this time. Duda’s 16.5 points would have won gold in Riyadh, but he’ll be very happy with silver as well, and winning 124 blitz rating points along the way.
“I am just relieved,” said Carlsen, who won his fourth world blitz title and his 10th world title in total. “Today was a very tough day. I was always kind of in front but I was being chased by Duda all the way. It was never easy.
“Yesterday the score was good and the play maybe not so great. I feel like I am usually best against the best players. Today I feel like I played very well. I needed every single half point to win.”
In the first round of the day, round 13 in the tournament, Carlsen was paired with his Twitter nemesis Anish Giri. It was a remarkably one-sided affair.
The Dutchman, who was wearing a white shirt full of small chess symbols of different colors, got caught in his opponent’s preparation, saw his king’s position torn apart and flagged on move 24.
One of the official commentators, Peter Leko said: “I think Magnus’s preparation is the best in the world for blitz and rapid. He kind of knows almost every opening and all the move orders.”
In the women’s section Kateryna Lagno and the revelation of the two tournaments, IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, shared the lead after the first day, with three Chinese players half a point behind: Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi.
Four wins and four draws was just enough for Lagno to finish half a point ahead of Khademalsharieh, who started with a loss against Lei but still managed to score 5.5/8 and claim her second silver medal of the week. The 21-year-old will thus take home $60,000 in total! Lagno scored her biggest wins in the first two rounds of the day. She defeated the last two classical world champions, Tan and Ju.
(chess.com) www.chess.com/news/view/carlsen-lagno-win-world-blitz-chess-championships
Carlsen with a big smile while telling #nrksjakk <twitter.com/hashtag/nrksjakk?src=hash> after crushing Giri: “There are many who have fantasies as to what is the best way to start the day. This is mine.” #WRBC2018 <twitter.com/hashtag/WRBC2018?src=hash> 322 <twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1079334582804250624> 1:13 PM – Dec 30, 2018
