World Rapid Championship (and Bllitz)

Who is the strongest Rapid Chess Player in the World?


This was the head advert for the start of the event.

And did any of those three, Caruana, Carlsen or Firouzja win it...No.

Firouzja finished in 7th place. Caruana in 15th and Carlsen was 148th.
The winner of the event was 18 year old Volodar Murzin from Russia.

The148th placing of Carlsen was due to the fact he only played nine
of the thirteen games and then withdrew from the tournament when he
was told he was not being paired in round ten because he ignored or
chose to forget a warning about him wearing jeans in the previous rounds.


Bedlam ensued as the world media reported Carlsen was thrown out of the
tournament. (not true, he took himself out on ‘...a point of principle.’ )
As in the Carlsen v Niemann affair two camps of who was right and who
was wrong were firmly planted on the internet and another storm broke.


This storm lasted 24 hours. After discussions with his father and the Fide
President Arkady Dvorkovich Magnus said he would stay in New York to
play in the Blitz which he did and shared the title with Ian Nepomniachtchi.


They were drawing 3½-3½ after tie breaks and they offered to share the title.
Only mini bedlam this time. A lot of people were not happy with this outcome,
they wanted a clear winner. but after all the carry on over a pair of jeans everyone
just wanted this event over. So seeking peace and tranquillity the organisers agreed.


The RHP roving reporter tonytiger41 was there and took a few pictures on his mobile.




Thank you Tony. Pity you did not get one of the 'Jeaned Genie' playing a game.

Time control was 15 minutes + 10 second increment for the whole game.
There were quite a few good games and of course unexpected blunders.

Round one Nakamura - Jumabayev, World Rapid 2024 (White to play)


Nakamura in check can play 51.Rxg4 Qxg4 52.Qb8+ mates in a few.
Nakamura missed it and the game was eventually drawn. This game
alone shows you how easy it is to miss a simple tactic at Rapid Chess.

Nakamura was also involved in another drawn game featuring a moment
of luck, misfortune or basic counting. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

Nakamura - Donchenko, World Rapid 2024 (Black to play)


Nakamura had been trying to win this ending for who knows how many moves.
No player was keeping a score and both were playing on the 10 second increment.

Suddenly Nakamura has mate next move when his opponent stops the clocks and calls
for an arbiter. “When I play 128...Rh4 that will be the 50th move without a capture.”
The arbiter checks and yes indeed it will the 50th move and the game declared drawn.
Was Alexander Donchenko counting the moves whilst playing or was it a lucky guess?

Always good to see to see the top dogs trying to swindle each other.

Nesterov - Giri, World Rapid 2024 (White to play)


White is lost so he went for a stalemate. 68.Bd1+ Raxd1 and then he played 69. Rg5+
but Giri did not play 69...Kxg5 stalemate. Instead he played 59...Kf3 and Black resigned.

My cue to show a Red Hot Pawn game with a Stalemate trick that worked.

invigorate - Mctayto RHP 2016 (Black to play)


Black played 39....Bxf6 40.Rxf6+ and the Black King cannot escape from
the White Rook checking on f6, f7 or f8. Black took the Rook. Stalemate.

Black missed a neat way to win this. The game should have gone.


You need a good dollop of luck to win these events and Volodar Murzin
had a good slice of it in his win against Praggnanandhaa. However luck
is what you make it and Murzin’s ‘Win or Bust’ plan in the following game
deserved something in return. Lady Luck smiled on him and granted his wish.

Praggnanandhaa - Murzin, World Rapid 2024


Happy New Year

The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 201650