Doha: World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen suffered his first defeat at the ongoing World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, while Vladislav Artemiev and USA’s Hans Moke Niemann jointly held the lead after nine games at Qatar University’s Sports and Events Complex on Saturday.
Norway’s Carlsen, who is pursuing his sixth Rapid World title, was defeated by Artemiev – competing under the FIDE flag – as the Russian, seeded no. 7, enhanced his prospects at the esteemed Championships, which boasts a total prize fund of €1 million.
The tournament, being held until December 30, brings together elite players from around the world to compete for four titles in rapid and blitz chess, in both the men’s and women’s categories.
Carlsen drew his sixth game against France’s Maxime Lagrave, the top seed, before suffering a defeat to Artemyev, the 2019 European and World Champion, in the seventh game.
Artemyev then took the lead after defeating India’s Arjun Eregese in the sixth game and drawing with Lagrave in the eighth, bringing his total to seven points compared to Lagrave’s six.
Carlsen recovered in the eighth game with a victory over Armenia’s Shant Sargsyan, bringing his total to six points. Carlsen had defeated Italian Lorenzo Lodici in the opening round yesterday, followed by victories over Russian David Baravian and Spaniard Eduardo Iturrizaga, before drawing with Indian Arjun Ergesi.
World Rapid Chess Champion Gokich Domrajo of India drew with Russian Alex Sarana, ranked 36th in the world, and also with Dutchman Anish Giri, ranked 18th, bringing his total to 5.5 points.
In the eighth round, Domrajo defeated Spaniard David Anton, raising his score to 6.5 points.
As for the Qatari players, International Master Hussein Aziz drew his sixth game against Indian Bharath Subramaniam, but lost to Chinese Zhang Zhong in the seventh round and then to Vietnamese Nguyen Son in the eighth, leaving him with 2.5 points. Aziz had lost his first-round match yesterday against Uzbekistan’s Nodrebek Yakubbayev, and again in the second round against Italy’s Lorenzo Lodici. He then defeated Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Al-Khanji in the third round and Qatar’s Hamad Al-Kuwari in the fourth before losing to the Netherlands’ Max Warmerdam in the fifth round.
Khaled Al-Jumaat of Qatar lost to Australia’s Ryan Blackwood, Libya’s Saleh Omar, and Morocco’s Mohamed Tissir. Hamad Al-Kuwari of Qatar also lost to Libya’s Youssef Al-Hassadi and Luxembourg’s Bernard Fred, but won against Saudi Arabia’s Emad Khayyat. In one of the most notable results of the second day, Russia’s Ian Nepomnyashchy, the 2024 World Blitz Chess Champion, drew with Serbia’s Aleksandar Ingic, ranked 64th in the tournament. Nepomnyashchy also won against China’s Ming Yihan but lost to Spain’s Maxim Chigaev, leaving him with 5 points. Among the Arab players, Egyptian Bassem Amin raised his points tally to four after defeating Chilean Pablo Herrera in the seventh round. Syrian Mazen Fandy also earned three points, having drawn four matches against Chinese Zhang Zhong, Armenian Sokar Can, Icelandic Vagner Stefánsson, and Canadian Rodrigo Lemekes, and securing a victory against Turkish Mustafa Yılmaz.
Furthermore, Emirati Salem Abdulrahman achieved 3.5 points in seven rounds, winning two matches, drawing three, and losing three.
The international competition features Indian rapid chess world champion Gokich Domraju, as well as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Wesley Su, Levon Aronian, Vincent Kemer, Arjun Ergesi, Nordbek Abdusattrov, Pragnandana R, Yagiz Can Erdoğmuş, and Idiz Gorel, along with Russian Alexander Grischuk and Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk, the 2016 Doha World Rapid Chess Champion. In the women’s competition, former world champion and eighth seed Koneru Hambay of India leads the standings after the eighth round, having defeated Spain’s Sarasadat Khadima, Russia’s Yana Zhapova, and Armenia’s Pat Mongonzul.
Russian Alexandra Goryachkina, the third seed, is in second place with 5.5 points and will face Koneru in the eighth round in a highly anticipated matchup. Five-time world champion and world number one, China’s Gu Wenjun, drew with Russia’s Lia Carifullina, the ninth seed, after defeating Azerbaijan’s Ulfiyeva and losing to Georgia’s Maryi Arabidze, the 31st seed. This leaves Gu with 4.5 points, dropping her to 30th place in the rankings.
China’s Tan Zhongyi, the world number two and former women’s world champion, earned 4 points after winning three matches, drawing two, and losing one.
China’s Zhou Jins climbed to third place with 5.5 points.
As for the Qatari players, former world champion Gu Chen managed to secure 3.5 points after victories against Norway’s Monika Mashlika and Russia’s Veronika Shapenkova, and a draw against Spain’s Rebecca Fernandez on the second day, placing her 81st in the rankings. Qatari national team player Ghada Al-Khalifi lost today to Lebanese player Nadia Fawaz.
