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World Blitz Championship (2006) The 2006 World Blitz Championship was a 16-player round robin held in the Meir Nitzan cultural center of Rishon LeZion, Israel, 7 September. It was the first world blitz championship recognized by FIDE. The participants: Seven invited top players (Anand, Svidler, Gelfand, Radjabov, Polgar, Grischuk, Bacrot), six players from a qualification tournament the day before the final (Smirin, Roiz, Sutovsky, Erenburg, Zoler, Livshits), two players from a qualification tournament on ICC (Gurevich and Gagunashvili (replacing Jun Zhao)), and one wild card player (Carlsen). Time control: 4 minutes and 2 seconds per player for the whole game, with 2 seconds added per move from move 1. Prize fund: about $95,000, with about $15,000 to the winner. Organizers: Israeli Chess Federation and the chess club of Rishon LeZion. Alexander Grischuk won the 5/4 Armageddon playoff game (Grischuk vs Svidler, 2006) and became the first official World Blitz Champion. Radjabov was 3rd on tiebreak. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 Grischuk * 0 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 10½ 2 Svidler 1 * 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 10½ 3 Radjabov 0 1 * 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 10 4 Anand 0 1 0 * 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 10 5 Polgar 1 ½ ½ 1 * 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 9½ 6 Gelfand 0 0 1 ½ 1 * 0 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 9½ 7 Bacrot ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 * 0 1 1 1 0 ½ 0 0 1 8 8 Carlsen 0 0 1 ½ 1 0 1 * 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7½ 9 Erenburg 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 * 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1 7 10 Sutovsky 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 7 11 Gagunashvili ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 7 12 Roiz 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 0 1 * ½ 1 0 1 6½ 13 Smirin ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 1 0 6 14 Gurevich 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 * 1 0 4 15 Zoler 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 0 * ½ 3½ 16 Livshits 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ * 3½ The eight games each round were transmitted on large screens above the playing stage, and an additional screen showed the tournament standings. The highlight of the closing ceremony was the speech of Shimon Peres, who started off by saying that he came to the tournament to see wise men, because that's what the Israeli government needed. Russian Wiki: https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/%D0%90... ChessBase: https://en.chessbase.com/post/grisc... Wikipedia article: World Blitz Chess Championship Video: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/y... Ruchess: https://ruchess.ru/en/news/report/s... USCF: http://www.uschess.org/content/view... TWIC: https://theweekinchess.com/html/twi... Carlos S Matamoros Franco in Jaque 604, pp. 34-35: https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/... Scott Wilson in The Washington Post, 12 September 2006: https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the... Previous (unofficial): World Blitz Cup (2000). Next: World Blitz Championship (2007)  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 119  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Gelfand vs M Gagunashvili   ½-½ 29 2006 World Blitz Championship D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 2. D Gurevich vs Anand 0-1 73 2006 World Blitz Championship E15 Queen's Indian 3. Carlsen vs Sutovsky   ½-½ 65 2006 World Blitz Championship B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 4. Grischuk vs Radjabov 1-0 28 2006 World Blitz Championship B30 Sicilian 5. Sutovsky vs J Polgar   0-1 48 2006 World Blitz Championship B47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation 6. Smirin vs Carlsen   ½-½ 43 2006 World Blitz Championship C90 Ruy Lopez, Closed 7. Anand vs Svidler 1-0 34 2006 World Blitz Championship B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation 8. Carlsen vs Anand ½-½ 33 2006 World Blitz Championship C78 Ruy Lopez 9. S Erenburg vs Grischuk   1-0 41 2006 World Blitz Championship B07 Pirc 10. Sutovsky vs S Erenburg   0-1 30 2006 World Blitz Championship B12 Caro-Kann Defense 11. Anand vs J Polgar 0-1 27 2006 World Blitz Championship B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 12. Gelfand vs Carlsen 1-0 60 2006 World Blitz Championship A15 English 13. D Gurevich vs Svidler   1-0 28 2006 World Blitz Championship E94 King's Indian, Orthodox 14. Svidler vs M Gagunashvili   1-0 45 2006 World Blitz Championship B12 Caro-Kann Defense 15. Carlsen vs D Gurevich 1-0 36 2006 World Blitz Championship B60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 16. J Polgar vs Gelfand 0-1 48 2006 World Blitz Championship C10 French 17. Bacrot vs G Livshits   1-0 27 2006 World Blitz Championship D02 Queen's Pawn Game 18. Anand vs S Erenburg   1-0 25 2006 World Blitz Championship D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 19. Gelfand vs Radjabov   1-0 47 2006 World Blitz Championship A05 Reti Opening 20. D Gurevich vs J Polgar 0-1 36 2006 World Blitz Championship E99 King's Indian, Orthodox, Taimanov 21. Svidler vs Carlsen 1-0 37 2006 World Blitz Championship C78 Ruy Lopez 22. J Polgar vs Svidler   ½-½ 35 2006 World Blitz Championship E54 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System 23. S Erenburg vs Gelfand   0-1 50 2006 World Blitz Championship B22 Sicilian, Alapin 24. M Roiz vs Anand   ½-½ 34 2006 World Blitz Championship A04 Reti Opening 25. G Livshits vs Grischuk 0-1 42 2006 World Blitz Championship B09 Pirc, Austrian Attack  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 119    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> Sep-07-06    EmperorAtahualpa: So who's the new World Blitz champion? I guess it's Anand, right? Sep-07-06    woodenbishop: The greatest blitz player in history is Bobby Fischer, though Mikhail Tal is not too far behind in second place. Of course, Anand and Karpov are among the top blitz players as well. Sep-07-06    chessmoron: I can't believe Alexander Grischuk won this event. Nonsense. Sep-07-06    EmperorAtahualpa: <I can't believe Alexander Grischuk won this event. Nonsense.> <chessmoron> What makes you think he won? Sep-07-06    Tariqov: <Emperor> Chessgames wrote this near the link "Alexander Grischuk defeated Svidler in the playoff to win the title." Sep-08-06    drnooo: Actually , at least by all accounts, leaving out Morphy, the greatest blitz player that ever lived was Capablanca. Alekhine witnessed Capa at the St. Petersberg tourney giving any and all grandmasters there one minute to five: and winning handily: nobody before or since has ever even come close to giving those kind of odds to his contemporaries, simply unbelievable. Anyone who ever played Capa, at least in the teens and twenties had virtually no chance against him, not Lasker, Alekhine, nobody. Fischer towards the start of the seventies reached a short supremacy, until then Leonid Stein, Petrosian, any number of players could hold their own against him in blitz, but for decades nobody could even come close to Capa in blitz. Sep-08-06    BIDMONFA: World Blitz Championship (2006) Champion - SVIDLER, Peter http://www.bidmonfa.com/SVIDLER.htm Sub-Champion - GRISCHUK, Alexander http://www.bidmonfa.com/grischuk_al... http://www.bidmonfa.com/informacio_... _ Sep-08-06    percyblakeney: So the final result in the top half was: 1. Grischuk 10.5 2. Svidler 10.5 3. Radjabov 10 4. Anand 10 5. Polgar 9.5 6. Gelfand 9.5 7. Bacrot 8 8. Carlsen 7.5 Sep-08-06    jamesmaskell: LOL, Grishuk won! Talk about an upset... Good result for Radjabov. As for Carlsen, he should call this training for Amber next year... Sep-08-06    percyblakeney: Apparently Radjabov gave Anand his shortest loss in 18 years in their game, and Radjabov has never won a shorter game in his career. If the official site and the relay site were right about the colours. It seems as if playchess thought Anand was white, in any case the game is posted here, it's a nice miniature: Teimour Radjabov Sep-08-06    chessgames.com: Alexander Grischuk beat Svidler in the a final "armageddon" playoff game (Grischuck had white, and Svidler had draw odds) after they tied during the all-play-all phase. That game is not above, but here: Grischuk vs Svidler, 2006 Sep-08-06    Xaurus: Carlsen was obviously out of form. He got mated in one of the games (vs. Gagunashvili I think), not that it doesn't happen but I've never seen him do that in blitz... In general Carlsen had an ok performance, placing himself below all the 2700-players but above the rest. I think Carlsen himself is very disappointed. Sep-08-06    s4life: <Xaurus: Carlsen was obviously out of form. > Nah.. what he got is what is expected, rating-wise.. Sep-08-06    nikolajewitsch: I think that the results of this event should not be overrated since it took place on one day which gives the players constitution on that one day too much importance. Congrats to Grischuk nonetheless! Sep-08-06    percyblakeney: <I think that the results of this event should not be overrated> True, and some oversights become very important, as when Radjabov dropped a piece while in a better position against Grischuk, or when Svidler blundered away the title in the last game... Sep-08-06    you vs yourself: According to his bio in the official site, Grischuk achieved the highest rating in ICC blitz: http://www.fideblitz.com/index.php?... I heard some people say Svidler is the online blitz beast, raffael. If so, then it's fitting that this blitz championship came down to these two. <Emperor> Anand is the best rapid player. Sometimes people confuse this for blitz and assume he's the favorite. But at age 36, he's probably top 5 in blitz at best. His result in reyjavik where he lost 0-2 to Carlsen and the 4th place here show that. Sep-08-06    ValmonUni: this may be a stupid question but... how are moves kept track of in world class blitz chess when the players are moving too faster to write down the moves? Are they just memorized by the players or is someone next to them writing them down or something else? Sep-08-06    refutor: sometimes they are remembered by the players, but a lot of times they have computerized boards that keep track of the moves Sep-08-06    amdocs: I am from Israel and I had part in tournament for ammateurs and afterwards in competition for master where six players were choosen to final stage. I also saw almost all games in live and it was magnified 8 blitz games all big boards at the same time, hovewer 8 is to much. Sep-08-06    amdocs: Gelfand was the leader of the tournament from the start and only at 3 round before end he lost to Grischuk and afterwards to Sutovsky. Sep-08-06    EXIDE: What is the difference between 'blitz chess ' and 'rapid chess' ? Sep-08-06    aw1988: Rapid is more or less 25 minutes, whilst blitz is 5... Sep-09-06    ahmadov: According to chessbase.com, Svidler gets more money than Grischuk despite the fact that the latter won the tournament. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... Sep-09-06    ahmadov: I wonder why <CG> has not included Radjabov's win over Anand in the database here. It is one of the most available games from the tournament thanks to <percyblakeney>. Sep-09-06    percyblakeney: At the moment it seems as if less than half of the games have been saved, and the amazingly unimpressive official home page doesn't even have the results of any games. search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. 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