Beijing Chess Event SportAccord World Mind Games 2013: Congrats to Karjakin, Yifan for Gold

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Congratulations to Sergey Karjakin and Hou Yifan for winning the blitz event at the SportAccord World Mind Games 2013 in Beijing this Sunday. 

Sergey Karjakin from Russia won the blitz tournament with 19.5 out of 30 games. Levon Aronian from Armenia finished with the same score, but he lost the direct match 0,5-1,5 and he had to settle for the silver medal. The third place was shared by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from France and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan. The same tie-break score decided, a bronze medal went to the French man.

The last part of the chess event was very exciting with Le Quang Liem taking away the initial lead that Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had gained. But, some successive losses by Liem allowed others to catch up.

The women's blitz chess event saw reigning women's word chess champion Hou Yifan win the event ahead of Valentina Gunina. Both dominated the event. Yifan picked up the gold with 21.5 points, Gunina got the silver with 19.5 points and Anna got the bronze with 18.5 points

The next two days we will feature the ”Basque” event, where the players face each other in two simultaneously played games!

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal chess blog 
at www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel

SportAccord World Mind Games (Chess): World's Top GMs play Rapid, Blitz in Bejing Dec 12-18

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The opening ceremony of the Mind Sports Games Chess 2013 is going to take place today in Beijing. The games begin on Wednesday. In the chess section, the event is going to be the one of the strongest rapid and blitz events of the year with the participation of some of the world’s top Grandmasters.

The men's section includes Sergey Karjakin, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Vassily Ivanchuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Le Quang Liem, Ruslan Ponomariov, Teimour Radjabov, Hao Wang, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Yue, Gata Kamsky, Peter Leko, and Anish Giri.
The women's section includes Yifan Hou, Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, Nana Dzagnidze, Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova, Valentina Gunina, Ju Wenjun, Marie Sebag, Zhao Xue, Tatiana Kosintseva, Pia Cramling, Anna Ushenina, Elizabeth Paehtz, and Viktorija Cmilyte.

Schedule
Wednesday, December 11th Opening ceremony
Thursday, December 12th 14:00-19:00 Rapid Event: 1-4 rounds (men), 1-4 rounds (women)
Friday, December 13th 14:00-19:00 Rapid Event: 5-7 rounds (men), 5-7 rounds (women)
Saturday, December 14th 14:00-19:00 Blitz Event: 1-10 rounds (men), 1-10 rounds (women)
Sunday, December 15th 14:00-19:00 Blitz Event: 11-20 rounds (men), 11-20 rounds (women)
Monday, December 16th 14:00-19:00 Blitz Event: 21-30 rounds (men), 21-30 rounds (women)
Tuesday, December 17th 14:00-19:00 Basque System: 1-3 rounds (men), 1-3 rounds (women)
Wednesday, December 18th 11:00-16:00 Basque System: 4-5 rounds (men), 4-5 rounds (women) &
Closing Ceremony
Thursday, December 19th Departure


SportAccord which is the umbrella organization for both Olympic and non-Olympic sports as well as a major organizers of conferences and sporting events. The World Mind Games was held for the first time in 2008 and consisted of 5 disciplines: chess, bridge, draughts (checkers), go, and xiangqi (Chinese chess). Here is the World Mind Games video trailer.

Also, don't forget Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk is the official chess ambassador of the SportAccord World Mind Games. Did you read about it on the www.chessqueen.com page?

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal chess blog
at www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel