World Blitz Champion 2007 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukrain) took 2nd place with 11 scores. Five times champion of Russia Peter Svidler became bronze medalist with 10 scores.
It was round robin Championship. 15 round were played in one day, 8.11.08, from 14.00 till 18.00 (local time). Chief arbiter of tournament – Andjey Filipovich announced the start and grandmasters began first round. Guests, mass media and commentators paid attention to the favorites – World Blitz Champion 2007 Vassily Ivanchuk, World Blitz Champion 2006 Alexander Grischuk, the 2nd number in current FIDE rating Alexander Morozevich. Also very popular were 1st round games of Judit Polgar ( Hungary), Teimour Radjabov ( Azerbaijan) and Murtas Kazhgaleyev ( Kazakhstan).
The main favorite Vassily Ivanchuk loose to the young talented GM from Azerbaijan Shakhriyar Mamediyarov in first round. Grischuk beat Boris Gelfand with black pieces, Morozevich beat Krishnan Sashikiran. Radjabov played draw with Peter Svidler, Murtas Kazhgaleyev played draw with his friend Vlad Tkachiev. Judit Polgar loose to the “dark horse” of the tournament Leinier Dominguez Perez in the first round.
Other rounds were more exciting and intensive. Current world blitz champion Vassily Ivanchuk wasn’t in good form in the first half of the tournament – he draw or even loose. Alexander Grischuk on the contrary played very successful and was the leader in first few rounds. But blitz is unpredictable chess and situation changed after 7 round. “Capablanca’s successor” jumped to the first position. He didn’t lose no one game and had 8 victories.
Vassily Ivanchuk showed good game in the 2nd half. After several beautiful victories he took 2nd place. Peter Svidler won 7 games and took 3rd place with 10 scores. Murtas Kazhgaleyev from Kazakhstan played successfully. He won 6 games and took 7th place.
Full standing you can find on the official site:
http://worldblitz2008.kz/championship_table/
