Maxim Vachier-Lagrave Is Again the Strongest Blitz Player of Europe

The Open Blitz tournament with 204 participants finished in Hotel Cosmos, Moscow. Sergei Karjakin took first place with 15 points out of 18. Alexandr Grischuk is second with 14.5 points. Yu Yangyi and Ivan Popov gathered 13.5 each, but Chinese player took bronze on tie-break. 

The blitz competition of Sport Accord Mind Games has finished in Beijing.

Hou Yifan became the winner among women with 11.5 out of 15.

photo - sportaccord2011.fide.com

The official website of the World Blitz Championship announced the results of today's qualification competition. Russian Dmitry Andreikin gained a confident win finishing 2 points ahead of his rival. He gathered 16.5 points out of 22. Another two players - Le Quang Qiem (Vietnam, 14.5 points) and Nikolai Chadaev (Russia, 14 points) - qualified for the final. 

The Women's Blitz World Championship has just ended in Batumi. The tournament was held as a 15-round Swiss. The Russian Valentina Gunina (the European Champion in classical chess) secured the first place with a round to spare. Gunina won in the final round as well (against Bela Khotenashvili) and scored the total of 13 points out of 15. It's an unqualified success!

The French Rapid Grand Prix is scheduled to take place in Nancy, France today and tomorrow. First, 7 participants will be qualified in a 9 round Swiss (the list of the participants). The time control is 15 minutes (+3 seconds per move) per player. A "wild card" player GM Christian Bauer will join seven qualified players on Sunday to fight for the main prize in Cup System.

The French Chess championship has traditioanlly gathered participants in August. Twelve players will determine the strongest in a round-robin competition. As the strongest French players like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot and Laurent Fressinet are playing in the World Cup, the rating favourite is Romain Edouard (2662) who is followed by Vladislav Tkachiev (2637) and Christian Bauer (2633). 

Recently the Swiss Championship has finished in Flims. The strongest was determined in a round-robin with 10 participants. The veteran Viktor Korchnoi gathered only 2 points and took the last place. GM Gallagher grabbed Gold gathering 6.5 points.

The 2nd stage of the French Rapid Grand Prix was held in Nancy on Saturday and Sunday. First, 7 participants were qualified in a 9 round Swiss. A "wild card" player GM Christian Bauer joined seven qualified players today to fight for the main prize