Sergey Karjakin is the new World Rapid Champion ! He won the competition in Astana with 11,5/15, a full point ahead of the second Carlsen, after completing a fenomenal third day with 4,5/5. This adds yet another brilliant trophy to the carrer of Sergey Karjakin and one more time justifies the transfer that the Russian Chess Federation made a few years ago . Magnus Carlsen was brilliant during day 1 and day 2 of the World Rapid chess championship in Astana. However, his third day games were in total contrast to the general performance so far. He started with a logical win against Ismagambetov, but scored back-to-back loses against Ivanchuk and Grischuk. A draw against Radjabov left him without much practical chances for the title, while in the last game he could have even lost the silver, had Veselin Topalov seen a forced mate in the endgame. Topalov himself had yet another strange mixture of irregular performances. He made nor...
“Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack”(Wilhelm Steinitz)