Tuesday, June 11, 2013

World Blitz Champion

The 2013 FIDE World Blitz champion is Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem. The Vietnamese scored 20.5 out of a possible 30 points to finish half a point ahead of  three players,Alexander Grischuk , Ruslan Ponomariov and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Grischuk took the silver and Ponomariov the bronze on tie-break. Le won a USD40,000.00 for this win.


A bit of a surprise was the fine placing of  fellow Vietnamese, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son who scored 19.5 points just missing out on a medal. While everyone seems to be tiring on the last day, the Vietnamese made less blunders and took advantage of all the tactical breaks that came his way.





Black has unstoppable pawns and should win with some careful play. Instead 48 Ke4 Rb4+ 49. Kd5 Bb2?? 50 f5+ discovered attack on the black rook.



Another example, 30 Rc8?? Rc4! 31. Be5 Bxf2+

The situation looks bad but things can still change. 59. Bd5
Rd8 60. Rf7 Rd6+ 61. Kb5+ Kb8 62. Rb7+ Kc8 63. Rxa7 d3 64. Ra3?? d2 65. Rd3 Kc7
66. a3 Rh6 67. b4 Rh3 68. Rxh3 d1=Q
and black won.

In case I gave the impression that he only wins by opponent's blunders, here is a powerful tactical game from Nguyen.




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