In Samarkand (Uzbekistan) the first part of the most anticipated chess start at the end of the year has ended: the World Rapid Championship (there is still one blitz ahead). It ended in a rather expected, but at the same time sensational way!
In the men’s section, the best chess player of all time, leader of the world ranking, former world champion Magnus Carlsen won his fifth minor crown in rapid and will soon seek another crown in blitz.
Magnus Carlsen
Photo: fide.com
The Scandinavian started with a draw against Nikita Petrov (Montenegro), a student at the Novorossiysk chess school. The competitors raised their heads, but Magnus quickly “calmed everyone down” by walking through his opponents like a bull in a china shop. At the same time, not many elite grandmasters fell from the powerful hand of Carlsen (except perhaps Santosh Vidit, a participant in the 2024 Candidates Tournament), but the world champion went to the end without defeat, eliminated the most weak and played much more evenly. than anyone else.
His main competitor in the competition was Vladimir Fedoseev, a graduate of the St. Petersburg chess school, who now plays for the Slovenia national team. Vladimir, Kaissa’s favorite, won points in many positions that seemed simply unthinkable for other chess players. But again and again fortune was on Fedoseev’s side. Except the match with Magnus, which was decisive in the tournament.
Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia) – Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
World Rapid Championship 2023
As a result, Carlsen won with a score of 10 out of 13, Fedoseev was half a point behind, and the third place was shared by 12 people, of which the Chinese Yu Yangyi took the podium. In the recovery group there were many Russians: multiple national champion Peter Svidler, three-time world blitz champion Alexander Grischuk, two-time Russian champion Dmitry Andreikin, 2018 world rapid champion Daniil Dubov and the main discovery of the tournament: the 17 year old young man. -Old Volodar Murzin, now the youngest Grandmaster of Russia.
Volodar, like Magnus, made it to the end without losing, taking a high fifth place. A brilliant achievement from a young player, and there is no doubt that we can expect great achievements from Murzin soon!
In general, we were very satisfied with the young Russian talents, but above all it was 8-year-old Roma Shogjiev, who beat several grandmasters and masters and scored up to 182 rating points at the end of the tournament. Magnus himself was delighted with Roma’s performance and gave the prodigy an autograph. It is worth noting that this is a dangerous omen for the great Norwegian: Carlsen once gave an autograph to the young Andrei Esipenko, who after that, less than 10 years later, upset his idol three times. Now it’s Roma’s turn!
How Shogjiev beat the titled grandmaster:
An 8-year-old Russian boy beat the Olympic champion at the 2023 World Cup. How is this possible?!
The world champion is from Russia!
But the main delight of Russian fans was the situation in the women’s section. Here Valentina Gunina, Ekaterina Lagno, Alexandra Goryachkina and Leya Garifullina fought for our victory; The girls looked great, but in this difficult tournament they finished from 7th to 10th place. And the real sensation was the performance of St. Petersburg-based Anastasia Bodnaruk, who recently won the Shanghai Commonwealth Organization tournament together with the Russian team. Nastya was so inspired by that victory that in Samarkand, starting with a modest number 51 (!), she began to crush everyone from the beginning and led the race throughout the tournament. Bodnaruk beat World Cup finalist Nargul Salimova (Bulgaria), two-time world blitz champion Bibisara Asaubaeva (Kazakhstan), strong Russian Polina Shuvalova and one of the strongest Chinese women, Zhu Jiner.
How Bodnaruk won the tournament under the Russian flag:
Russian chess players won the tournament with the flag and the anthem. Not even the Chinese stopped them!
As a result, at the finish line, Nastya shared 1st and 3rd place with the third number in the world ranking Humpy Koneru (India) and the fifth number in the world ranking Lei Tingjie (China). In addition, a first-place match was scheduled between Koneru and Bodnaruk, in which the world championship participant from India, who had fought with the legendary Hou Yifan, seemed the favorite. There was a lot of money at stake and the opponents’ hands were shaking: the additional games were full of errors and inaccuracies.
Humpy won the first game of the extra match, risking losing it, but Nastya did not give up and took revenge with the black pieces! The game started until the first victory, and in the fourth game our athlete won! However, this happened in the most dramatic way: in the third game, the Indian literally did not shoot into the “empty goal”, and then…
Humpy Koneru (India) – Anastasia Bodnaruk (Russia)
Rapid World Championship 2023. Women. 4th playoff game
Hooray, Anastasia Bodnaruk is the new world rapid champion! Koneru remained second and Lei Tingjie third. According to, to put it mildly, a very controversial FIDE rule, only two players with the highest odds participate in the tiebreaker for first place; Even Magnus Carlsen was outraged by this rule, but so far it has not been possible to change the situation. .
Well, now a blitz awaits us, where Carlsen is the favorite in the men’s half, but in the women’s half the powerful Russian delegation has the opportunity to compete with the Indians and the Chinese. However, we also believe in our gladiators!
