World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

World Blitz 2015

October 13, 2015

Day 1, Rounds 1-11

Standing after Round 11

1. Vachier-Lagrave 9.5
2. Carlsen 9
3. Karjakin 8.5
4. Dominguez 8.5
5. Aronian 8
6. Kramnik 8
7. Edouard 8
8. Petrosian 7.5
9. Perunovic 7.5
10. Socko 7.5
11. Vallejo Pons 7.5
12. Kravtsiv 7.5
13. Vovk 7.5
14. Vitiugov 7.5
15. Radjabov 7.5
16. Bocharov 7.5
17. Ghaem 7.5
18. Grischuk 7.5
19. Movsesian 7.5
20. Eljanov 7.5
43. Ivanchuk 6.5
114. Seirawan 5
137. Hansen 4.5
152. Krnan 4

190 Players

How the top 3 boards fared, round-by-round

Round 1

Nikolic (0) – Carlsen (0) 0-1
MVL (0) – Bologan (0) 1-0
Postny (0) – Nepomniachtchi (0) 0-1

Round 2

Carlsen (1) – Akopian (1) 1-0
Jumabayev (1) – MVL (1) 0-1
Nepomniachtchi (1) – Kasimdzhanov (1) 0.5-0.5

Round 3

Eljanov (2) – Carlsen (2) 0-1
MVL (2) – Movsesian (2) 1-0
Riazantsev (2) – Grischuk (2) 0.5-0.5

Round 4

Carlsen (3) – Fressinet (3) 1-0
Ghaem Maghami (3) – MVL 0-1
Perunovic (3) – Ivanchuk (3) 1-0

Round 5

Petrosian (4) – Carlsen (4) 0.5-0.5
MVL (4) – Perunovic (4) 1-0
Nguyen (3.5) – Gelfand (3.5) 0.5-0.5

Round 6

Carlsen (4.5) – MVL (5) 1-0
Petrosian (4.5) – Dubov (4.5) 1-0
Aronian (4) – Fressinet (4) 1-0

Round 7

Carlsen (5.5) – Aronian (5) 0.5-0.5
MVL (5) – Petrosian (5.5) 1-0
Perunovic (5) – Karjakin (5) 0.5-0.5

Round 8

Andreikin (4.4) – Carlsen (6) 0-1
MVL (6) – Socko (6) 1-0
Petrosian (5.5) – Aronian (5.5) 0.5-0.5

Round 9

Carlsen (7) – Vallejo Pons (6.5) 1-0
Karjakin – MVL (7) 0-1
Aronian (6) – Duda (6) 1-0

Round 10

Socko (7) – Carlsen (8) 0-1
MVL (8) – Aronian (7) 1-0
Onischuk (6.5) – Petrosian (7) 0.5-0.5

Round 11

Carlsen (9) – Karjakin (7.5) 0-1
Radjabov (7) – MVL (9) 0.5-0.5
Petrosian (7.5) – Dominguez (7.5) 0-1

Vachier-Lagrave is the leader but has lost his game with Carlsen. Carlsen finally lost to Karjakin after being undefeated in the rapid and 10 rounds of the blitz. I give that game. Each player gets 3 minutes on the clock with 2-second increments.

World Blitz
Round 11, Oct. 13, 2015
Carlsen, Magnus – Karjakin, Sergey
D02 Queen’s Bishop game

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. Nd3 c4 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Nc5 e5 14. b3 cxb3 15. axb3 Re8 16. O-O Ng4 17. g3 Qh6 18. h4 Ra7 19. Kg2 Rae7 20. Nf3 e4 21. Nh2 Nxh2 22. Kxh2 g5 23. Rh1 gxh4 24. Kg1 h3 25. Nxa6 Ra7 26. Nc5 Rxa1 27. Qxa1 Bg4 28. Kh2 Qf6 29. Qb2 Qf3 30. Rg1 Ra8 31. c4 Kg7 32. cxd5 cxd5 33. b4 Rb8 34. Na6 Rb6 35. Nc7 Rxb4 36. Qa2 Ra4 37. Qb2 Ra5 38. Ne8+ Kg6 39. Nc7 h5 40. Qc2 Kh7 41. Qb2 Qf6 42. Rc1 Qf3 43. Rg1 Qf5 44. Rc1 Ra7 45. Ne8 Qf3 46. Rg1 Ra6 47. Qc2 Re6 0-1
_____

I saw two games in which the 50-move rule was claimed. I don’t know how they worked out. Saw lots of basic endgames including king + 2 knights versus king and pawn and bishop and knight and king vs the lone king:

- Ghaem Maghami after claiming a draw when Sethuraman fails to win with bishop and knight vs king: ‘I would win it with 20 seconds.'

- Gelfand: “One third of the players I've never heard of. And they're strong! ”

- Round 2 delay - Reason delay: arbiter was overruled by chief arbiter; Radjabov got 10 sec instead of a win when opponent tipped over piece & pressed clock. Play continued and Radjabov won. Chief arbiter had specifically mentioned it at players meeting. Not all arbiters attended.

The camera was on Carlsen games for most of the day and one didn’t get to see too many of the others. Jan Gustafsson did a great job, as usual, of analyzing the positions from the camera shots. The electronic board could not keep up.

Rounds 12 to 21 will be played tomorrow

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

MVL's performance today has him up to #2 in live FIDE Blitz ratings, now ahead of Nakamura and behind only Carlsen.

http://www.2700chess.com/blitz?per-page=100

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

Despite being in 2nd place, Carlsen remains the betting favourite at 77/100. The leader, MVL, currently has 77/50 odds. Karjakin is the 3rd betting favourite at 8/1.

I'm a little taken back by Carlsen being 69/100 to beat Kramnik with Black in R12. Kramnik is 49/10 with the White pieces with rather attractive draw odds of 61/25. Since 2012, the two have drawn 8 of their 11 matches, including both the Tal and Norway Blitz. The following link is likely only good for a very short time since today's games will begin in 35 minutes.

https://www.marathonbet.com/en/betting/Chess/

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

Looked through photo galleries - no Eric nor Tomas (or did not recognize them). Bad organizers/photographers LOL

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

World Blitz 2015

October 14, 2015

Day 2, Rounds 12-21

Top Four Board Results

Round 12

Kramnik (8) – Carlsen (9) 0.5-0.5
Dominguez (8.5) – MVL (9.5) 0.5-0.5
Karjakin (8.5) – Aronian (8) 0-1
Grischuk (7.5) – Radjabov (8) 0-1

Round 13

Radjabov (9) – Carlsen (9.5) 1-0
MVL (10) – Gelfand (8.5) 1-0
Aronian (9) – Dominguez (9) 0.5-0.5
Ghaem Maghami (8.5) – Kramnik (8.5) 0.5-0.5

Round 14

Carlsen (9.5) – Svidler (9) 0.5-0.5
Onischuk, V. (9) – MVL (11) 0.5-0.5
Radjabov (10) – Aronian (9.5) 0.5-0.5
Dominguez (9.5) – Karjakin (9.5) 0-1

Round 15

Carlsen (10) – Grischuk (9.5) 0-1
MVL (11.5) – Kramnik (10) 0.5-0.5
Karjakin (10.5) – Radjabov (10.5) 1-0
Aronian (10) – Tomashevsky (10) 1-0

Round 16

Zhigalko (10) – Carlsen (10) 0.5-0.5
Grischuk (10.5) – MVL (12) 0.5-0.5
Gelfand (10.5) – Karjakin (11.5) 0.5-0.5
Aronian (11) – Melkumyan (10.5) 0.5-0.5

Round 17

Carlsen (10.5) – Jones, G. (10.5) 1-0
MVL (12.5) – Svidler (11) 1-0
Karjakin (12) – Kramnik (11) 0-1
Vovk (11) – Aronian (11.5) 1-0

Round 18

Gelfand (11.5) – Carlsen (11.5) 0-1
MVL (13.5) – Vovk (12) 0-1
Grischuk (12) – Karjakin (12) 1-0
Kramnik (12) – Aronian (11.5) 1-0
Radjabov (11.5) – Ivanchuk (10.5) 0.5-0.5

Round 19

Vovk (13) – Carlsen (12.5) 0.5-0.5
Ivanchuk (11) – MVL (13.5) 1-0
Grischuk (13) – Kramnik (13) 0.5-0.5
Nepomniachtchi (12) – Radjabov (12) 1-0
Tomashevsky (12) – Karjakin (12) 1-0
Aronian (11.5) – Svidler (11.5) 0.5-0.5

Round 20

Carlsen (13) – Ivanchuk (12) 0-1
Kramnik (13.5) – Vovk (13.5) 1-0
MVL (13.5) – Nepomniachtchi (13) 0.5-0.5
Tomashevsky (13) – Grischuk (13.5) 0-1
Mamedov (12.5) – Gelfand (12.5) 0-1

Round 21

Carlsen (13) – Tomashevsky (13) 1-0
Ivanchuk (14) – Kramnik (14.5) 0.5-0.5
Gelfand (13.5) – Grischuk (14.5) 0-1
Kasimdzhanov (13.5) – MVL (14) 0-1
Vovk (13.5) – Nepomniachtchi (13.5) 0-1
Navara (13) – Karjakin (13) 1-0
Andreikin (11.5) – Svidler (13) 0-1
Aronian (13) – Anand (12.5) 0.5-0.5
Hansen (10) – Rublevsky (10.5) 0.5-0.5
Krnan (8.5) – Sanal (7) 0-1

Final Standing (Unofficial)

1. Grischuk 15.5
2. MVL 15
3. Kramnik 15
4. Ivanchuk 14.5
5. Nepomniachtchi 14.5
6. Carlsen 14
7. Svidler 14
8. Navara 14
9. Vovk 13.5
10. Kasimdzhanov 13.5
11. Aronian 13.5
12. Gelfand 13.5
13. Dominguez 13.5
14. Mamedov 13.5
15. Mamedyarov 13.5
16. Karjakin 13
94. Hansen 10.5
157. Krnan 8.5


Yuri Vovk is the Ukrainian GM, who knocked out Ray Robson in the first round of the World Cup Baku 2015 and then was eliminated by Wei Yi in the blitz tiebreak games.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

World Rapid and Blitz Championship Berlin 2015

October 14, 2015

The ceremony with the medal presentation for both sections of the tournament took place. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov again announced that the World Championship would take place in November in the United States.

Klaus Deventer, the Chief Arbiter, was invited to give the official standings and announce the medals.

World Rapid

1. Magnus Carlsen 11.5
2. Ian Nepomniachtchi 10.5
3. Teimour Radjabov 10.5
4. Leinier Dominguez Perez 10.5
5. Dmitry Bocharov 10
6. Vladimir Kramnik 10
7. Vladimir Onischuk 10
8. Vassily Ivanchuk 10
9. Igor Kovalenko 10
10. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 10

The gold, silver and bronze medals were put on Magnus, Ian and Teimour. They are perfectly round, about the size of a tumbler coaster (100 mm dia?) and have a black lanyard. Magnus said a few words, saying that this ceremony reminded him that a few days ago it was good for him and he complimented Alexander Grischuk on his victory in the blitz. The Norwegian National Anthem was played.

World Blitz 2015

1. Alexander Grischuk 15.5
2. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 15
3. Vladimir Kramnik 15
4. Vassily Ivanchuk 14.5
5. Ian Nepomniachtchi 14.5
6. Magnus Carlsen 14
7. Peter Svidler 14
8. David Navara 14
9. Yuri Vovk 13.5
10. Rustam Kasimdzhanov 13.5

Again the gold, silver and bronze medals were presented to Grischuk, MVL and Kramnik. I think they said that MVL and Vladimir were tied and MVL got the silver on the tie-break. When Ivanchuk’s name was read, there was a lot of applause. Clearly Grischuk and Ivanchuk are two of the most popular players on the circuit. Both Sasha and Vladimir stressed that Magnus winning three titles in a row, the two last year and the rapid this year is an outstanding achievement. The Russian National Anthem was played and then the FIDE Anthem after Kirsan declared that the World Rapid and Blitz 2015 Championships in Berlin were now closed.

The official announcement of what I have just written is as follows:

Rapid and Blitz Championships Concluded in Berlin

• Alexander Grischuk takes first place, with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in second and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia finishing third;

• Players from a record number of countries took part in the World Championship;

• Winners of the 5-day tournament received their medals during an awards ceremony

October 14, 2015 – BERLIN, GERMANY – Today the 5-day World Chess Rapid and Blitz Championships concluded in Berlin, with Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk claiming the World Blitz Champion’s title.

The winner scored 15,5 points in the 21-round tournament. The prize fund for the Blitz tournament was $200,000. Grischuk earned $40,000.

Alexander Grischuk, 31, became the first three-time Blitz World Champion. He previously won the titles in 2006 and 2012.

Two players, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, finished a 0,5 point behind Grischuk. On tie-breakers, Vachier-Lagrave took the silver, and Kramnik the bronze.

The Blitz tournament was held over two days and included nearly 190 players from 50 countries. That set a new record for the number of countries represented in the fast-chess championships.

The championship was organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and Agon Limited, its commercial partner.

“A record number of countries in a fast-chess world championship proves that chess has a strong foundation, and a truly global presence,” said Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE’s President. “We hope that the great media interest for this tournament shows fast-chess can one day be an Olympic sport.”

The award ceremony was held at Bolle Meierei, the venue of the tournament, and took place shortly after the tournament ended. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE’s President, praising the high level of play during the tournament by the world’s top players, awarded the Rapid and Blitz Championship winners with medals, and declared the Championship officially closed. The medals were provided by ADAMAS, official supplier of World Chess and FIDE.

“The Championship proves that chess has a huge audience, and can be an effective marketing platform for sponsorship and partners,” said Ilya Merenzon, President of Agon Limited.

The World Chess Rapid and Blitz Championship was played out in Berlin October 10-14. The Rapid Championship was held over the first three days and included 158 players.

The tournament had huge, enthusiastic crowds throughout the five days. Several thousand spectators visited Bolle Meierei, the site of the tournaments, and hundreds of thousands of people watched live video and streaming of the games on Worldchess.com, the new official broadcasting Web site for championship events.
______

Tweets

(Magnus Carlsen) Can’t win them all (apparently)

(Sergey Karjakin) – I played good in blitz, had +8.5 rounds before the end. But then my energy finished. Stupid World Cup!

- Congratulations to Vachier-Lagrave! Not quite gold (yet!), but what an improvement over last year.

(Hikaru Nakmura) – Really happy to see Alexander Grischuk winning the World Blitz Championship after having such an incredibly rough year in 2015!

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

Sounds like Magnus had a mild paroxysm yesterday ):

http://www.thelocal.no/20151015/carl...-at-chess-loss

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

Carlsen's 6th place finish drops him to number two in live Blitz ratings.

http://www.2700chess.com/blitz

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

World Rapid and Blitz 2015

World Blitz and Ivanchuk

October 15, 2015

Four Ivanchuk games from Day 2 of the tournament that pretty well tell how the Day 1 leaders fell. It is great to see him in form.

Chess.24: On the final day Ivanchuk had six wins and four draws, and he later told Macauley Peterson what had inspired that streak:

A tournament is always emotional for me. I try to show my best. I'm not always lucky, but today was really my day because I won many games. It’s difficult to say which is the best game... the most pleasure was against Etienne Bacrot. It was such a creative game. I had two queens on the board, but probably in the last position I'm losing. We made a move repetition because both of us had only a few seconds, but it was an extremely emotional game - probably the most emotional of the day and that game gave me a very creative mood for all the other games.

Ivanchuk is in fact absolutely winning in the final position:

49…Rxc2! is now the move, but you can see why it was hard to believe the white pieces couldn’t deliver mate. The game was a wild encounter that could have gone either way… to put it very mildly.

World Blitz
Round 12, Oct. 14, 2015
Bacrot, Etienne – Ivanchuk, Vassily
B81 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Keres Attack

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4 h6 7. Rg1 Nc6 8. Be3 a6 9. h4 h5 10. gxh5 Rxh5 11. Bg5 Rh8 12. Be2 Bd7 13. Qd2 Qb6 14. Nb3 Qc7 15. O-O-O b5 16. a3 Rb8 17. f4 b4 18. axb4 Nxb4 19. h5 Nxh5 20. Rh1 g6 21. f5 Bg7 22. Bxh5 gxh5 23. f6 Bf8 24. Rh4 a5 25. Rdh1 a4 26. Nd4 Qb6 27. Rxh5 Na2+ 28. Kd1 Nxc3+ 29. Qxc3 Rxh5 30. Rxh5 Rc8 31. Qd3 Rc5 32. Nf3 Qxb2 33. Rh8 Qb1+ 34. Bc1 Rc6 35. Ng5 a3 36. Nh7 Kd8 37. Rxf8+ Be8 38. Ng5 a2 39. Nxf7+ Kc7 40. Rxe8 a1=Q 41. Re7+ Kb8 42. Re8+ Kc7 43. Re7+ Kb6 44. Qe3+ Rc5 45. Qd2 Rc6 46. Qe3+ Rc5 47. Qd2 Rc6 48. Qe3+ Rc5 49. Qd2 ½-½

Chess.com: At the press conference Vachier-Lagrave said: “I was 1.5 points ahead and somehow I was thinking: I've not done it yet, but I'm the one who can prevent myself from winning the title and it's exactly what happened. I lost two games in a row and even though I finished with two decent games it was not enough.”

He lost his second game to Vassily Ivanchuk, who played this Closed Sicilian with c3 and Na3 several times:

World Blitz
Round 19, Oct. 14, 2015
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
B20 Sicilian, Steinitz Variation

1. e4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d3 Nc6 5. f4 e6 6. Nf3 Nge7 7. c3 d5 8. O-O b6 9. Na3 O-O 10. e5 Rb8 11. Nc2 b5 12. Be3 c4 13. a3 a5 14. Bc5 cxd3 15. Qxd3 Re8 16. g4 f5 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Rae1 Qc7 19. Qe3 Bg7 20. b4 Bd7 21. h3 Rf8 22. Ng5 Rf6 23. Nd4 e5 24. Nxc6 Nxc6 25. Bxd5+ Kh8 26. fxe5 Nxe5 27. Rxf6 Bxf6 28. Bd4 Re8 29. Nf7+ Kg7 30. Nxe5 h6 31. Qf2 Bc8 32. Nc6 Rxe1+ 33. Qxe1 Bxd4+ 34. cxd4 Kf8 35. Qe5 1-0

Chess.com: Because of Vachier-Lagrave's two straight losses, Carlsen suddenly was back in the tournament but he spoiled his chances once again with a loss against Ivanchuk.

Carlsen was basically outplayed, then he was given a chance to come back into the game but right there he blundered a mate in two.
Ivanchuk jumped on his chair like a seven-year-old when playing Qg1, and left the stage like a goalkeeper who had just stopped a penalty by Ronaldo. Spectators started applauding, to Carlsen's chagrin.

We see the world champion throwing his pen on the table, and even shouting “faen!” (literally “devil). Later Carlsen stated that was embarrassed by his own behavior.

World Blitz
Round 20, Oct. 14, 2015
Carlsen, Magnus – Ivanchuk, Vassily
A45 Trompovsky Attack

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c5 3. Bxf6 gxf6 4. d5 Qb6 5. Qc1 f5 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. g3 Bg7 9. Nf3 Nf6 10. Nd2 Ne4 11. Ndxe4 fxe4 12. Bg2 Qb4 13. O-O Qxc4 14. Bxe4 h5 15. h4 Bg4 16. Re1 O-O-O 17. Rb1 Kb8 18. Bg2 Rhg8 19. Qe3 Bf6 20. Ne4 Bd4 21. Qd2 Qxa2 22. Qf4 Rgf8 23. b4 Be5 24. Qe3 c4 25. Nc3 Qa6 26. Qd2 Rc8 27. e3 Bf5 28. Ra1 Qb6 29. Ra4 Bd3 30. Rea1 a6 31. Bf3 Rg8 32. Kg2 f5 33. Bxh5 Rcf8 34. b5 f4 35. exf4 Bxf4 36. Qe1 Bxg3 37. fxg3 Rf1 38. Qd2 Qg1+ 0-1

Chess.com: Grischuk signed the form and started watching the game between Ivanchuk and Kramnik. “I could not believe I'm going to win till the end,” he said. “Even after I beat Boris Gelfand and then I just needed that Vladimir does not beat Ivanchuk, because if he won I'm sure that he will beat me on tiebreaks because I started very bad in the tournament.

“And then Ivanchuk had two knights and three pawns against two knights and two pawns so basically he cannot lose normally but there are two knights so you can always just put your king in check and lose like this. This was the moment I was most nervous actually today! But luckily it was OK.”

World Blitz
Round 21, Oct. 14, 2015
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Kramnik, Vladimir
D56 QGD, Neo-orthodox variation

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Rc1 c5 9. dxc5 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nxc5 11. O-O a6 12. Be2 b5 13. Ne5 Bb7 14. Bf3 Qxd1 15. Rfxd1 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Rfc8 17. b4 Nb7 18. a3 g5 19. Bg3 Bf8 20. Ne2 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 a5 22. Nxf7 axb4 23. axb4 Nd5 24. Ne5 Bxb4 25. e4 Nf6 26. Rb1 Ra4 27. Nd3 Bf8 28. Rxb5 Nd8 29. Be5 Nd7 30. Bc3 Ra3 31. Kg2 Nf7 32. Rb1 Bg7 33. Bxg7 Kxg7 34. Rd1 Nde5 35. Nc5 Rxf3 36. Nxe6+ Kf6 37. Nc7 Rd3 38. Nd5+ Kg7 39. Rxd3 Nxd3 40. Nd4 Nd6 41. f3 Kg6 42. Kg3 h5 43. h3 h4+ 44. Kg2 Nc4 45. Ne2 Kg7 46. Nd4 Kg6 47. Kf1 Nce5 48. Ke2 Nc5 49. Ke3 Nc4+ 50. Ke2 Ne5 51. Nf5 Ne6 52. Ke3 Nc4+ 53. Ke2 Ne5 54. Nfe7+ Kf7 55. Nf5 Kg6 56. Kf2 Nd3+ 57. Kg1 Ne1 58. Kf2 Nd3+ 59. Kg1 Ne1 60. f4 gxf4 61. Nxh4+ Kg5 62. Nf5 Nc5 63. Nd6 f3 64. e5 f2+ 65. Kxf2 Ned3+ 66. Ke3 Nxe5 67. Kd4 Ned7 68. Ne4+ Nxe4 69. Kxe4 Nf6+ 70. Nxf6 Kxf6 71. h4 ½-½

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

World Rapid and Blitz

GM Ian Rogers has a scathing commentary on the conditions for the spectators at the Berlin games

It starts off this way:

What do you call a tournament where you are charged 9 Euros for the right to be in a tournament arena where you are unable to see any games, identify any players, find a seat in the commentary room, listen to commentary in your own language, or even connect your mobile phone to the internet to watch the games online?

Welcome to the 2015 World Rapid and Blitz Championship!


See: http://www.uschess.org/content/view/13229/844

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships Berlin 2015

World Rapid and Blitz 2015

Oct. 19, 2015

Besides Ian Rogers complaints about the facilities for spectators at the Championships, the journalist Tarjei J. Svensen has added his voice. His comments can be read at:

http://www.sjakkbloggen.no/2015/10/1...isappointment/

He does give credit where credit is due and then this:

FIVE AGON BLUNDERS

While I feel Agon in many ways are going in the right direction and doing a much better job than FIDE in marketing chess and communicating with the press, there is still a long way to go.

Here are some examples:

The actual players list was released on the official website only three days before the start of the event.

There was no response to e-mails to the official “Media Contact” of the event.

More than 29 hours after it actually began, Agon sent out a press release “FIDE World Championship Opens …”. That is at least 20 hours too late.

Out of the blue, Agon decided to change official websites and put most content on worldchess.com.

Announce two different Twitter hashtags on big posters (#worldchess and #berlinchess2015), and then use a completely different hashtag (#chessberlin) during the actual coverage.

UNACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS FOR THE PRESS

And what about the conditions for the people who actually cover the event? Unfortunately, the conditions for the press were a big disappointment. The internet connection was so bad, that one journalist was seen leaving the venue returning back to his hotel to cover the event from there. On the last day I was unable to connect to the WiFi at all, meaning I had to use my expensive phone connection in order to get online.

The worst part was probably that within 10 to 15 minutes after the last game, all journalists were forced to leave as the playing arena was closing. You can imagine that the Norwegian journalists were not particularly pleased.

There was absolutely nothing to eat or drink (except for bottled water by Norwegian sponsor Isklar) for the press or the spectators, something quite unheard of in other events. The only solution is to head for the streets of Berlin in between the games.

While the Norwegian press from NRK and VG were treated well and had access to all areas, it was a whole different story for other photographers and journalists from the general media.

I observed one professional photographer who angrily left the playing hall as he was not allowed to take decent photos in front of the spectators. The security people were inconsistent in how the general press was treated.

While some of them let anyone with a «Press» badge back of the ropes, one Russian security guard told us «If you want good photos, you can buy them on the official site».

I have great respect for Ilya Merenzon, the CEO in charge who bought the company from the previous owner Andrew Paulson in 2014. He and a very small crew organized an almost perfect World Championship Match in Sochi. His intention to hold the biggest events in major cities is an idea I am supporting as a chess lover and journalist. I am convinced that the Candidates and the World Championship Match next year will take place in USA, a great move if the chess interest is to expand.