Playing in his trademark fast and sharp style, American chess streamer superstar Hikaru Nakamura, who’s never won a blitz or rapid world championship title before, has bounced back from a disappointing performance in the rapid tournament to take a clear lead heading into the second day of the World Blitz Chess Championship in Kazakhstan.
The World Blitz Championship is a two-day event of 21 rounds in the open section and 17 in the women’s section, played in a 3+2 time format (three minutes plus two seconds added for each move). It takes place straight after the three-day rapid tournament, which was won by Magnus Carlsen.
The world No. 1 was late for the first round, showing up in a hoodie and sweatpants and only having 35 seconds left on his clock, but he still managed to win the game against Vladislav Kovalev, who displayed great sportsmanship by trying to delay the starting of the clocks as long as possible and likely giving up his time advantage on purpose as early as move 12.
Carlsen maintained a flawless start five rounds into the event, with Nakamura in hot pursuit at 4.5 points. The two titans shared first place after the sixth round alongside Anish Giri and Yu Yangyi. Carlsen faced Giri and Nakamura squared off against Yu, with the favorites scoring important wins with the Black pieces.
This led to a hotly anticipated clash between Nakamura and Carlsen in the eighth round for all the marbles, but the game quickly trailed off into a straightforward draw. The struggle continued, however, and the Norwegian began to falter somewhat as the rounds kept piling on. Carlsen survived in a dead lost position against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the tenth round to claim a vital half-point and proceeded to steer his last games of the day to quick draws against Daniil Dubov and Vladislav Artemiev.
Meanwhile, Nakamura scored convincing wins against Haik M. Martirosyan and Vladimir Fedoseev in the final rounds, giving him a clear one-point lead over the field at the halfway mark. Though the American had a disappointing rapid tournament, he remained undefeated throughout the start of the blitz event and his score for this day reads eight wins and four draws, which means he hasn’t lost a single game across the four days of play so far in these two events.
The fate of the World Blitz Championship will be decided tomorrow after 11 more rounds are played out. Nakamura’s on 10 points, chased by Giri, Carlsen, Dubov, Martirosyan, and Rapport on nine. The runner-up and the third-place finisher of the rapid portion, Vincent Keymer and Fabiano Caruana, are on eight and 7.5 points, respectively. In the women’s section, Shuvalova Polina and Gunina Valentina lead the field with 7.5 points each out of nine.
