World Rapid And Blitz

While most people are looking forward to the Tata Steel tournament or the Candidates match to see who will play Magnus Carlsen in the World Champion title in classical time controls, others looked forward to watching the world rapid championship and the world blitz championship to see if Magnus Carlsen will end up with all three crowns again. Carlsen has not held all three crowns in classical, rapid and blitz since 2014.  

Straight from the first day only three players were in the lead with a score of 4.5/5, which included Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Nakamura. After the games Carlsen said “I am not supposed to be peaking yet; I am hoping to do that in the next few days" reminding the commentators and other players that his reign has not even started yet.  

The next day Carlsen was the only player to not lose a game. Showing that he really was just warming up. By the time the final day of the rapid championship, Carlsen held a considerable lead of 1.5 against the players and at the final round he only needed a draw to grab the title. In the final round of the rapid he faced the legendary speed demon of chess Hikaru Nakamura. Which started off as a more unusual variation of the Ruy Lopez. Luckily for Carlsen he drew the match and thus claiming the champion title of rapid chess. After words when asked if he was going to celebrate Carlsen responded “The job is half done for me. I want to win the blitz as well, so there is no time to rest on laurels.” 

On the first day of the blitz Carlsen was the only player in first with 10.0/12 half a point ahead of Maxim. On the second day Carlsen and Nakamura were tied for first place and had to go on to playoffs. However, 14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik, despite his old age and retirement earlier this year, finished with a clear third after having to battle with all the new young super grandmasters reminding the youngsters, they still have a lot to learn yet in the game. During on of Carlsen’s matches when Kramink was asked what he thought about how well Carlsen was during he responded “what to say? He's the best. It’s now more of a surprise if he doesn’t win.” Just after beating Kramnik, Carlsen responded “I am doing pretty well! Tough opposition, many good players. I’ve got max out of positions. Nakamura is still in it. I feel well.” 

After narrowly beating Nakamura in the tiebreak Magnus Carlsen starched up the last of the title becoming the world champion of all time formats. Something that he has not done since 2014. 2019 had become the best year for Carlsen as he returned to his peak rating of 2882 in August, while setting the record for the longest streak of being undefeated in classical chess, and also becoming the crowned king in all time formats. One can now only wonder if any of the players in the Candidates tournament will have a chance at winning the title of world champion after a good year for Carlsen.