Official World Blitz and Rapid Chess Championships will be held in the capital city of Kazakhstan, Astana, on July 1-11, 2012. It is worth noting that the Rapid Chess Championship will be held for the first time in the history of the FIDE!
Famous sportsmen, world champions are among 16 participants of the finals of the World Championships.
The top ten players of the current FIDE rating list have the personal right to take part in the championships.
The names of Kazakhstani grandmasters nominated from the Kazakh side are already known. These are Murtas Kazhgaleyev and Anuar Ismagambetov in rapid chess and Pavel Kotsur and Rinat Dzhumabayev in blitz.
Qualifiers are planned to be held prior to the finals. Chess players from all over the world will have a chance to advance to the main event. The only requirement for participants is their international ratings should be not less than 2300. Three winners of every qualifier will take part in the finals and be able to win prizes.
The fact that this international event coincided with the Day of the Capital of Kazakhstan is symbolic and not occasional.
Apart from the serious intellectual battles, the guests of Astana will be able to attend different festive events, enjoy the hospitality of Kazakhstanis, familiarize with the modern metropolis – new capital city of Kazakhstan.
Qualifiers by rating for finals (6-10 July)
| 01. Magnus Carlsen | 2835 | |
| 02. Teimour Radjabov | 2784 | |
| 03. Sergey Karjakin | 2779 | |
| 04. Alexander Morozevich | 2769 | |
| 05. Vassily Ivanchuk | 2764 | |
| 06. Alexander Grischuk | 2761 | |
| 07. Veselin Topalov | 2752 | |
| 08. Peter Svidler | 2741 | |
| 09. Boris Gelfand | 2727 | |
| 10. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2726 |
There will be no Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Kamsky, and some other big names.
Nominee of FIDE President
Ehsan Ghaem Maghami 2578
Two players for each event are nominated by the host organisers – Kazakhstan Chess Federation
RAPID
Kazhgaleyev, Murtas 2595
Ismagambetov, Anuar 2478
BLITZ
Jumabayev, Rinat 2556
Kotsur, Pavel 2548
Three other players will qualify for the respective Blitz or Rapid Finals from the Semi Finals to be held between the 1st and 4th July 2012.
Welcome address Kazakhstan Chess Federation President Asset Issekeshev
Dear friends!
On behalf of Kazakhstan Chess Federation I welcome all the participants of the tournament, guests and fans of the game of chess who gathered these days in our young capital city for the World Rapid and Blitz Championships!
This is the second time when Kazakhstan jointly with the FIDE hosts chess tournament of such a high level attended by the world outstanding grandmasters. The main peculiarity of today’s event is the Rapid Chess Championship which is held for the first time in the history of this major chess tournament. Certainly, this fact will go down in history of this game.
I express my sincere gratitude to organizers of the event – Kazakhstan Chess Federation, International Chess Federation FIDE and its President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov who has presided in it for 17 years and the title sponsor “Sat&Company”.
I wish the participants interesting and fair competition and I hope the viewers of the Championship will enjoy beautiful combinations and unexpected moves!
President of Kazakhstan Chess Federation
A. Issekeshev
Why not Leinier Dominguez current World Blitz Champion?
Why not Leinier Dominguez current World Blitz Champion?
Why not Leinir Dominguez current World Blitz Champion?
Hey, why no Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Kamsky, and some other big names that are missing? Is this some sort of conspiracy? Yes, I think it is.
Where is GM Wesley So?
World Blitz Chess 2012?! The line-up are all europeans! This is unfair, Asian blitz champion/Aeroflot qualifier Wesley So should be on the list! Nakamura & Dominguez(Americas) too should be considered to make it officially a world blitz chess championships.Only the top 5 from the classical july ratings should be included and top 5 from Aeroflot qualifier. 24 players and not 16 to have all this big names included! It really hurts to be a chess fan these days!!!
World Blitz Chess 2012?! The line-up are all europeans! This is unfair, Asian blitz champion/Aeroflot qualifier Wesley So should be on the list! Nakamura & Dominguez(Americas) too should be considered to make it officially a world blitz chess championships.Only the top 5 from the classical july ratings should be included and top 5 from Aeroflot qualifier. 24 players and not 16 to have all this big names included! It really hurts to be a chess fan these days!!!