There was a huge qualifying event today to determine the last 6 spots for the World Blitz Championship! Here are some of the 170 players (35 GMs) who competed in the final qualifying tournament:
1. Bareev, Evgeny RUS 2683 gm 2. Smirin, Ilia ISR 2659 gm 3. Milov, Vadim SUI 2620 gm 4. Roiz, Michael ISR 2611 gm 5. Sutovsky, Emil ISR 2607 gm 6. Postny, Evgeny ISR 2591 gm 7. Erenburg, Sergey ISR 2585 gm 8. Huzman, Alexander ISR 2585 gm 9. Golod, Vitali ISR 2576 gm 10. Mikhalevski, Victor ISR 2571 gm 11. Vaisser, Anatoly FRA 2568 gm 12. Kogan, Artur ISR 2567 gm 13. Psakhis, Lev ISR 2556 gm 14. Greenfeld, Alon ISR 2551 gm 15. Dlugy, Maxim USA 2518 gm
The following 6 players earned the final 6 spots:
GMs I. Smirin, E. Sutovsky, S. Erenburg , M. Royz and IMs D. Zoler and G. Lifshitz
Here is the final roster for the World Blitz Championship:
1. GM Gelfand ISRAEL
2. GM Gurevich USA
3. GM Svidler RUSSIA
4. GM Carlsen NORWAY
5. GM Polgar HUNGARY
6. GM Radjabov AZERBAIJAN
7. GM Erenburg ISRAEL
8. GM Royz ISRAEL
9. IM Zoler ISRAEL
10. GM Bacrot FRANCE
11. IM Livshitz ISRAEL
12. GM Grischuk RUSSIA
13. GM Sutovski ISRAEL
14. GM Smirin ISRAEL
15. GM Anand INDIA
16. GM Gagunashvili GEORGIA
Are Israeli GMs very fond of blitz for some reason?? Look at their representation in the final 16!
The tournament takjes place in Israel so they have less distance to travel
at teh website it says that Judit and Magnus Carlsen drew on board 2 whiule Anand is on board 1??http://www.ichessu.net/
They list 15:30 as starting time though. Is that Iraeli time or British time??
The camera’s are up and running, looks like they will broadcsat 4 games at a time on camera and all of the games on chessboards. 15 rounds all together
Still not sure WHEN THE FIRST PIECES WILL BE MOVED!!! Right now peopel are milling about
Round 1
Gelfand Gagunashvili
Gurevich Anand
Svidler Smirin
Carlsen Sutovsky
Polgar Grischuk
Radjabov Livshitz
Erenburg Bacrot
Royz Zoler
The are starting SOON!!!
GOOD luck JUdit!
Go Vishy!