On Thursday the Rapid & Blitz World Championship in Astana was officially opened by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. After the ceremony, the drawing of lots of both events was performed by Chief Arbiter Andrzej Filipowicz. The Rapid Championship starts on Friday at 15:00 local time (11:00 CET).

Le Quang Liem picks lot number 1 for the World Blitz | All photos © ChessVibes

Although the semi-finals started already on Monday, naturally the real event starts tomorrow: the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan. This official FIDE event was opened on Thursday afternoon in a beautiful ballroom of the Hotel Radisson in Astana. This hotel is also the venue (the playing hall is on the third floor) and the place where the players stay – very convenient!

We arrived in Astana on Thursday, very early morning and so with a slight jet lag we attended the opening ceremony. The ballroom was spacious but nonetheless crowded with over 200 visitors, including dozens of children, and also quite a few TV cameras and photographers. It was so full of people that we couldn't even come close to the players with our camera! The reason was the fact that President himself would be giving a speech.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, opens the tournament

Not only the presence of Nazarbayev, but the whole entourage of the tournament makes a good impression so far. We're pleasantly surprised, because we weren't sure what to expect as the semi-finals were much more low-profile. These games were not played on digital boards, and not in the Radisson either but in another hotel close by. From tomorrow on everything will be better, we predict.

We already reported about the rapid semi-finals, but not yet about the blitz qualifier, because it took place while we were traveling. This event was won by Dmitry Andreikin on Wednesday with a score of 16.5/22. The Russian GM, who already made a good impression at the World Blitz in November 2010, finished two points clear of the rest.

World Blitz 2012 | Semi-finals | Final standings

Like in the rapids, the first three places would qualify for the final. Besides Andreikin, Le Quang Liem, who failed to qualify for the rapids, is through to the blitz final together with Nikolai Chadaev. Here's a video report on these results by the organizers (more on their YouTube channel):

Therefore, the names of all participants are now known. Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Grischuk, Veselin Topalov, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Viktor Bologan and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will play in both tournaments. Alexey Dreev, Igor Kurnosov, Vladislav Tkachiev, Murtas Kazhgaleyev and Anuar Ismagambetov will join them for the rapid, while Dmitry Andreikin, Le Quang Liem, Nikolai Chadaev, Pavel Kotsur and Rinat Jumabayev will join them for the blitz.

The players during the opening ceremony

The Rapid Championship is a 16-player single round robin, with 5 rounds each day on July 6th, 7th and 8th. The time control is 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. The Blitz Championship is a 16-player double round robin-round Swiss, with 15 rounds each day on July 9th and 10th. The time control is 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.

Top favorite in both events: Magnus Carlsen, who recently launched a Facebook page

Below you'll find the (unofficial) complete pairings based on the lot numbers of the players. We had to use a small font to get the table in but you can use Ctrl+ (or Command-+ for Mac users) to zoom.

World Rapid Championship 2012 | Pairings

Chief arbiter Andrzej Filipowicz holding his paper with the pairing numbers written down

World Blitz Championship 2012 | Pairings

The pairing numbers for the blitz

Schedule

At the opening ceremony, masked ladies dressed in black and white were holding sachets in which the lot numbers were hidden...

...not an unpleasant sight for the players! 

Here's Alexander Morozevich picking his girl lot...

...Filipowicz: "We have a problem here. Is this a 6 or a 9?" (It was eventually figured out that it was a 9.)

For the blitz pairings, the sachets were emptied and put on a chess board with pieces

Alexander Grischuk using two hands!

Boris Gelfand draws number six...

...and shows us the little souvenir: the numbers were hidden under these replicas of the Bayterek...

...a monument and observation tower in Astana. A tourist attraction popular with foreign visitors and native Kazakhs alike, it is a common symbol of the city, epitomizing its elevation in 1997 to the status of capital of the country | Photo Wikipedia