Sergey Karjakin won the FIDE World Rapid Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan on Sunday. The Moscovite finished on 11.5/15, a point more than Magnus Carlsen, who lost to Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Grischuk on the last day. Veselin Topalov finished in third place. The Bulgarian edged out Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on tiebreak.

Sergey Karjakin wins the first official Rapid World Championship | All images © ChessVibes

The third and final day of the Rapid World Championship in Astana was one full of drama. Vassily Ivanchuk forgot about his clock in a position he couldn't lose, against Sergey Karjakin, who went on to score 4.5/5 and finish on a superb 11.5/15. Although he had a tougher schedule, it was still surprising to see Magnus Carlsen, who had played so strongly the first two days, stumble at the end. He lost to both Ivanchuk and Alexander Grischuk, and finished second behind Karjakin, who can now call himself the Steinitz of rapid chess! (When we mentioned this nickname to him, the Russian had a good laugh, and then said: "Do mention that in your report!" You're welcome, Sergey!)

Here's our video report:

In the 11th round everything was still going according to plan for Carlsen, who won easily against tail-ender Anuar Ismagambetov.

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In the same round, Karjakin was quite lucky. He had been defending a worse position for a while already, when his opponent, the unpredictable Chuky, playing black, forgot about his clock. (Despite the 10-second increment, he was in fact not the only player to lose on time in this event.)

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In this position Ivanchuk's flag fell...

Ivanchuk can't believe that his flag has fallen; a fortunate moment for Karjakin

The Ukrainian didn't leave the playing hall but kept on walking up and down between the boards, shaking his head. Not fully calmed down yet at the start of the next round, Ivanchuk then continued to help Karjakin by inflicting the very first loss upon Carlsen!

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As Karjakin would later tell us (see the video), he thought: "OK, this is my chance". He won an excellent game against Radjabov.

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Sergey Karjakin: 4.5/5 on the last day

Meanwhile, Topalov had to give up his chances to finish first. In fact the Bulgarian, who was two pawns up in a knight ending against Tkachiev, managed to lose this game!

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Carlsen then lost again, in a Berlin Wall against Grischuk.

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Carlsen resigns his game against Grischuk

In the penultimate round Karjakin, who was now leading by half a point, won yet again. For Peter Svidler the tournament lasted a bit too long; he lost the last two rounds.

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Carlsen got a slight advantage against Radjabov, but eventually he couldn't break the Azerbaijani's defence. This meant that Karjakin only needed a draw in the last round against Igor Kurnosov to win the first official Rapid World Championship. And that's what happened.

The arbiter congratulates Karjakin with his victory

If Karjakin had lost and Carlsen won, the two would have played an Armageddon game to decide upon the tournament. However, due to Karjakin's draw the Topalov-Carlsen game was not relevant for first place anymore. Carlsen was in fact lost at some point, but drew the game and finished second, a point behind Karjakin.

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Despite missing the mate, the Bulgarian still finished third. He edged out Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the first tiebreak rule, which was the individual result.

Karjakin won US $40,000, Carlsen US $33,000 and Topalov and Mamedyarov both got US $25,000. There were money prizes for all players; see the regulations (PDF) for more details.

On Monday the players continue with the first 15 rounds of the World Blitz Championship (games of 3 minutes plus 2 seconds increment). The last 15 rounds will be played on Tuesday. The field will almost be the same, with Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Grischuk, Veselin Topalov, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Viktor Bologan and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov participating in both events. Dmitry Andreikin, Le Quang Liem, Nikolai Chadaev, Pavel Kotsur and Rinat Jumabayev will join them.

Games day 3

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World Rapid Championship 2012 | Final standings