Alexander Grischuk is leading the FIDE World Blitz Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan after 15 of the 30 rounds in total. The Moscovite scored 10.5/15 and has one point more than Dmitry Andreikin, Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin. Magnus Carlsen, who started badly, still has chances to win the event. The Norwegian is in sole 5th place with 8.5/15. The second and final part of the tournament starts tomorrow at 15:00 local time (11:00 CET).

Alexander Grischuk, the leader after 15 rounds | Photo © ChessVibes

The World Rapid Championship was already quite exciting to follow, and it was no surprise that the World Blitz saw even more spectacle. Purists who can only enjoy high quality chess are not recommended to read further...

Let's first mention a few of the biggest blunders, to get a bit of that comforting feeling that even these giants are humans after all. (And don't forget that in most of these cases the player making the mistake had little time on the clock.)

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The fresh World Rapid Champion, Sergey Karjakin, started strongly. He scored 4.5/5 and continued to remain unbeaten to reach 7/9. Especially his game against Le Quang Liem was impressive.

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Sergey Karjakin | Photo courtesy of the organizers, more here

Magnus Carlsen, who seemed to be playing without much energy on the last day of the rapid event, surely wants to reclaim the blitz title which he lost to Levon Aronian in Moscow, 2010. However, again he wasn't in top shape during the first few rounds of the blitz. Already in the first game he went down to Dmitry Andreikin, who in fact is a blitz specialist.

The final part of Andreikin-Carlsen, round 1

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Like Carlsen, another former World Blitz Champion, Vassily Ivanchuk, also lost to Andreikin. The final position isn't completely lost yet, but Ivanchuk just couldn't find a good move and lost on time.

Ivanchuk-Andreikin, round 2

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The following game was a fantastic fight which ended with two bare kings on the board and smiles on the players' faces.

Mamedyarov-Carlsen, round 3

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With 7/9, Karjakin was a full point ahead of Grischuk and Andreikin, but then he lost his first game.

Karjakin-Gelfand, round 10

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Both Andreikin and Grischuk won their games to catch Karjakin in first place. Andreikin and Karjakin then drew their mutual game, while Grischuk defeated Carlsen, just like in the rapid tournament:

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Alexander Grischuk (here during the rapid tournament) | Photo courtesy of the organizers, more here

Grischuk kept the lead until round 15, the last round of the first day. Here's another victory by the Moscovite:

Grischuk-Ivanchuk, round 12

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Magnus Carlsen had started with 1/4 but ended with 3.5/4 to finish at two points behind Grischuk after round 15. He beat Karjakin, just like in the rapid: 

Karjakin-Carlsen, round 14

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The playing hall during the World Blitz | Photo courtesy of the organizers, more here

Games rounds 1-15

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World Blitz Championship 2012 | Round 15 standings