Big surprises in Beijing

The gold medal for reigning world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, which she won in the blitz event at the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, was not a big surprise. But what about Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv winning the men’s blitz, or Ecuador winning the blitz for pairs?

Photo: Dimitri Reinderman

The first World Mind Sports Games is held in Beijing, China from October 3 to 18, 2008. Twenty five to thirty gold medals are being vied for by more than 3000 competitors from over 150 countries. There are five mind sports competitions: Bridge, Chess, Go, Draughts, and Xiangqi (Chinese Chess).

Despite the fact that FIDE is trying hard, the event is not being taken very seriously by the chess community. This is not a surprise, since none of the world’s top 10 best players is playing in Beijing. (It should be added that some of the best female players are present.) In fact, the field of participants is a strange mixture of players from different countries.

For media such as ChessVibes it’s not easy to cover it either. It doesn’t really help that on the official website (which doesn’t work properly on Firefox by the way) it’s quite hard to find the games in PGN. (And why are the results hided behind a banner on the right hand side, instead of putting them in the main menu? Beats me.)

Anyway, below you’ll find all results thus far, including PGNs.

Men’s Individual Blitz
The preliminary tournament (a 11-round blitz) took place on October 4th. These are the final standings:

World Mind Sports Games | Blitz Men | Preliminary

Rk.	Nat.	Title	Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	PHI	GM	Paragua Mark	PHI	2526	8,5
2	GRE	GM	Banikas Hristos	GRE	2572	8,0
3	UKR	IM	Kravtsiv Martyn	UKR	2549	8,0
4	UKR	GM	Drozdovskij Yuri	UKR	2587	8,0
5	TUR	GM	Gurevich Mikhail	TUR	2634	7,5
6	UKR	GM	Korobov Anton	UKR	2605	7,0
7	USA	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	USA	2606	6,5
8	VIE	GM	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2583	6,5
9	CHN	GM	Wang Hao	CHN	2696	6,5
10	HUN	GM	Balogh Csaba	HUN	2616	6,5
11	IRI	GM	Ghaem Maghami Ehsan	IRI	2599	6,5
12	CHN	GM	Ni Hua	CHN	2710	6,0
13	POL	GM	Bartel Mateusz	POL	2602	6,0
14	CHN	GM	Zhou Jianchao	CHN	2612	5,5
15	CHN	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2714	5,5
16	INA	GM	Adianto Utut	INA	2554	5,5
17	POL	GM	Socko Bartosz	POL	2631	5,5
18	NED	GM	Reinderman Dimitri	NED	2543	5,5
19	VIE	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2567	5,0
20	SIN	GM	Zhang Zhong	SIN	2649	5,0
21	UKR	GM	Aveskulov Valeriy	UKR	2544	5,0
22	UKR	GM	Kryvoruchko Yuriy	UKR	2627	5,0
23	CHN	GM	Wang Yue	CHN	2736	4,5
24	USA	GM	Shabalov Alexander	USA	2585	4,5
25	BRA	GM	Fier Alexandr	BRA	2581	4,5
26	USA	GM	Kraai Jesse	USA	2502	4,0
27	IND	GM	Sandipan Chanda	IND	2579	4,0
28	PHI		Nolte Rolando	PHI	2489	4,0
29	MEX	GM	Leon Hoyos Manuel	MEX	2535	3,5
30	ISR	IM	Livshits Gaby	ISR	2427	3,5
31	SVK	GM	Markos Jan	SVK	2557	3,0
32	USA	IM	Friedel Joshua E	USA	2498	1,5

The Gold Medal went to the relatively unknown young Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv, who surprised the strong competition to take the honors.

The winner of the preliminary tournament GM Mark Paragua of the Philippines did not have a good start and lost to GM Yuri Drozdovskij 2-0. Kravtsiv defeated GM Chirstodoulos Banikas of Greece in the other semi-final with 2-0 as well and then repeated this score against Drozdovskij in the final.
Download the men blitz games in PGN

Women’s Individual Blitz
Like in the men’s section, the preliminary tournament (a 11-round blitz) took place on October 4th. The young Chinese star Hou Yifan was a convincing winner, including a sixth round victory over Kosteniuk and both qualified for the semi-finals together with the impressive ex World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova and another in form Chinese player Zhao Xue. These are the preliminary final standings:

World Mind Sports Games | Blitz Women | Preliminary

Rk.	Nat.	Title	Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	CHN	WGM	Hou Yifan	CHN	2578	9,5	73,5	69,0	63,5
2	RUS	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	RUS	2525	8,5	77,0	71,5	65,5
3	CHN	GM	Zhao Xue	CHN	2518	7,5	73,0	69,5	65,0
4	BUL	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2548	7,5	73,0	67,5	62,0
5	CHN	WGM	Huang Qian	CHN	2430	7,5	60,5	57,0	53,5
6	SIN	WGM	Li Ruofan	SIN	2426	7,0	75,0	71,5	65,5
7	IND	IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2425	7,0	73,5	68,5	63,5
8	ENG	IM	Houska Jovanka	ENG	2399	7,0	71,0	67,0	62,0
9	IND	IM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2461	7,0	69,5	65,0	60,5
10	CHN	GM	Xu Yuhua	CHN	2477	7,0	67,5	64,0	60,5
11	POL	IM	Dworakowska Joanna	POL	2363	7,0	55,5	52,0	48,0
12	CHN	WGM	Shen Yang	CHN	2450	6,5	69,5	66,0	60,5
13	CHN		Ju Wenjun	CHN	2397	6,5	66,0	66,0	63,0
14	RUS	WGM	Kovanova Baira	RUS	2379	6,5	62,0	58,5	54,0
15	UKR	IM	Vasilevich Tatjana	UKR	2368	6,5	60,5	57,0	52,5
16	POL	IM	Socko Monika	POL	2434	6,0	67,0	62,5	58,0
17	VIE	WGM	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	VIE	2250	6,0	65,0	61,0	56,0
18	HUN	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	HUN	2483	6,0	64,0	61,0	57,0
19	POL	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	POL	2378	6,0	62,0	59,0	55,5
20	UKR	WGM	Zdebskaja Natalia	UKR	2419	6,0	61,5	57,5	53,0
21	UKR	WGM	Muzychuk Mariya	UKR	2436	6,0	50,0	47,0	43,5
22	USA	IM	Krush Irina	USA	2452	5,5	68,5	65,0	61,0
23	INA	WIM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	INA	2303	5,5	59,5	56,5	53,0
24	UKR	WIM	Dolzhikova Kateryna	UKR	2351	5,5	59,5	55,5	51,5
25	GRE	IM	Dembo Yelena	GRE	2446	5,5	55,5	52,5	49,0
26	GER	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	GER	2471	5,5	54,5	51,5	48,0
27	UKR	IM	Gaponenko Inna	UKR	2473	5,0	64,5	61,5	57,0
28	RUS	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	RUS	2474	5,0	59,5	56,0	52,0
29	USA	WFM	Marshall Abby	USA	2194	5,0	59,0	55,5	51,5
30	IRI	WIM	Pourkashiyan Atousa	IRI	2241	5,0	56,0	52,5	49,0
31	SVK	WFM	Borosova Zuzana	SVK	2234	5,0	53,5	53,5	49,5
32	IND	WIM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2298	5,0	46,5	46,5	43,5
33	TUR	WFM	Ozturk Kubra	TUR	2254	4,5	66,5	62,5	58,0
34	IND	WGM	Swathi Ghate	IND	2320	4,5	60,5	56,5	52,0
35	USA	WGM	Shahade Jennifer	USA	2322	4,5	54,0	50,5	47,0
36	VIE	WFM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen	VIE	2304	4,5	51,5	51,5	48,0
37	NED	FM	Schuurman Petra	NED	2324	4,0	53,5	53,5	50,5
38	NED	GM	Peng Zhaoqin	NED	2455	4,0	51,0	51,0	47,5
39	TUR	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	TUR	2219	4,0	49,0	49,0	45,5
40	MEX	WIM	Hernandez Guerrero Yadira	MEX	2228	4,0	46,0	46,0	42,5
41	IND	WGM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2311	3,5	60,0	56,0	52,0
42	USA	CM	Zenyuk Iryna	USA	2237	3,5	51,0	51,0	48,0
43	VIE	WIM	Le Kieu Thien Kim	VIE	2291	3,5	51,0	51,0	47,5
44	RUS	IM	Vasilevich Irina	RUS	2354	3,5	50,0	50,0	46,5
45	CRO	WGM	Golubenko Valentina	CRO	2273	3,0	58,5	55,0	51,0
46	FRA	WFM	Tagnon Nicole	FRA	1956	0,0	47,5	44,0	40,5

In the first semi-final Stefanova defeated Hou 2-1, while Kosteniuk did not leave any chances to Zhao and won 2-0. In the final match, it was a difficult battle of world champions, but nerves told in the end and Stefanova lost 1-2 to Kosteniuk who was again a big winner.

After taking the World Rapid Chess Championship title (in August in Mainz) and the World Chess Championship title (in Nalchik last month), the Queen of Russian chess won gold as well in the 1st World Mind Sports Games Blitz Individual Womens event.
Download the women blitz games in PGN

Men’s Individual Rapid
The preliminary tournament (a 9-round blitz) took place October 5-7. These are the final standings:

World Mind Sports Games | Rapid Men | Preliminary

Rk.	Nat.	Title	Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp
1	BRA	GM	Fier Alexandr	BRA	2581	6,5	1,0	47,0	43,0	2750
2	SIN	GM	Zhang Zhong	SIN	2649	6,5	0,0	49,5	45,5	2781
3	CHN	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2714	6,0	1,5	47,5	43,5	2729
4	UKR	GM	Korobov Anton	UKR	2605	6,0	1,5	46,0	43,5	2731
5	CHN	GM	Wang Hao	CHN	2696	6,0	0,0	45,5	42,0	2751
6	POL	GM	Bartel Mateusz	POL	2602	5,5	0,0	48,0	45,0	2704
7	INA	GM	Adianto Utut	INA	2554	5,5	0,0	44,5	42,0	2705
8	UKR	GM	Kryvoruchko Yuriy	UKR	2627	5,5	0,0	39,5	36,5	2625
9	UKR	GM	Drozdovskij Yuri	UKR	2587	5,5	0,0	38,5	36,0	2666
10	CHN	GM	Ni Hua	CHN	2710	5,5	0,0	37,5	37,0	2652
11	TUR	GM	Gurevich Mikhail	TUR	2634	5,0	0,0	45,5	42,0	2630
12	VIE	GM	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2583	5,0	0,0	42,5	39,0	2686
13	VIE	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2567	5,0	0,0	42,0	39,0	2647
14	CHN	GM	Zhou Jianchao	CHN	2612	5,0	0,0	41,0	40,5	2641
15	GEO	GM	AzmaiparShvili Zurab	GEO	2626	5,0	0,0	37,5	35,0	2608
16	UKR	IM	Kravtsiv Martyn	UKR	2549	4,5	0,0	44,0	40,5	2632
17	GRE	GM	Banikas Hristos	GRE	2572	4,5	0,0	42,5	40,0	2613
18	PHI	GM	Paragua Mark	PHI	2526	4,5	0,0	42,0	39,5	2608
19	IRI	GM	Ghaem Maghami Ehsan	IRI	2599	4,5	0,0	38,5	36,0	2582
20	USA	GM	Shabalov Alexander	USA	2585	4,5	0,0	38,5	35,5	2561
21	NED	GM	Reinderman Dimitri	NED	2543	4,5	0,0	37,0	36,5	2569
22	USA	IM	Friedel Joshua E	USA	2498	4,5	0,0	35,0	34,5	2558
23	IND	GM	Sandipan Chanda	IND	2579	4,0	0,0	42,5	39,0	2558
24	HUN	GM	Balogh Csaba	HUN	2616	4,0	0,0	42,5	39,0	2563
25	ISR	IM	Livshits Gaby	ISR	2427	4,0	0,0	32,0	31,5	2520
26	CHN	GM	Wang Yue	CHN	2736	3,5	0,0	44,5	41,0	2509
27	PHI		Nolte Rolando	PHI	2489	3,5	0,0	39,5	36,5	2485
28	UKR	GM	Aveskulov Valeriy	UKR	2544	3,5	0,0	38,0	34,5	2512
29	USA	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	USA	2606	3,5	0,0	35,0	32,5	2475
30	SVK	GM	Markos Jan	SVK	2557	3,5	0,0	34,5	34,0	2491
31	USA	GM	Kraai Jesse	USA	2502	3,0	0,0	36,5	36,0	2422
32	POL	GM	Socko Bartosz	POL	2631	2,5	1,0	35,5	35,0	2391
33	MEX	GM	Gonzalez Gar Ia Jose	MEX	2508	2,5	0,0	32,0	31,5	2377
34	MEX	GM	Leon Hoyos Manuel	MEX	2535	0,5	0,0	35,0	32,5	2110

In the first semi-final Bu Xiangzhi (China) defeated Zhang Zhong (Singapore) by winning the sudden-death game, after both rapid games had ended in a draw. Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov won against Alexandr Fier (Brazil) to qualify for the final, which was won by Bu Xiangzhi 1½-½. Zhang Zhong won the bronze medal.
Download the men rapid games in PGN

Women’s Individual Rapid
Like the men’s section, the preliminary tournament (a 9-round blitz) took place October 5-7. These are the final standings:

World Mind Sports Games | Rapid Women | Preliminary

Rk.	Nat.	Title	Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp
1	BUL	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2548	8,0	0,0	53,0	48,0	2806
2	CHN	GM	Zhao Xue	CHN	2518	7,0	0,0	48,5	45,0	2663
3	CHN	WGM	Huang Qian	CHN	2430	6,5	0,0	48,5	45,5	2612
4	ENG	IM	Houska Jovanka	ENG	2399	6,5	0,0	45,0	41,5	2578
5	RUS	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	RUS	2474	6,0	0,0	52,0	48,0	2565
6	POL	IM	Dworakowska Joanna	POL	2363	6,0	0,0	44,0	40,5	2501
7	RUS	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	RUS	2525	5,5	0,0	53,0	48,0	2535
8	CHN	WGM	Hou Yifan	CHN	2578	5,5	0,0	47,5	43,5	2474
9	SIN	WGM	Li Ruofan	SIN	2426	5,5	0,0	45,0	42,5	2478
10	POL	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	POL	2378	5,5	0,0	39,0	38,0	2445
11	CHN	GM	Xu Yuhua	CHN	2477	5,0	0,0	48,5	45,0	2450
12	HUN	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	HUN	2483	5,0	0,0	47,0	45,0	2456
13	IND	IM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2461	5,0	0,0	46,5	43,0	2431
14	GER	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	GER	2471	5,0	0,0	46,0	42,5	2433
15	UKR	IM	Vasilevich Tatjana	UKR	2368	5,0	0,0	44,5	40,5	2485
16	UKR	IM	Gaponenko Inna	UKR	2473	5,0	0,0	43,0	39,5	2418
	SVK	WFM	Borosova Zuzana	SVK	2234	5,0	0,0	43,0	39,5	2469
18	RUS	WGM	Kovanova Baira	RUS	2379	5,0	0,0	40,5	38,0	2398
19	GRE	IM	Dembo Yelena	GRE	2446	5,0	0,0	40,0	37,0	2449
20	CHN	WGM	Shen Yang	CHN	2450	5,0	0,0	39,5	36,5	2396
21	RUS	IM	Vasilevich Irina	RUS	2354	5,0	0,0	39,0	36,0	2455
22	NED	GM	Peng Zhaoqin	NED	2455	5,0	0,0	37,5	35,0	2346
23	IND	WIM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2298	5,0	0,0	36,5	35,5	2354
24	VIE	WGM	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	VIE	2250	4,5	0,0	40,5	37,5	2384
25	IND	WGM	Swathi Ghate	IND	2320	4,0	0,0	42,0	39,5	2366
26	UKR	WGM	Zdebskaja Natalia	UKR	2419	4,0	0,0	39,5	37,0	2312
27	VIE	WFM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen	VIE	2304	4,0	0,0	38,5	35,5	2312
28	IND	WGM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2311	4,0	0,0	38,0	35,5	2308
29	TUR	WFM	Ozturk Kubra	TUR	2254	4,0	0,0	37,5	35,5	2331
30	POL	IM	Socko Monika	POL	2434	4,0	0,0	36,0	34,0	2311
31	IRI	WIM	Pourkashiyan Atousa	IRI	2241	4,0	0,0	34,5	33,5	2242
32	UKR	WIM	Dolzhikova Kateryna	UKR	2351	3,5	0,0	43,0	39,5	2323
33	INA	WIM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	INA	2303	3,5	0,0	42,5	39,5	2328
34	UKR	WGM	Muzychuk Mariya	UKR	2436	3,5	0,0	37,5	34,0	2262
35	TUR	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	TUR	2219	3,5	0,0	36,5	34,5	2260
36	IND	IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2425	3,5	0,0	36,0	33,0	2206
37	USA	WGM	Shahade Jennifer	USA	2322	3,5	0,0	32,5	31,5	2192
38	USA	CM	Zenyuk Iryna	USA	2237	3,5	0,0	30,5	29,5	2213
39	VIE	WIM	Le Kieu Thien Kim	VIE	2291	3,0	0,0	36,0	34,0	2225
40	CRO	WGM	Golubenko Valentina	CRO	2273	3,0	0,0	32,0	31,0	2147
41	MEX	WIM	Hernandez Guerrero Yadira	MEX	2228	2,5	1,0	27,5	26,5	2090
42	USA	WFM	Marshall Abby	USA	2194	2,5	0,0	33,5	32,5	2122
43	NED	FM	Schuurman Petra	NED	2324	2,0	0,0	29,5	28,5	2044
44	FRA	WFM	Tagnon Nicole	FRA	1956	1,0	0,0	31,5	29,5	1926

Stefanova added Gold to her Silver from the blitz. She won the final against Zhao Xue 2-0; the bronze medal went to another rising Chinese star: WGM Huang Qian, who beat IM Jovanka Houska.
Download the women rapid games in PGN

Mixed Pairs Blitz
There’s a small difference in Beijing that might have stayed unnoticed until now: in the women’s tournaments no men are allowed (which is normal in the chess world) but in the men’s tournaments, now female players are allowed either. On the other hand, at the World Mind Sports Games there are competitions for mixed pairs.

On October 8 the preliminary tournament for the Mixed Pairs Blitz event was held. These are the final standings:

World Mind Sports Games | Blitz Pairs | Preliminary

Rk.	Team	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Ukraine (GM Aveskulov & IM Vasilevich)	6	3	2	15	14,0	135,0
2	Iran (GM Ghaem Maghami & WIM Pourkashiyan)	4	6	1	14	14,5	125,5
3	Ecuador (GM Matamoros & IM Fierro Baquero)	5	4	2	14	14,0	129,0
4	India (GM Sasikiran & IM Sachdev)	4	6	1	14	13,0	135,0
5	Singapore (GM Zhang Zhong & WGM Li Ruofan)	5	4	2	14	13,0	128,0
6	Vietnam (GM Le Quang & WFM Hoang Thi)	4	5	2	13	13,0	129,0
7	Greece (GM Banikas & IM Dembo)	4	5	2	13	13,0	126,5
8	Poland (GM Socko & IM Socko)	3	7	1	13	12,5	131,0
9	Germany (GM Naiditsch & IM Paehtz)	5	3	3	13	12,5	128,0
10	Netherlands (GM Reinderman & GM Peng)	5	3	3	13	11,5	139,5
11	Hungary (GM Balogh & GM Hoang Thanh)	4	4	3	12	13,0	119,0
12	China (GM Ni Hua & WGM Hou Yifan)	4	4	3	12	12,5	135,5
13	Philippines (GM Paragua & Cua)	5	2	4	12	11,0	129,0
14	Mexico (GM Leon Hoyos & WIM Hernandez)	4	3	4	11	11,5	106,5
15	Indonesia (GM Adianto & WIM Sukandar)	4	3	4	11	11,0	124,5
16	USA (IM Pruess & IM Krush)	3	5	3	11	10,5	135,0
17	South Africa (IM Solomon & WIM Greeff)	4	3	4	11	10,0	81,5
18	Luxembourg (IM Berend & WGM Berend)	2	6	3	10	10,5	124,0
19	Slovakia (GM Markos & WFM Borosova)	4	2	5	10	10,0	99,5
20	England (IM Greet & IM Houska)	3	4	4	10	9,5	108,5
21	Finland (GM Nyback & Puuska)	3	4	4	10	9,5	87,5
22	Turkey (GM Gurevich & WFM Oztuk)	3	3	5	9	9,0	103,5
23	Lithuania (IM Sarakauskas & WIM Sarakauskiene)	3	3	5	9	9,0	88,5
24	Turkmenistan (IM Kakageldyev & WFM Hallaeva)	2	5	4	9	8,0	83,5
25	Denmark (IM Rasmussen & WIM Vovk)	2	2	7	6	5,0	88,0
26	Japan (Kojima & Uchida)	0	5	6	5	4,0	86,0
27	Chinese Taipei (Chen Yu-Ching & Chen Peng-An	1	2	8	4	3,0	81,5

While Ukraine was comfortably first with 15 match points, it took the tiebreak rules to separate the remaining qualifiers from unlucky fifth placed Singapore - fielding former top China players and husband and wife team GM Zhang Zhong and IM Li Roufen - who fell out.

Also in contention at various times were Greece, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Two rounds before the end, the Dutch team consisting of GMs Reinderman and Peng were still clear first, but they lost both their last two matches 2-0.

In the play-off for third place Ukraine proved too strong for Iran, winning the first match 2-0 and drawing the second 1-1 to take Bronze.

There was however great drama in the finals between India and Ecuador. All four players won and lost one game each in their two matches (1-1 and 1-1) and in the play-off game between GM Sasikiran Krishnan of India and GM Carlos Franco Matamoros of Ecuador, Sasikiran had the White pieces and 6 minutes while Matamoros had Black and 5 minutes and draw odds. In a time scramble in a position where Black could not realistically lose in normal conditions, Matamoros accidently displaced a piece after pressing his clock.

Under the tournament rules he did not have the opportunity to reset the piece as it was not on his time and so Sasikiran made a claim which had to be upheld by the arbiter. So pending the decision of the appeals committee, India has won Gold and Ecuador the Silver.

However, the appeals committee ordered the game to be replayed in the interest of fair play. And in the replay, GM Matamoros beat GM Sasikiran to secure Ecuador the Gold Medal!
Download the blitz pairs games in PGN

Information courtesy of FIDE

Links:

• “World Mind Sports Games kick off today” (1st report with more info and schedule)
• Official website
• Coverage by FIDE
• All results at chess-results.com
• All games thus far in PGN
• Dimitri Reinderman blogs from Beijing (in Dutch)
• Jennifer Shahade blogs from Beijing

If you know of more participants who are writing from Beijing, let us know in the comments and we’ll add them to the links list.