Sportaccord World Mind Games 2011 are being held from 9th to 16th December in Beijing, China.
The prize fund for the various events is 320,000 USD but all players are guaranteed a minimum prize / fee of 4,000 USD for open event participants and 2,000 USD for the womens’ event participants.
Competitions:
9th – 11th December, Rapid Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
12th – 13th December, Blitz Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
14th – 16th December, Blindfold Event (Open and Women – 8 players each) and Pairs Event (8 teams of two players)
LIVE Games with analysis – Men / LIVE Games with analysis – Women
Blitz events were played over two days and 15 rounds in all-play-all system. Women’s World Champion and local favourite Hou Yifan convincingly won the Women Blitz with 11.5 points and took the gold medal. Full two points behind are former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova (silver) and IM Anna Muzychuk (bronze).
The Men Blitz saw some tumbling on the top. The reigning French champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave clinched the gold medal after the fantastic run on the 2nd day when he won 6.5 points from seven possible and total of 12 points from 15 games.
World Chess Cup finalist Alexander Grischuk bagged the silver with 10.5 points. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who had furious start with 6.5/7 on the first day, lost the pace towards the finish but was still able to secure the bronze medal with 10 points.
Earlier, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Wang Hao won the World Mind Games rapid events. The Games continue with the Blindfold Event and the Pairs Event.
Sportaccord World Mind Games Blitz – Men
Final standings:
1 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2710 – 12
2 GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2752 – 10.5
3 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2733 – 10
4 GM Karjakin Sergey RUS 2763 – 9.5
5 GM Gashimov Vugar AZE 2757 – 9
6 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2705 – 9
7 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2775 – 9
8 GM Almasi Zoltan HUN 2707 – 8.5
9 GM Ponomariov Ruslan UKR 2723 – 8
10 GM Le Quang Liem VIE 2714 – 6
11 GM Kamsky Gata USA 2732 – 5.5
12 GM Giri Anish NED 2714 – 5
13 GM Wang Hao CHN 2736 – 5
14 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier CUB 2712 – 5
15 GM Wang Yue CHN 2697 – 4.5
16 GM Nielsen Peter Heine DEN 2693 – 3.5
Sportaccord World Mind Games Blitz – Women
Final standings:
1 GM Hou Yifan CHN 2578 – 11.5
2 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2531 – 9.5
3 IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2562 – 9.5
4 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2439 – 9
5 GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2516 – 9
6 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2512 – 8
7 IM Dembo Yelena GRE 2468 – 8
8 GM Lahno Kateryna UKR 2549 – 7.5
9 IM Zatonskih Anna USA 2506 – 7
10 GM Danielian Elina ARM 2497 – 7
11 WGM Ju Wenjun CHN 2543 – 7
12 IM Skripchenko Almira FRA 2468 – 6
13 GM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 2503 – 5.5
14 GM Socko Monika POL 2479 – 5.5
15 IM Paehtz Elisabeth GER 2457 – 5
16 GM Cramling Pia SWE 2495 – 5
World Mind Games in mainstream media
World Mind Games – SportAccord website
