2019 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Recap

The 2019 Superbet Rapid and Blitz concluded in a dramatic fashion. At the end of an exciting day of blitz, Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin were tied for first place. While the tour points and prize money were split, there was a playoff to crown the champion of the inaugural event. The tiebreak consisted of two 10-minute games. After drawing the first game, Levon Aronian won the second game in a 27-move tactical battle.

The two wildcards ruled day one of the blitz in Romania. Le Quang Liem struggled to find his form during the rapid portion, but ravaged through the field in blitz with a fantastic score of 7/9. Anton Korobov’s 50% score was enough to keep him on top of the leaderboard, but with a narrower gap. The tournament is still wide open as Levon Aronian, Le Quang Liem and Sergey Karjakin are within striking distance from the current leader, with Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Viswanathan Anand still keeping their hopes alive

The rapid portion of the Superbet Rapid and Blitz concluded day 3 with wildcard Anton Korobov maintaining his lead of the event. The tournament is still wide open with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian and Anish Giri chasing the leader by only two points. There’s still time for a new leader to emerge with 18 exciting blitz games left to play over the weekend.  

After another day of rapid, a surprising new leader has emerged. Wildcard Anton Korobov is not well known in the chess elite but he is the highest rated rapid player in the tournament and now he leading the tournament. The Ukrainian had a phenomenal day defeating Viswanathan Anand and Wesley So, while Anish Giri stumbled in the fifth round and lost to another wildcard, Vladislav Artemiev. Tomorrow is the final day of the rapid as the tournament will move on to the blitz portion. 

The penultimate leg of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour kicked off yesterday in Bucharest, Romania with an exciting opening ceremony. The event featured special guest and former world number one tennis player, Boris Becker. Additionally, former Romanian basketball player and captain of the national team Virgil Stănescu made the ceremonial first move in Caruana-Aronian game of round 1. After an eventful first day, Anish Giri is leading the tournament by a full point ahead of the field.