Norway's Magnus Carlsen (right) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France during their sixth game.
Doha, Qatar: World No.1 Magnus Carlsen suffered his first loss at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, while Vladislav Artemiev and Hans Moke Niemann of the US shared the lead at the end of nine games at the Qatar University’s Sports and Events Complex yesterday.
Norway’s Carlsen, aiming for his sixth Rapid World title, fell to Artemiev - who competes under the FIDE flag - as the Russian no.7 seed raised his chances at the prestigious Championships which offers a total prize fund of €1m.
Playing with white pieces, Artemiev continued to gain advantage before the closing stage of the game after troubling Carlsen earlier on. With less than 37 seconds in his disposal, Carlsen made a blunder with his bishop before resigning, accepting his defeat.
India's Arjun Erigaisi (left) and ladislav Artemiev during their sixth game.
Carlsen earlier drew with France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Indian prodigy Arjun Erigaisi before losing to Artemiev, and then bounced back with victories over Armenia’s Shant Sargsyan and American Ray Robson to move to seven points.
Following his success over Carlsen, Artemiev drew with French former World Blitz Champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and compatriot Alexey Sarana to raise his tally to 7.5 points, while Niemann beat Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and Russian Aleksandr Shimanov to join the lead.
Turkiye’s 14-year-old grandmaster Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Sarana are also at seven points, tied with Carlsen.
Reigning World Chess champion Dommaraju Gukesh of India, meanwhile, drew with Sarana and Anish Giri of the Netherlands before defeating Spain’s David Anton Guijarro in the eighth round to reach 6.5 points. Gukesh later lost to former Qatar Open champion Yakubboev Nodirbek of Uzbekistan.
A general view at the Qatar University’s Sports and Events Complex during the second day of the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships.
Meanwhile, Zhu Jiner of China and India’s reigning World champion Koneru Humpy shared the lead in the women’s rapid standings after both reached 6.5 points. Just behind the leading group, a large chasing pack is tied on six points. Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia, Georgia’s Nino Batsiashvili, China’s Lei Tingjie
India’s Harika Dronavalli and China’s Chen Yining sit on six points alongside Ukraine’s Mariya Muzychuk, Mongolia’s Bat-Erdene Mungunzul, Georgia’s Meri Arabidze, Russia’s Kateryna Lagno and Uzbekistan’s Afruza Khamdamova, heading into the last two games.
Qatar’s former world champion Zhu Chen also impressed with four points, from wins over Poland’s Marija Zvereva, Norway’s Monika Machlik and Russian Veronika Shubenkova, and draws with Spain’s Rebeca Jimenez Fernandez and Mariam Mkrtchyan.
The championships, running until December 30, feature elite players competing for four titles across Rapid and Blitz formats in the Open and Women’s categories.
