Amonatov Wins Eurasian Blitz Chess Cup
Monday, June 20, 2016 at 12:24AM
Dennis Monokroussos in blitz chess

In something of a shocker, Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan won the Eurasian Blitz Chess Cup on tiebreaks ahead of the well-known GM and blitz specialist Ian Nepomniachtchi. (A blitz event concluding in tiebreaks rather than a playoff strikes me as bizarre, but that's how it ended.) Both players scored 16/22. Baadur Jobava of Georgia and Russian youngster Vladislav Artemiev tied for third (half a point behind), with the former enjoying the better tiebreaks. Three players tied with 15 points apiece: Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, and Vladimir Onischuk.

Some of the other players further down in the table (in scoring and/or tiebreak order): Igor Kovalenko, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Boris Gelfand, Rauf Mamedov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (who led after two days' action), Wang Hao, Alexander Grischuk (the current and three-time World Blitz Champion; he finished 20th on tiebreaks), Le Quang Liem (the 2013 World Blitz Champion), Alexey Dreev (39th!), Laurent Fressinet (46th!).

It was a brutally strong tournament, so it's incredible that the Amonatov, the 24th seed, managed to win the event.

Games available here.

Article originally appeared on The Chess Mind (http://www.thechessmind.net/).
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