The Week in Chess

The Piterenka Rapid/Blitz tournament was a very strong one day tournament with Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Dmitry Jakovenko. There were two parts Rapid 10 minutes + 5 seconds per move and Blitz: 3 minutes + 2 seconds per move. Rapid: Karjakin, Grischuk 4, Nepomniatchtchi 3, Jakovenko 1. Blitz Grischuk, Nepomniatchtchi, Karjakin 3.5/6 Jakovenko 1.5. Thus Grischuk and Karjakin tied for first. In an amazing conclusion to the blitz armageddon final game Grischuk had an overwhelming advantage of two rooks and three pawns up vs rook but allowed stalemate. Many, many moves were played in the final seconds of the game (Grischuk had 5 mins to start (but had to win) and Karjakin 4 no increment). At the end Grischuk had two seconds left, Karjakin six (as someone pointed out his clock ran down before it was stopped) but it was stalemate. You can see the video below. Karjakin thus won land in the Piterenka holiday village in Moscow that sponsored the event.