SPORTS
Alexander Grischuk becomes new World Blitz Champion
Baku, October 15, AZERTAC
Alexander Grischuk from Russia emerged winner of the 2015 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship after concluding the event with 15,5/21 points, half a point ahead of the nearest followers.
Grischuk started the day with a loss to Teymur Rajabov, but then he switched gear and had a furious finish of 8 points from nine last rounds.
This is Grischuk's third World Blitz title, but he said this one was the most difficult to win, due to a very strong field and more demanding Swiss tournament system.
On the shared second place are Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Vladimir Kramnik with 15 points each. After breaking the tie Vachier-Lagrave is awarded with the silver medal, while Kramnik claimed the bronze.
The overnight leader Vachier-Lagrave had a major setback near the end of the tournament when he lost two consecutive games. However, the last round win against Rustam Kasimdzhanov took him to the podium.
Kramnik was very pleased with his result, having in mind that he planned to skip the Blitz Championship and rest before the European Club Cup.
The 2015 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship was held from 13-14th October at the Bolle Meierei in Berlin, Germany, with 184 world's top players competing for the prestigious title and 200,000 USD prize fund.