Golden double for Anna, Sergey wins men’s blitz

Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine completed a golden double in Qatar by winning the women’s FIDE World Blitz Championship while Sergey Karjakin of Russia stunned world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway to win the men’s crown.
Yesterday, at the Ali Bin Attiya Hamad Arena, defending champion Anna, who on Wednesday won the Rapid title, stormed her way to retain the title finishing with 13 points at the end of 17 rounds of action.
“It was a fantastic victory. I can’t believe yet that I have won two back to back championships,” Anna said.
“I am happy with the golden double. It was a top field but after winning the Rapid on Wednesday it gave me the confidence to go for another title and I played consistently in the blitz also. It is nice to end the year on a winning note,” said the Ukranian.
Commenting on the cash prize of $20,000 she collected from the two events, she said: “The title is more important for me than the money.”
Valentina Gunina of Russia came second with while Kateryna Lagno also of Russia took the second and third place, both with scores of 12.5. Zhongyi Tan of China picked the fourth place while India’s Harika Dronavalli came fifth.
At the end of day one of the two-day event of Blitz, Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia had the lead but Anna who was in third place bounced back to have the situation in her favour.
Harika started perfectly 6/6 but made only half a point in the next three rounds on day one.
Alexandra outplayed two Indian best female players Harika and Koneru Humpy and climbed on the top with 7.5.  
In the men’s section, it was yet another disappointing day for Carlsen who finished runner-up for  the second  time in Qatar, while Sergey had his way to the top.
“It is nice to win in Qatar,” said the Russian after winning the Blitz crown.
“After winning the first round match against Carlsen I was confident of winning the title,” he added.
“After the fourth round I had the control over the proceedings. The win over Carlsen was a sweet revenge for me having lost to him in New York in the world championship a month back,” said Sergey. The Norwegian finished second in the Rapid tournament which ended on Wednesday
In Rapid, Carlsen finished with the same score as ultimate winner Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine but Vassily won on account of better tie break score.
Yesterday, Carlsen and Sergey both finished with 16.5 score but the Russian won on account of a better records from the earlier rounds. Daniil Dubov of Russia clinched the third place and Hikaru Nakamura of USA took the fourth place.
Defending champion Alexander Grischuk of Russia finished fifth while another former world champion Vishwanathan Anand came 15th.
After day one, Carlsen of Norway and Sergey led the standings. 12 rounds were played during the first day. Sergey found his form after the Rapid and started the new tournament with six victories, including a victory over the World Champion Carlsen.
Sergey became the sole leader after 4th round but slowed down later on, allowing Carlsen to join him on the lead with 10/12.
Daniil  and Alexander both of Russia, who missed the Rapid and arrived for the Blitz Championship only, Marin Bosiocic of Croatia, Maxim Vachier-Lagrave of France were in third place after day one.  Both the Blitz and Rapid Championships were Swiss pairings tournaments.
The Blitz event was contested over twenty one (21) rounds in open championship and seventeen (17) rounds in women`s championship, with a single game for each round, Swiss event. The total prize money for the Open tournament was $400,000 with the winner taking home $40,000 for each championship and total prize in Women Championships was $80,000  with  the winner Anna taking home $20,000 for winning both the championships.