Erigaisi, MVL, Fabi share lead @ World Blitz Doha

GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana led the field with 10/13 score after the end of day 1 in the FIDE World Blitz Championships 2025 at the Qatar University Sports & Events Complex, Doha. Dutch International Master Eline Roebers led the field with 8.5/10 score in the Women’s section. Behind the leaders in the Open section were GMs Daniil Dubov, Lu Shanglei, Yu Yangyi, Baadur Jobava, Wesley So and Alexander Grischuk at 9.5 points.

Losses to GMs Erigaisi Arjun and Fabiano Caruana pegged back World Rapid Champion Magnus Carlsen at 9.0 points, with six rounds remaining. One point behind the leaders, who are standing on way to the title is nothing new for Mount Magnus, who’d be eyeing for his second world title after becoming a father.

Flirting with controversy keeps trailing Magnus as a shadow. For the second time in Doha the Norwegian made it to the headlines as he table-slammed going down on time to GM Erigaisi Arjun. Another loss by dropping a rook in the later round to GM Fabiano Caruana added to the woes of the defending co-champion. While it was his own emotions that played it’s part in the drama, one needs to see the deeper connotation where it’s inner fight for excellence & perfection that cost’s Magnus these tribulations. Making it to the knockout semi-finals would the first thing on the agenda as other gladiators stand between Magnus and yet another world title.

IM Eline Roebers remained undefeated on day 1 of the Women’s world blitz championship logging 8.5 points from ten rounds. Seven wins and three draws made it up for the former Dutch women’s champion who put it across in the crucial ninth round against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina who’d won the rapid title just a day before. The bigger part now remains where Eline would need to make it to the top four and go on to complete the job of winning the title.

Going by the standard blitz time control of 3 minutes with 2 seconds increment, the Blitz Championships this year will see the top four competing in their respective single-elimination Knockouts, which will feature four-game matches. The classification happens after 19 rounds for the Open section and after 15 rounds in the women’s section. The final day of the Blitz championships start on Tuesday, 30th December by 6 AM ET / 12:00 CET / 4:30 PM IST.

Ranking Round 13 (Open): 1-3. Erigaisi Arjun, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Fabiano Caruana 10.0, 4-9 Daniil Dubov, Lu Shanglei, Yu Yangyi, Jobava Baadur, Wesley So, Alexander Grischuk 9.5, 10-11 Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Magnus Carlsen 9.0 (252 players).

Ranking Round 10 (Women): 1-3 Eline Roebers 8.5, 2-4 Aleksandra Goryachkina, Umida, Antoaneta Stefanova 8.0, 5-6 Bibisara Assaubayeva, Song Yuxin 7.5, 7-10 Zarina Nurgaliyeva, Carissa Yip, Mariya Muzychuk, Candela Be Francisco Guecamburu 7.0 (140 players).

Fabiano Caruana (2751) – Magnus Carlsen (2881) 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 c6 8. a5 Qc7 9. Re1 h6 10. h3 Re8 11. d5 b5 12. axb6 Nxb6 13. Bb3 cxd5 14. exd5 Bd7 15. Ra6 Rec8 16. Qd3 Qb7 17. Ra5 Bd8 18. Qa6 Qxa6 19. Rxa6 Ne8 20. Be3 Nc4 21. Bxc4 Rxc4 22. Nd2 Rc7 23. Rea1 Rb8 24. Nb3 Bf5 25. Na5 Rxb2 26. Nc6 Bg5 27. Bxg5 hxg5 28. Rxa7 Rxc2 29. Nb5

29…Bd3?? 30. Nxc7 1-0

Eline Roebers (2377) – Aleksandra Goryachkina (2439) 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bb5+ c6 6. dxc6 Nxc6 7. Nc3 Bd6 8. Qe2+ Be6 9. Nd4 O-O 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. b3 Qd7 13. Bb2 a5 14. a4 Qe7 15. O-O-O Ba3 16. Rhe1 Rae8 17. Qc4 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 Qd6 19. d4 Nd5 20. Ne4 Qc7 21. Rd2 Kh8 22. Nc5 e5 23. dxe5 Rxe5 24. Rde2 Rxe2 25. Rxe2 Qd8 26. Ne6 Qf6+ 27. Qd4 Qxd4+ 28. Nxd4 c5 29. Ne6 Rc8 30. Nxc5 g5 31. Nb7 g4 32. Nxa5 Nc3 33. Rd2 f3 34. gxf3 gxf3 35. Nc4 f2 36. Ne3 Re8 37. Nf1 Ne4 38. Re2 Kg7 39. a5 Kg6 40. b4 Kg5 41. b5 Kf4 42. Re3 Re5 43. c4 Rg5 44. a6 Rg1 45. a7 Rxf1 46. Rxe4+ Kf5 47. a8=Q Rb1+ 48. Kxb1 f1=Q+ 49. Kc2 Qg2+ 50. Kc3 Qf3+

51. Kb4 1-0

Complete Results

Photos courtesy: Anna Shtourman / Lennart Ootes /FIDE (International Chess Federation)

Official Site: https://worldrapidandblitz2025.fide.com/