SportAccord World Mind Games Chess Blitz: Gunina, Aronian Lead on Day 1

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Blitz Chess events began at the SportAccord World Mind Games 2013 in Beijing on Saturday. This category has a different format, whereby players will face-off two times and only have 3 minutes (+2 seconds added after every move) for an entire game.

Valentina Gunina from Russia was leading after 10 rounds with 8 points. She showed great play with excellent decision making. Right behind is Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia and Yifan Hou (reigning women's world chess champion) from China.

In the Men's Blitz category, Levon Aronian from Armenia was leading with 8.5 points. Right behind the leader was Current World Blitz Chess Champion, Le Quang from Vietnam. 

Chess Grandmaster Bartek Heberla teaches a young chess club member) 

On a day where no school visit took place, the students of the Faming Mountain Chess Club visited the competition venue. Chess Grandmasters Bartek Heberla and Pieter Heine Nielsen welcomed the 15 students of the Chess Club at the spectator area of the Beijing International Convention Center. This time around, the Grandmasters were the ones getting taught by 5-10 year olds!

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