Crimean Karyakin lost to the lady, but didn’t let her into the “troika”

The first stage of the international tournament “Chess Stars” in Moscow has ended. Ten grandmasters, including three girls – 18-year-old Bibisara Assaubaeva from Kazakhstan, Alexandra Goryachkina and Ekaterina Lahno from Russia, competed in rapid games (15 minutes per game with an addition of 10 seconds for each move).

And the main sensation of this stage was Assaubayeva’s victory over our Sergey Karyakin, who, by the way, has the title of world champion in rapid chess (he won in 2012). However, the Crimean, one of the initiators of this exciting tournament, was not particularly upset, in a gentlemanly way, noting her merits as a strong player, recalling that she is a two-time world blitz champion among women. The more interesting will be their meeting at the second stage – there everyone will play blitz games with each other (3 minutes per game + 2 seconds per move).

It was the only defeat of Sergey Karjakin in nine games. In total, he scored 6 points and took second place in rapid, ahead of another Russian chess player Vladislav Artemyev in additional indicators (he also has 6 points). And the Indian grandmaster won the first part of the competition

Raunak Sadhwani with 6.5 points. Bibisara is currently in sixth place with 4 points. By the way, our Ekaterina Lahno is even taller than her – in fifth place with 4.5 (she just won against Bibisara, plus another victory over Francisco Valleja and five draws).

The winner and prize-winners of the “Chess Stars” are determined by the sum of two stages – rapid and blitz. All the most interesting – from 28 to 30 January – ahead. The blitz tournament will be held in two rounds (each will play with both white and black). The prize fund is also solid – 15 million rubles!