IMSA World Masters Championship chess blitz events came to conclusion on May 18. China became the biggest winner as Bu Xiangzhi and Lei Tingjie took the gold medals in men‘s and women’s group respectively.
In the men’s section, Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi successfully maintained his leadership of yesterday and even locked the gold medal before the last round. Although losing to Ruslan Ponomariov in last game, Bu still got top prize confidently by 14.5 points.
Ukrainian GM Anton Krobov, the winner of rapid event, kept his good form and won the silver medal with 13.5/22.
Hungarian talent Richard Rapport, tying with Russian player Dmitry Andrekin by 13/22, won bronze medal by superior direct-encounter result.
In contrast to the men’s section, the competition in women’s section is more intense as the winner was not clear until the last moment.
Rapid event winner Alexandra Kosteniuk had 1-point lead before the last round over China GM Lei Tingjie. The last game saw a dramatic result. Kosteniuk lost to Kazakhstan talent Zhansaya Abdumalik while China GM Lei Tingjie beat her compatriot Zhao Xue.
Finally, Lei Tingjie and Kosteniuk both got 15 points after 22 games. Lei emerged as the lucky winner by superior tiebreak and Kosteniuk got the silver medal.
The bronze medal went to the former world champion China GM Tan Zhongyi of 13.5/22.
Yesterday’s leader Koneru Humpy from India came to the 4th place by 13/22.
China, Russia and Ukraine all got 3 medals. Vietnam, USA and Hungary of 1 medal.
