Why You Should Have Watched The World Rapid And Blitz Championships

The recently concluded FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships are already history, and chess actors have left the ancient city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. While it was a very exciting event, many less experienced players didn't follow it at all. When I asked them why, their top two reasons were:

1. Grandmasters play so fast that we cannot understand the reason for the moves, so they look pretty random.
2. Besides, it is just rapid and blitz. What can you learn from this kind of chess?

Unfortunately, many less experienced players are unaware that you can watch any major world chess event with live commentary by top professionals, which gives you the opportunity to see the point behind the moves even at a very high speed of play. So, let me demonstrate some moments from this tournament that many chess players could enjoy and learn from.

Let's start with an obvious point: the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, first and foremost, are a lot of fun! You can see things there that you won't be able to see anywhere else. Case in point is the following notorious "game" between GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and GM Daniil Dubov:

When I saw the knights dancing around the board, I smiled because playing these moves at high speed, they reminded me the famous "Sabre Dance" by composer Aram Khachaturian.

Of course, there is a right time and place for everything. Even this timeless piece, which is Khachaturian's most famous work, can be transformed into the absurd as Russian writer Mikhail Veller shows in his short novella Sabre Dance. According to the story, Salvador Dali was a huge fan of Aram Khachaturian and his Sabre Dance. So, when the composer was performing in Spain, he got invited to visit with Dali.

Khachaturian showed up on time and was invited inside of Dali's castle, but the famous painter was late. Khachaturian was left waiting for two hours. Finally, when he already lost any hope to see Dali, the door suddenly opened. A completely naked Salvador Dali ran into the hall, riding on a mop and with a saber in his hand. Having pranced in front of the guest, the artist disappeared through another door, then the master of ceremonies entered and informed Khachaturian that the audience was over.

Why do I tell you this story, dear reader? Because to me, the game between Nepomniachtchi and Dubov looked a lot more like Salvador Dali's "performance" and a lot less like a classic ballet piece. And needless to say, a World Championship is not an appropriate place for such extravagant demonstrations.

However, I completely disagree with the chief arbiter's decision to penalize the players by deducting half a point from each of them. There is no question that they should have been penalized for such a show. A fine of $500 would have been a correct penalty in my opinion. The arbiter's actual decision altered the whole path of the tournament, which can create a dangerous precedent. Let's say I am an arbiter and a big fan of Player X, meanwhile GM Vladislav Artemiev is leading and he is the main competitor of Player X. Then I see the following game:

Bingo! I penalize Artemiev by half of a point, and now my favorite is ahead. Or, if another competitor doesn't do anything wrong at the chessboard, I can still penalize her for shoes that supposedly look like sports shoes or some similar nonsense. I have raised this topic previously in my articles, like this one, for example. These days, arbiters sometimes get paid more than the players, and naturally, they start thinking that they are the main actors in the event.

Now let's talk about what less experienced players can learn from rapid and blitz games played by grandmasters. Contrary to popular belief, such games can be more instructive for beginners compared to the games played with a longer time control. Think about it, what would a beginner appreciate more, the Scholar's Mate or some long and boring Berlin endgame? While there is zero chance to see the Scholar's Mate in a grandmaster's game with a classsical time control, here is a game from the World Rapid Championship:

This game might help less experienced players to better understand the intricate details of this beginner's deadly weapon. They will learn that while the classical Scholar's Mate has its own merits, as we discussed in this article, it is not the best way to open the game. Nevertheless, in certain cases, the threat of Scholar's Mate can quickly decide the game. Here is a well-known trap in the Philidor Defense:

It is getting even worse for Black if they recapture on e5 with his d6 pawn. Then a threat of Scholar's Mate wins at least a minor piece:

Here is another blunder that could happen to a former world #2 player only in a blitz game:

For less experienced players, this game can introduce the concept of a chess battery. So, next time your opponent lines up their pieces on the same file or diagonal, you'll be alerted that something potentially very dangerous is coming and not going to blunder like this:

I hope from now on you are not going to miss the World Rapid and Blitz Championships: they are entertaining and instructive!