The Women’s World Blitz Championship started today in Khanty-Mansiysk. 32 players from 14 countries are competing for the championship title in the quickest chess discipline.

Together with the speed chess Khanty-Mansiysk welcomes a new wave of winter – snow, wind, snowstorm… However, the tournament participants are not worried about the weather. The youngest player Alexandra Goryachkina confessed that she feels perfectly at home, because such weather is a norm for her native Salekhard.

A symbolic first move in the game between Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) and Pia Cramling (Sweden) was made by Vassily Filipenko – major of Khanty-Mansiysk and Ugra Chess Federation President. Afterwards he said that blitz is in his opinion the most thrilling chess format. “I often play speed chess, – added Mr Filipenko, – and it is something completely different to classical chess”.

He also expressed his pleasure about the local player Olga Girya’s success in the Grand Prix event and in the World Rapid Championship. “She is clearly progressing. Also home soil, loyal spectators and trainers of our academy played certain role in her result”, – said Mr Filipenko.

The tournament will continue until April 28^th. It’s a Swiss system, 15 double-rounds tournament (each player has two games with alternate colors in each round). The time control is 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per each move.

There is no exact starting time for the rounds (except for the first one). Breaks between the games are 3-4 minutes, breaks between the rounds are about 10 minutes.