The FIDE World Blitz Championship 2019 was held in Moscow, Russia, from December 29-30, 2019. It was part of the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships and featured some of the world's top chess players competing in a fast-paced blitz format (3 minutes per game with a 2-second increment per move).
Magnus Carlsen (Norway) – Scored 16.5/21 and won the tiebreak against Hikaru Nakamura.
Magnus Carlsen won his third World Blitz title, bouncing back after finishing third in the Rapid Championship.
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) finished second after losing to Carlsen in the tiebreak.
Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) took third place.
In the Women’s section, Kateryna Lagno dominated the field, finishing ahead of Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) and Lei Tingjie (China).
The 2019 edition was significant because Carlsen became the first player ever to hold the Classical, Rapid, and Blitz World Championships simultaneously (he had won the Classical World Chess Championship in 2018 and the Rapid Championship in 2019).
In Round 19 of the FIDE World Blitz Championship 2019, Magnus Carlsen faced Alireza Firouzja in one of the most dramatic and controversial games of the tournament.
The game was highly competitive, with Firouzja playing exceptionally well and reaching a winning position against Carlsen.
However, in the final moments, Firouzja flagged (ran out of time), and Carlsen was awarded the win.
Firouzja was visibly upset after the game and even protested the result, believing that there was an issue with the clock or the arbiters.
This game became one of the most talked-about moments of the championship, as Firouzja felt that the ruling was unfair.
This win was crucial for Carlsen, keeping him in the lead and eventually helping him secure the World Blitz Championship title.
Firouzja, frustrated by the incident, later refused to play under the Iranian flag and switched federations to France in 2021.
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