Yankovsky wins 2010 Blitz Championship

Top-seed Roman Yankovsky finished with 8/10 to take clear first. Jeff Phillips finished second just half a point from tying with Yankovsky. Phillips edged out IM Zhanibek Amanov, who finished third with 7/10, by only half a point as well. En route to second, Phillips split his two-game match against Yankovsky and IM Amanov, the two highest rated players of the event. Shyam Gandhi won the U1900 section with 7/10 and Joaquin Perkins won the U1600 with 5/10. Twenty players participated including tournament winner and top seed Roman Yankovsky, International Master Zhanibek Amanov, and three experts Jeff Phillips, Show Kitagami (October Super Blitz winner), and Austin Hughes (Phillips and Kitagami are a few points shy of a USCF master rating).

The blitz championship event saw many upsets, it's blitz after all. In addition, the ChessPalace handicap rules gave lower rated players a chance to compete against higher rated players. For instance.players with 600 rating points advantage gave up a 3 vs 7-minute time odds. Some upsets include Willie Roy splitting the two-game match against Austin Cambon, Joaquin Perkins splitting against Aldrich Ong, Eren Karadayi splitting against IM Amanov, and Jeff Phillips' splits against IM Amanov and tournament winner, Yankovsky. Phillips had chances of taking both games from Amanov and Yankovsky, but the two managed to show that they are not easy to beat.

The highest rating gainers are Joaquin Perkins, Wesley Walsh, and Rich Mason. Check out ChessPalace's Blitz Fever rating list. The complete cross table is below.