CHESS#1281

Viswanathan Anand ended 2017 on a high note, winning the world rapid championship in Riyadh. It was a fantastic result since he celebrated his 48th birthday earlier this month. The King Salman World Speed Championships will be mostly remembered for the massive controversy Fide caused by choosing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to host (the World Speed Championships have been awarded to KSA for the next two years). 

Many strong players, including the big guns of the US (Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana) and defending champion Anna Muzychuk boycotted, expressing their disapproval of the KSA's sharia law and poor