Almost 400 players gathered at the playing hall of Warsaw's Torwar on 17th December to compete in the European Blitz Championship, that took place for the first time in Warsaw a day before the European Rapid Championship.

After a whole-day tournament, during which everyone played 26 games (13 double rounds) we finally had a winner, Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.

In a very strong event 52 Grandmasters and 293 rated players, among which were all top Polish players, fought for the title. Polish supporters counted on Radosław Wojtaszek, while others believed that top seeded Vasilly Ivanchuk would seal the victory.

After few rounds other very well known player was in charge – Ruslan Ponomariov. But then began the "French era", where Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Vladimir Tkachiev were exchanging the lead. Much better fitness was with Maxime, who made an outstanding 7.5/8 in rounds 9 to 12 and secured an overall victory before the last round (which he won 1,5-0,5 against GM Ernesto Inarkiev).

Second place came to Vassily Ivanchuk, who had a weaker start, but a splendid finish (including 2-0 victory over Wojtaszek in the last round) secured him a sole second place. The bronze was for Ruslan Ponomariov, who overcame a weaker form in the middle rounds and secured a medal with 1,5-0,5 win over Sergei Rublevski.