First FIDE Online World Corporate Chess Championship announced
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the first FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship, which will take place on February 19-21, 2021. The games will be played online, with Chess.com designated as the hosting platform. Corporations will be represented by a team of four players, meeting the following conditions: – At least one of the team members has to be a female player and at least one of the team members has to be a male player.– Only one player of a professional level (with a FIDE rating of +2500) is allowed per team.– At least three of the players lined-up in every match have to be full-time employees of the company. The event will be played entirely online, but the participants are encouraged to compete from the headquarters of the company they represent, as long as the epidemiological situation in the country allows it. An advantage of having companies playing from their own headquarters (if feasible) is that they can use this event to promote team building, fostering a sense of connectivity between employees and contributing to a positive workplace environment. Besides, participant companies are offered the possibility to brand the playing venue and provide a video feed to be used at the FIDE and Chess.com broadcast, as well as in their own channels. FIDE President’s address: “Dear friends, On behalf of the International Chess Federation, I would like to invite your company to take part in the first official World Corporate Chess Championship, which will be played ONLINE on February 19-21, 2021, and broadcast live on Chess.com. Sports activities promote team building, fostering a sense of connectivity between employees and contributing to a positive workplace environment. In the case of a corporate chess tournament, your employees will also be training useful skills like decision making, creative thinking, and the ability to calculate a few moves ahead. All this in a competitive but fun environment. We believe this is also a chance for the participating companies and their executives to reach new clients and business opportunities through sport and develop contacts with leaders and representatives of national and multinational businesses. Make a smart move, and join us in this celebration of intelligence. Arkady Dvorkovich FIDE President” Exclusive prizes at stake Participants will compete for truly special prizes: the winning company will be declared World Corporate Chess Champion 2021, while the team raising most donations for two social programs run by FIDE (Chess in Education and Support to Chess Veterans) will be invited to send four players to attend the forthcoming World Chess Championship match, to be held in the frame of the Dubai World Expo 2021. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world, and enjoy the exclusive experience of meeting some of the brightest minds on the planet. Besides, the first 4 teams in the final ranking of the FIDE Online World Corporate Chess Championship will secure four seats each to participate in an online simultaneous chess game against the Challenger for the FIDE World Champion title, together with representatives of the sponsors. Additionally, each of the 4 highest-ranked teams not qualified for the Play-Off Stage of the FIDE Online World Corporate Chess Championship will secure 4 seats each to participate in an online simultaneous chess game against the FIDE Women’s World Champion, together with representatives of the sponsors. Partnership FIDE – Chess.com Thanks to the agreement between FIDE and Chess.com for this event, the FIDE Online World Corporate Chess Championship will be broadcast live across multiple outlets including Chess.com, Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and international streaming platforms in multiple languages including: Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, French, German, Mandarin, Italian, Turkish and Polish. The partnership between FIDE and Chess.com extends above and beyond this event: Chess.com has become the first company to acquire broadcast rights for the 2021 FIDE World Championship Match and will be an official broadcast partner for what is set to be the biggest global chess event of recent decades. The ground-breaking agreement between Chess.com and FIDE will bring the world chess championship to a wider audience than ever before. As the world’s biggest online chess platform, Chess.com has been the leading broadcaster of the board game in recent years, in partnership with streaming platform Twitch. Regulations for the first FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship (pdf)
Buksa clinches Ukrainian Women’s Championship
IM Nataliya Buksa (on the far left) notched up a confident victory in the Ukrainian Women’s Championship (with classical time control). The 9-round Swiss tournament was held from 6-14 of December in Kherson with 20 players participating. Buksa scored 7½ points out of 9, winning seven games, making one draw, and losing just one encounter. After beating Anastasiia Dubovik in the last round encounter Nataliya was out of reach for her closest competitors. WGM Olga Babiy (in the center) who was a half-point behind the leader lost her last game and allowed IM Iulija Osmak (on the far right) to catch up with her, but took silver nonetheless as the winner of their direct encounter. Bronze goes to Iulija Osmak. Final standings: 1. IM Buksa Nataliya (2413) – 7½2. WGM Babiy Olga (2287) – 63. IM Osmak Iulija (2438) – 64. WIM Petrova Irina (2077) – 5½5. Hrebenshchykova Yelyzaveta (2083) – 5½6. WIM Rakhmangulova Anastasiya (2132) – 5½7. WCM Hryzlova Sofiia (2064) – 5½8. FM Berdnyk Mariia (2319) – 4½9. Barchuk Irina (2075) – 4½10. WFM Grineva Marianna (2001) – 4½ Official website: http://ukrchess.org.ua/
Alexandar Indjic and Teodora Injac win Serbian championship
Alexandar Indjic and Teodora Injac are the winners of the 14th Serbian chess championship. Two 10-player round-robins (open and women) were held in hotel “Fontana” in Vrnjačka Banja and stretched over December 07-13. Both became three-time national champions with Teodora taking her third title in a row. Alexandar repeated his success of 2014 and 2018. Playing no-compromise chess throughout the event Indjic made just two draws and despite losing two games finished a half-point ahead of Robert Markus, Alexandar Kovacevic, and Ivan Ivanisevic who tied for second. In the final round, Markus and Kovacevic had a theoretical chance to catch up with the leader but both settled for quick draws with Black. Final standings open: 1. GM Indjic Aleksandar (2604) – 62. GM Markus Robert (2592) – 5½3. GM Kovacevic Aleksandar (2482) – 5½4. GM Ivanisevic Ivan (2608) – 5½5. GM Perunovic Milos (2576) – 4½6. GM Todorovic Goran (2417) – 47. GM Lajthajm Borko (2383) – 48. IM Budisavljevic Luka (2501) – 49. IM Cabarkapa Novak (2463) – 310. GM Damljanovic Branko (2513) – 3 Teodora Injac, the only undefeated participant of the tournament, netted comfortable +4 in the first six rounds and smoothly sailed to the title finishing a full point ahead of Adela Velikic. Jovana Eric earned bronze. Final standings women: 1. WIM Injac Teodora (2290) – 6½2. WIM Velikic Adela (2278) – 5½3. WGM Eric Jovana (2278) – 54. WIM Drljevic Ljilja (2174) – 55. WGM Rapport Jovana (2308) – 4½6. WGM Benderac Ana (2202) – 47. WIM Gajcin Marina (2239) – 48. WGM Chelushkina Irina (2224) – 49. WFM Srdanovic Jovana (2149) – 3½10. WGM Prudnikova Svetlana (2181) – 3 Official website: http://serbiachess.net/ Photo: official website
Nakamura clinches 2020 Speed Chess Championship
On Saturday GM Hikaru Nakamura won the 2020 Speed Chess Championship final presented by OnJuno. The American grandmaster decided matters in the bullet segment as he defeated GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 18.5-12.5 to win his third Speed Chess title in a row. Early in the competition, Nakamura stated that his half of the bracket was tougher than Carlsen’s. You could say that, after eliminating Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was actually the one having survived the toughest half. The big question was: could he do it again in the final? Up until the third bullet game, the answer was “yes” as the Frenchman with three names was actually leading by a point there. That’s how close things were. However, where Carlsen clearly had an off-day, Nakamura didn’t. The American GM got himself together, rose to the occasion, and won five games in a row there to decide the match in his favor and claim his third title in as many years. “It was a very tense and very difficult final match,” Nakamura said afterward. “I think there were a few critical moments where both Maxime and I had a chance to maybe take a big advantage which could have perhaps been insurmountable. But it remained very close and in the end, I was just able to keep it together and play a couple of good bullet games.” Nakamura pointed out that Vachier-Lagrave was basically an equal opponent until just a few games before the end: “It was very evenly balanced. Maxime played extremely well so a lot of credit to him for playing a fantastic match.” The match started with an atrocious blunder by Vachier-Lagrave that you normally don’t see happening in a five-minute game. Perhaps the fact that he started with two losses against GM Magnus Carlsen in the semifinal before beating him, helped MVL to get over this. After two draws, the Frenchman leveled the score and then took the lead right away with another win. He showed great calculation, as he would do throughout the match. Then it was Nakamura’s turn again. He won games seven, eight, and nine. Maxime then took the last five-minute game which meant that into the first break, Nakamura was leading 5.5-4.5. Nakamura had himself to blame for dropping to plus one instead of making plus three before the break. He was completely winning and then spoiled a drawn rook endgame. In the middle of the three-minute segment, with 8-8 on the scoreboard, Vachier-Lagrave made a rare error in his calculations. Instead of winning prosaically, he went for the brilliancy prize but lost material and the game. The three-minute segment ended in a tie which meant that Nakamura was still leading by a point at the start of the bullet. Even though this is his natural habitat, he lost the first two 1|1 games. The first one, Nakamura afterward admitted was an extraordinarily good game by the Frenchman for this time control. “This first bullet game was insane when he found this 22…Bd6 move,” Nakamura said. “I calculated this whole tactic with this Ne5, Nf5 idea, and then Maxime found 21…Rxc1 and 22…Bd6 which was amazing. It was an incredible find in a bullet game especially.” Hikaru Nakamura – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 21…Bd6! 23. Ndc6 Bxc6 24. g4 Bb5! 25. Qxb5 Qh6 26. Re1 Ng6 27. Re2 Bxe5 28. Bxe5 Qg5! 0-1 The turning point of the match came after those two bullet wins by the Frenchman. To his credit, Hikaru shook off tough losses, brought complete focus, and scored 8/9 to win the match. “First of all, congrats to Hikaru,” said Vachier-Lagrave. “Of course, there were moments where I put up a great fight, but in the end, I think he deserved to win and played more consistently.” Maxime wasn’t surprised that he took an early lead in the bullet phase: “I am nowhere near Hikaru’s level in 1|0 but in 1|1 I can give it a fight even though at the end I sort of started drifting away.” Nakamura praised his opponent: “First of all, a lot of credit has to go to Maxime, not just in the bullet but throughout the match because he defended extremely well. It felt like he was defending a lot better than traditionally he has in a lot of games.” The 2020 Speed Chess Championship Main Event was a knockout tournament among 16 of the best grandmasters in the world who played for a $100,000 prize fund, double the amount of last year. The tournament ran November 1-December 12, 2020 on Chess.com. Each individual match featured 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess. Text: Peter Doggers Photo: chess.com
Vachier-Lagrave stuns Carlsen to advance into final
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defied the odds as he defeated GM Magnus Carlsen to reach Saturday’s 2020 Speed Chess Championship final. MVL scored 13-11 and will face GM Hikaru Nakamura in the final. Few had reckoned with the possibility that this year’s Speed Chess Championship would not have another showdown between Carlsen and Nakamura. The two giants met in the final in both events that Carlsen participated, in 2016 and 2017. They also have been the most successful duo in the many online events during this year of the pandemic. However, on Friday, David knocked on the door of Goliath and said: I’m here! And when the Frenchman started with two losses, that turned out to be “just a flesh wound.” Just like last year at the London Chess Classic, Vachier-Lagrave ended up beating Carlsen. How did he do it? Well, apart from Carlsen being in an “awful shape,” as he put it himself, MVL had some sort of a coffeehouse strategy. “I knew I was nowhere a favorite, but my match plan was to play for tricks all along, and it worked,” said Vachier-Lagrave. The modern-day, virtual Café de la Régence saw a record French audience, as MVL pointed out himself when the match was over: “I know there were like 15,000 watching today from France. That was amazing, and I want to thank them.” Meanwhile, the English broadcast was a packed stadium with 28K watching on Twitch and another 20K on Youtube, at some point. As said, the start of the match was absolutely fine for Carlsen and only supported the general thought that he was going to win this match without too much trouble. When the Frenchman was then outplayed in a 6.d3 Ruy Lopez in game two, there were hardly any fans left that dared to put money on him. If only they knew. First, he was helped a bit by his opponent in game three where Carlsen lost on time in a difficult but not clearly lost position. After that, the world champion went against his old adage of not believing in fortresses as he gave up his queen for rook and bishop but couldn’t hold it. After a draw, Vachier-Lagrave won a good game to take the lead: 3.5-2.5. In hindsight, it’s still hard to believe that from that point, Carlsen would never even manage to tie the match. He was better and often winning in three five-minute games but all three ended in draws. Vachier-Lagrave won the five-minute segment with 4.5-3.5. After a draw in the first three-minute game, the players exchanged wins with the white pieces for the next seven games. As a result, Maxime was leading 9-7 before the bullet. As he won two games and drew two at the start of the bullet phase, Vachier-Lagrave was leading 12-8 when the match clock had 14 and a half minutes left. If Carlsen wanted a comeback, he had to start there — and he did. Afterward, Carlsen reflected on the moment when he managed to score 12-9: “I looked at the clock when it was about 10 minutes to go, and I was down three,” said Carlsen. “I figured I should be able to win two games in time to get a decisive game. Obviously, it wasn’t a given that I would win those games … It was exciting at least to get that chance.” The Norwegian star won the next two games as well to make 12-11. There was still one minute and 17 seconds left. He had to win one more game on demand to force a tiebreak. Just in time, the Frenchman got back his mojo. He got an overwhelming position in a Modern Defense, then struggled for a while but was back to a winning position when Carlsen lost on time. This end of the match was a bit anticlimactic but Vachier-Lagrave’s victory was definitely deserved. Carlsen: “From the start, I felt that I was in really, really awful shape today, but then I managed to channel some energy for the first couple of games to win them… and then I lost the third and the fourth. After that, it was clearly going to be an uphill struggle.” The 2020 Speed Chess Championship Main Event is a knockout tournament among 16 of the best grandmasters in the world who will play for a $100,000 prize fund, double the amount of last year. The tournament will run November 1-December 13, 2020 on Chess.com. Each individual match will feature 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess. Text: Peter Doggers Photo: chess.com
Athletes Commission 2020 Elections Candidatures – Deadline extended
After gathering feedback from a number of players during the recent FIDE Congress, the panel in charge of the electoral process for the newly established ATHLETES Commission has decided to further extend the deadline for submitting candidatures. It is our aim that this additional extension opens the opportunity for more players to submit their application to be a part of this Commission. By presenting voters with a wider and more representative list of Candidates, we also hope to improve the engagement and participation of the player’s community in the electoral process. The procedure will be as follows: Players who meet the criteria and want to present their candidature are allowed to do so until December 21, 2020. They must fill the Candidature Nomination Form and send it to office@fide.com. The list of approved candidates will be published on the FIDE website and sent to eligible voters by email on December 22, 2020. The voting period starts from the moment the list of approved candidates is published on the FIDE website. Votes should be submitted by email to FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com. The voting period closes by January 2, 2021, 23:59 CET.
Austria Chess Federation celebrates its centenary
Christian Hursky, President of the Austrian Chess Federation, poses with the commemorative magazine PHOTO: Fuerthner Christian On December 12, 1920, the Austrian Chess Federation (ÖSB ) was founded in Vienna. As part of the celebrations, ÖSB has presented a special commemorative magazine and a limited edition of an exclusive watch. Grandmaster Markus Ragger, the first Austrian player to reach the 2700 mark, was chosen by the readers of ‘Schach Aktiv’ to receive the “Player of the Century Award”. The ÖSB had planned numerous activities for this anniversary: a Grandmaster tournament with Markus Ragger, a special gala, and a world record attempt. But of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has also affected Austria and thwarted some of these plans, so the Austrian Chess Federation had to adjust and come up with alternatives. A lot of effort was put in editing a commemorative magazine for the occasion and making it truly memorable. Produced by Echo Medienhaus, and with authors like Dieter Chmelar, Achim Schneyder and Michael Hufnagl, “the magazine shows impressively the rich chess scene in the country. And it is encouraging that the game of chess in Austria has a splendid future ahead of it in the next hundred years”, explains Christian Hursky, President of the ÖSB. The magazine extensively describes the rich chess life in present-day Austria: from the scholar chess champions in Dornbirn, to the U16 World Champion Dominik Horvath in Burgenland. But of course, it also pays tribute to the giants from the past, and particularly, about the first world chess champion, who was born in Austria: Wilhelm Steinitz. The complete magazine can be found here: https://www.chess.at/pdf/schachmagazin2020.html The magazine also includes a congratulatory message from the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich: “A centenary is a very important occasion, and there are not many other sports federations who can boast such seniority! 100 years ago, coffeehouses in Vienna provided the archetype of a cultivated atmosphere that came with a cup of coffee, intellectual conversations, and of course playing chess. Today chess is reconquering public space and public attention as well: led by Markus Ragger, Austria can be proud of a talented group of young chess players. And today chess is not only still and again played in coffee houses: it is played in public spaces throughout the country. Austria’s chess community is a very lively one and has renewed its tradition through ten decades”, said the FIDE President. A chess clock was also designed for this centenary, in a cooperation between the Austrian Chess Federation and the brand Jacques Lemans. This exclusive piece received the name of “Grandmaster”, and it is up for sale at the ÖSB website at a price of 139€. If you are a chess collector, you better hurry up, because only 300 units were produced! The ÖSB has been recognized as a professional sports association in Austria since 2005. Austria has achieved outstanding successes in recent years, especially in the youth categories, achieving 28 medals at recent European and World Championships. Most recently Dominik Horvath from Burgenland became the first Austrian junior world champion in history. At the beginning of the year, the Austrian Chess Federation gave itself a new, modern website and presented a new logo designed by Eva Urthaler. www.chess.at
Grand Chess Tour returns in 2021
World’s Elite Grandmasters Will Compete In Five Over The Board Events From June to August 2021 Saint Louis, MO, December 10, 2020 – The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is scheduled to return in 2021 and will feature the same five tournaments and format that was originally planned for the 2020 edition of the tour. Tour participants will compete for a total prize fund of $1.275 million over the course of the 2021 season. The prize money for the two classical tournaments will be $325,000 per event while the prize fund for the rapid and blitz events will be $150,000 each. In addition, a bonus prize fund totaling $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall tour finishers. Following the success of the 2019 Superbet Rapid and Blitz tournament in Bucharest, the Romanian capital will host the first classical event of the 2021 season in June. The 2021 Sinquefield Cup will be in August and will conclude the final leg of the tour. Between the two classical events are three rapid and blitz events, Paris, France, Zagreb, Croatia, and Saint Louis, USA. There will not be a “GCT Finals” tournament in 2021; the final tour standings will be decided based on the GCT points each tour player accumulates over the course of the five tournaments. Event dates have been coordinated with FIDE to ensure that there will be no clashes with FIDE’s major events including the conclusion of the Candidates tournament, the World Championship Match, and the expanded FIDE World Cup. The major sponsors of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour are the Superbet Foundation, Vivendi SA, Colliers International, and the Saint Louis Chess Club. The full tour participants will play in both classical events as well as in two of the three rapid and blitz events. Ten wildcards will be extended to selected players to participate in the rapid and blitz events. The full schedule for the 2021 GCT season (including arrival and departure days) is as follows: 1. Superbet Chess Classic Romania: June 3 – 15, 2021, Bucharest, Romania2. Paris Rapid & Blitz: June 16 – 23, 2021, Paris, France3. Croatia Rapid & Blitz: July 5 – 12, 2021, Zagreb, Croatia4. St Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 9 – 16, 2021, St. Louis, Missouri USA5. Sinquefield Cup: August 16 – 28, 2021, St. Louis, Missouri USA Tour invitations have been extended to the selected participants and further announcements regarding the final composition of the 2021 field and season will be made as they become available. About the Grand Chess Tour™ The Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world’s best players. The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world’s greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers. All Grand Chess Tour 2021 events will comply with local and regional COVID-19 restrictions. For more information about the tour, visit grandchesstour.org.
Tata Steel Chess 2021 lineup announced
The World Champion Magnus Carlsen will once again be one of the participants of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January 2021. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 this event is only the second international classical chess tournament to be held and the organization is very pleased with the permission that has been granted to organize this tournament in a COVID- safe manner in Wijk aan Zee. The Norwegian world champion is perfectly at ease in Wijk aan Zee. He will participate for the 17th time in January. Apart from Carlsen four other top 10 players will participate: Fabiano Caruana (this year’s winner and number two in the world), Ian Nepomniachtchi (4), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (5) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (8). The best Dutch chess player, Anish Giri (11) will also participate, of course. Super talent Alireza Firouzja (18) will also be taking part in ’the Wimbledon of Chess’. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021 will take place in De Moriaan in Wijk aan Zee from 15 January – 31 January 2021 and chess fans have the opportunity to watch the live stream via our website. Unfortunately, no spectators are allowed to watch the games in De Moriaan itself unless the COVID-19 measures will allow it in January. All the games will be broadcasted online. Tournament director Jeroen van den Berg: “the flood of congratulations and positive reactions I have received from people all over the world after the announcement is proof of how special it is that the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will really be played in Wijk aan Zee in these times. People show tremendous respect for the fact that Tata Steel, the municipality of Beverwijk and the other authorities have gone to such great lengths to make sure that the world’s most prominent chess tournament can go ahead. Chess aficionados have had to do without big international classical chess tournaments for almost a year. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021 is seen as a beacon of hope. People all over the world are craving for it.” Tata Steel Chess 2021 line-up: Name Country Rating World Ranking Magnus Carlsen Norway 2862 1 Fabiano Caruana U.S.A. 2823 2 Ian Nepomniachtchi Russia 2784 4 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave France 2784 5 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Azerbaijan 2770 8 Anish Giri Netherlands 2764 11 Alireza Firouzja FIDE 2749 18 Jan-Krzysztof Duda Poland 2743 19 Daniil Dubov Russia 2702 37 Andrey Esipenko Russia 2686 49 David Anton Guijarro Spain 2675 60 Jorden van Foreest Netherlands 2671 66 Nodirbek Abdusattorov Uzbekistan 2627 152 Aryan Tari Norway 2618 184 Text and photo: Official website Official website: tatasteelchess.com
Nakamura beats So to reach final
On his 33rd birthday, GM Hikaru Nakamura defeated Wesley So 13.5-12.5, thereby qualifying for Saturday’s final of the 2020 Speed Chess Championship. GM Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will play on Friday for the other spot in the final. The Nakamura-So match was a repeat of both the 2018 and 2019 finals of the Speed Chess Championship as well as a recurrence of their recent encounter in the Skilling Open. Nakamura lost that last one and had made it clear that he was out for revenge, after his win in the SCC quarterfinal: “Certainly, it’s payback time. I’m gonna be out for blood, I will say that much!” The match was one of the closest of the championship so far, with the players still in a tie before the bullet segment. Nakamura expectedly made the difference in the 1+1 games but in the end, the margin was only one game. It was So who started strongly in the five-minute segment. After two draws, he won both games that followed. To turn the tide, Nakamura decided to play a bit sharper. He chose the rare plan of castling queenside in the Italian and it worked out well. Nakamura also won games seven and eight and so he was leading 5-4 when the five-minute ended. He allowed his opponent to tie the score right away in the first 3+1 game as he mixed up the moves in another line of the Italian. So had some momentum there as he also won the next game and should have held the one after. A huge blunder still kept the match tied. So won the penultimate 3+1 game in crushing style, eventually doing what Nakamura did to him: castling queenside in an Italian. But by then, White was already winning due to an early blunder from Black. Afterward, So pointed out that his loss in the last 3+1 game (from such a solid position) was “very critical” as he won that second segment only by 4.5-3.5. “If I had won that game I would be on plus two and it doesn’t matter if I lose the bullet portion for sure but if I am on plus two I have at least a small cushion,” said So. “Losing that game was a big blow because coming to the match I knew for sure that I was going to lose the bullet.” However, So was hardly the worse player in the bullet either. Nakamura ended up winning it with 5-4 only. Still, the fact that he won for example a theoretically drawn rook endgame speaks for his incredible experience. So was playing the last 20 moves with just two or three seconds on the lock while Nakamura had about six, seven seconds all the time. He found the one moment where So slipped and took his chance. Nakamura was more in control during the bullet than the final score might suggest. He was leading 13.5-10.5 after game 24, with four and a half minutes left on the match clock. He was never going to lose three games in that timeframe, if only because he could stall at the right moment. There just wasn’t enough time for So to have real chances even after winning Game 25. Game 26 started with a minute and 49 seconds left on the match clock and while Nakamura was headling for another loss, he made sure to use enough time to get there in the end — a generally accepted match strategy. “I am very happy to win the match but in all seriousness, a lot of credit goes to Wesley, he played a very good match,” said a gracious Nakamura afterward. “I think in many ways, he was the better player of the match. It’s just that at the end of the day there were a couple of missed opportunities for him in the 5+1 and 3+1 and then in the bullet, I was just a little bit better. But I thought he played great.” So was a good sport after his loss: “First, I want to wish Hikaru a very happy birthday. Thank you for popularizing chess and doing a good job on your Twitch. Streaming is a big deal now that chess is moving online. May this be a good year for you and many more to come!” The 2020 Speed Chess Championship Main Event is a knockout tournament among 16 of the best grandmasters in the world who will play for a $100,000 prize fund, double the amount of last year. The tournament runs from November 1-December 13, 2020 on Chess.com. Each match will feature 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess. Text: Peter Doggers Photo: chess.com