The 2020 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship finals got underway at the host-sponsor chess.com server Sunday, Nov. 1, with 16 of the world’s top players vying for $100,000 in cash prizes.
The 16 GMs featured in the knockout finals are defending champion Hikaru Nakamura, 2017 winner Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladislav Artemiev, Alireza Firouzja, Vladimir Fedoseev, Anish Giri, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdussatorov, Nihal Sarin, Parham Maghsoodloo, Haik Martirosyan and Jan Krzysztof Duda. The first eight are invitees seeded straight to the finals while the last eight are winners of a long series of qualifying events. Each kayo match will be 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess.
The first two players to advance to the second round are Vachier-Lagrave, who defeated Sarin, 16½-11½; and Carlsen, who made mincemeat out of Maghsoodloo, 24-5. The next match will be played today between Firouzja and Fedoseev, while the match Wesley So versus Abdussatorov will be on Nov. 8. The Round 1 final matches runs from Nov. 1-6.
Nihal, S (2620)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [D27]
chess.com (1.18) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.b3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.Bb2 Bd7 10.Nd2 Nc6 11.N2f3 0-0 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.Qe2 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Bc6 15.Rfd1 Ba3 16.Ra1 Qe7 17.Ne5 Be4 18.f3 Bd5 19.e4 Bc6 20.Qe3 Nd7 21.Nxd7 Bxd7 22.Bb6 Bb5 23.Bxb5 axb5 24.Rd2 Rc6 25.Rf2 Rfc8 26.h3 h5 27.Kh1 Rxb6 28.Qxb6 Bc5 29.Qxb5 Bxf2 30.Qxh5 Bg3 31.Qb5 Bb8 32.Re1 Rc2 0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784)-Nihal, S (2620) [D00]
chess.com (1.39) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nd2 Bf5 5.Ngf3 e6 6.Be2 Bd6 7.Bg3 0-0 8.0-0 h6 9.c4 Bxg3 10.hxg3 Nbd7 11.Qb3 Qb6 12.Rfc1 Ne4 13.Nxe4 Bxe4 14.Nd2 Bg6 15.Rc3 Nf6 16.Rac1 Rfd8 17.Qa3 a6 18.Rb3 Qc7 19.Nf3 Bh5 20.Bd3 Bxf3 21.gxf3 g6 22.f4 Kg7 23.Kg2 h5 24.Qb4 Rab8 25.c5 Rh8 26.Rh1 Qe7 27.f3 Nd7 28.Qc3 h4 29.g4 h3+ 30.Kf1 h2 31.Qe1 Rh3 32.Qf2 Rbh8 33.Rxb7 Qd8 34.g5 Nf8 35.b4 e5 36.dxe5 Ne6 37.f5 Nxg5 38.f6+ Kf8 39.Be2 Kg8 40.Qg2 Ne6 41.Bd3 R3h6 42.f4 d4 43.Qxc6 dxe3 44.Qd6 Kh7 45.Rxf7+ Kg8 46.Rg7+ Nxg7 47.Qxd8+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2862)-Maghsoodloo, P (2676) [E49]
chess.com (1.15) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 c5 9.Ne2 Nc6 10.0-0 b6 11.Bb2 Bb7 12.Bd3 e5 13.Ng3 cxd4 14.cxd4 exd4 15.Rc1 Re8 16.e4 Nd7 17.Bb5 Nc5 18.f3 a6 19.Bxc6 Bxc6 20.Bxd4 Ba4 21.Bxc5 Bxd1 22.Rfxd1 Qxd1+ 23.Rxd1 bxc5 24.Rc1 Rec8 25.Nf5 Kf8 26.Nd6 Rc7 27.Nc4 Rd8 28.Kf2 Rd4 29.Ke3 Ke7 30.h4 f6 31.g4 Kd7 32.h5 Kc6 33.Kf4 Kb5 34.Ne3 c4 35.Nd5 Rc5 36.Rb1+ Ka4 37.Ke3 Rd3+ 38.Ke2 Rb3 39.Rc1 c3 40.Kd3 c2+ 41.Kd4 Rb1 42.Nc3+ Rxc3 0-1
Maghsoodloo, P (2676)-Carlsen, M (2862) [B01]
chess.com (1.55) 2020
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nge2 b6 6.Bf4 Qd7 7.Qd2 Bb7 8.0-0-0 e6 9.h4 b5 10.Ng3 b4 11.Nce2 a5 12.h5 h6 13.Be5 Nc6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Nf4 0-0-0 16.d5 Ne5 17.Qe3 exd5 18.Qa7 Qc6 19.Qxa5 Qc5 20.Qxc5 Bxc5 21.Nf5 Bxf2 22.Rd2 Bc5 23.g3 c6 24.Bh3 Kc7 25.Rf1 Rdg8 26.Kb1 Ba6 27.Re1 Nf3 0-1
Carlsen, M (2862)-Maghsoodloo, P (2676) [A00]
chess.com (1.56) 2020
1.c3 c6 2.f3 f6 3.Kf2 Kf7 4.Ke3 Ke6 5.Kf2 Kd6 6.Ke3 Kc7 7.Kd3 Qe8 8.Kc2 d6 9.Qe1 e6 10.Kd1 Ne7 11.Na3 Nd7 12.Nc2 Nb6 13.d3 Bd7 14.Bd2 Nbc8 15.Kc1 c5 16.Kb1 Nc6 17.e4 Kb8 18.Ne2 Nb6 19.d4 a6 20.Ne3 Ka7 21.a4 Na5 22.b4 Nb3 23.a5 Na4 24.Ra3 Nxd2+ 25.Qxd2 cxb4 26.cxb4 Rc8 27.d5 exd5 28.Nxd5 f5 29.Qd4+ Kb8 30.Nec3 fxe4 31.Nxe4 Bc6 32.Bc4 Qg6 33.g3 h5 34.h4 Qf5 35.Rd1 Rh6 36.Bb3 Nc5 37.bxc5 dxc5 38.Qe3 c4 39.Bxc4 Bxa3 40.Qxa3 Rd8 41.Qd3 Re6 42.Kb2 Re5 43.Nec3 Qf8 44.f4 Ree8 45.Qd4 Qd6 46.Bb3 Qg6 47.Qb6 Qxg3 48.Nb4 Qg2+ 49.Ka3 Rxd1 50.Nxa6+ Ka8 51.Nc7+ Kb8 52.Bxd1 Re1 53.a6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rd4/c4/xb4/f4/g4/h4/e1 2.Q(x)e1#; 1…Re3 2.c4#; 1…Re2 2.Qc1#; 1…Ke3 2.Qf2#./PN
