Recaps

2020 Clutch Chess International - Day 4 Recap

Congratulations to Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana for defeating Alexander Grischuk and Leinier Dominguez respectively and qualifying to the semifinals. Both matches were highly contentious and were decided in the final clutch game. Dominguez and Grischuk are eliminated from the event, earning $15,000 each, with Grischuk picking up an extra $4,000 for his clutch game victories.

2020 Clutch Chess International - Day 3 Recap

Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So for qualifying to the semifinals after defeating Jeffery Xiong and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave respectively. So clinched the match with a round to spare while the battle between Carlsen and Xiong was a close affair which was decided in the final game. Vachier-Lagrave and Xiong are both eliminated, earning $15,000 each, with Xiong collecting a bonus of $2,000 for defeating the World Champion in clutch game number 5.

2020 Clutch Chess International - Day 2 Recap

Day two of Clutch Chess International featured two exciting match ups: Fabiano Caruana vs Leinier Dominguez and Levon Aronian vs Alexander Grischuk. The all American pairing was a rematch from their last encounter in the previous Clutch Chess USA, which Caruana won in a dominant fashion. He finished the first half of the match with a three point lead. Aronian and Grischuk are two of the most entertaining, creative and well-liked personalities in the chess world and their match today did not lack any flavor. The tumultuous six game struggle ended in the favor of the Armenian Grandmaster, but could have easily gone in the other direction.

2020 Clutch Chess International - Day 1 Recap

The second installment of Clutch Chess has expanded internationally, featuring eight of the world’s top players and a prize fund of $265,000. The quarterfinals of Clutch Chess International kicked off with two exciting matchups: World Champion Magnus Carlsen vs the 19 year old American phenom Jeffery Xiong and the winner of Clutch Chess USA Wesley So vs France’s number one player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

2020 Clutch Chess Finals Recap

Woman Grandmaster Tatev Abrahamyan recaps the finals of the first Clutch Chess online knockout between Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana.

2020 Clutch Chess Day 3 Recap

“Overall, a day with a lot of mistakes”, was GM Fabiano Caruana’s summation of day one of the Clutch Chess Finals. The world number two explained that their mistakes were understandable as all the games were complicated and difficult to play with little time on the clock.

2020 Clutch Chess Day 2 Recap

After another exciting day of rapid chess, rivals and Olympiad teammates GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Wesley So will face off in the finals of Clutch Chess. Caruana found himself in hot water in several of the games but the 5 point lead was too much for Leinier Dominguez to overcome.

2020 Clutch Chess Day 1 Recap

Day one of Clutch Chess concluded with two clutch victories by Caruana and Nakamura, both of whom earned 2 points and an extra $2,000 for their wins. GM Fabiano Caruana was unstoppable in his match against GM Leinier Dominguez, winning four out of the six possible games.

Today In Chess: The Candidates is Postponed

After the completion of the first half of the tournament, FIDE announced the 2020 Candidates will be postponed until further notice. In an official statement, FIDE cited their reasons for putting this historic and controversial event to a halt: “Today, the government of the Russian Federation announced that starting March 27, 2020, Russia interrupts air traffic with other countries without indicating any time frames. FIDE can not continue the tournament without guarantees for the players' and officials' safe and timely return home.”

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