Recap

It was an eventful first day of the 2020 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship as #2 seed IM Annie Wang scored 2.5/3 points to grab the early lead in the 10-player rapid (25+5) round-robin. Tied for second and third place with 2.0/3 are top seed IM Carissa Yip and WIM Thalia Cervantes, but with six more rounds to go everything can still change in this national title event.

Woman Grandmaster Tatev Abrahamyan recaps the finals of 2020 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.

The Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz is now a two-horse race, as Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So have separated themselves from the rest of the field with a three point lead. After nine exhilarating blitz rounds, the World Champion leads the tournament, overtaking So by half a point. Ian Nepomniachti finished the day in third place, but expressed doubt in his chances of catching the leaders. He promised to play 1.b3 again tomorrow, an unusual opening with which he defeated Carlsen today. The tournament will conclude tomorrow after another full day of blitz, with the winner taking home the $50,000 prize.

The dramatic third day of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz certainly shook up the standings. After going 3 - 0 yesterday, it seemed as if Magnus Carlsen was going to be unstoppable. The World Champion scored a lukewarm 50% today, and with three players hot on his heels, it wasn’t enough to maintain the lead. With the exception of Carlsen’s loss due to disconnection in round two, Alexander Grischuk spoiled what was otherwise a perfect event thus far for the World Champion.

Day two of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz kicked off with an all-decisive bloody round. Magnus Carlsen came back powerfully, winning all three games today after finishing day one with a fifty percent score. While the World Champion called his games from rounds four and six “gifts”, he particularly enjoyed his round five win against Leinier Dominguez. Carlsen now sits on top of the leaderboard, a full point ahead of his closest rivals. Tomorrow is the last day of the rapid portion of the tournament, where each win is worth double the points.

The Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz has been one of the stops of the Grand Chess Tour since 2017. This year, it’s a stand-alone online tournament with 9 rapid and 18 blitz games over five days and a $250,000 prize fund, attracting some of the top players of the world, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen and the two previous winners, Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian. After three rapid games, Levon Aronian and Pentala Harikrishna emerged as the co-leaders. While Aronian has won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz in 2017 and 2019, this marks Harikrishna’s first appearance in the event.

The big rivalry of the summer between World Champion Magnus Carlsen and U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura was reignited in the final day of Champions Showdown: Chess9LX. The duo famously played a marathon match in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational in August, which came down to the wire and was decided in an Armageddon game in favor of the World Champion. This time, there was no tiebreaker and the two giants were declared co-champions of the 2020 edition of Chess9LX, collecting $31,250 each for their efforts. World Number Two Fabiano Caruana and former World Rapid Champion Levon Aronian finished half a point behind the winners, tying for third place and collecting $17,500 each.

Day two of Champions Showdown: Chess9LX was action packed. After winning all three games, Levon Aronian emerged as the new leader, half a point ahead of Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So. In the postgame interview, Aronian remarked that he spent more time preparing and doing tactics before the games today and felt that he was playing “with more passion.” He still has his work cut out for him as he faces Garry Kasparov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen on the final day. With $37,500 and the title on the line, tomorrow promises to be a thriller.

The 2020 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX set the stage for a long anticipated event in the chess world. For the first time since their only encounter in 2004, World Champions Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen were set to face off again, this time in Fischer Random. Fans weren’t left waiting, as the two were paired in the second round of the Champions Showdown. The epic battle drew the attention of the entire chess world, who were delighted to see two of the best chess players in history square off.

Woman Grandmaster Tatev Abrahamyan recaps the finals of Clutch Chess International online knockout between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana.