GM Magnus Carlsen defeated GM Vladislav Artemiev 13.5-9.5 whereas GM Hikaru Nakamura dispatched GM Vladimir Fedoseev 21.5-5.5 in Thursday’s quarterfinals of the Speed Chess Championship. Carlsen will now face GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the semifinals; Nakamura will now face GM Wesley So.
Before this Speed Chess match, Carlsen and Artemiev had played four games at fast time control, with the Norwegian winning two besides two draws. However, the players drew twice in the 2020 Chessable Masters this summer. Carlsen was the favorite and Artemiev a dangerous dark horse.
The match started equal, with a win for Artemiev, then one for Carlsen, followed by a draw. In game four, it was Artemiev who took the lead for the second time when he won a model game against his opponent’s Hedgehog setup.
Carlsen retaliated and then after another draw won two games in a row and finished the five-minute games 5-3 on the scoreboard in his favor.
Artemiev put his opponent under pressure in the first two 3+1 games (both draws) and then won the third, to bring back the margin to a point. Carlsen seemed furious on camera and perhaps that was because he kind of lost to himself in this game:
However, every time Carlsen lost, he bounced back immediately with a win—and in this case, two. He was leading by three points, and in hindsight, we had reached the critical moment of the match. Indeed, Artemiev was completely winning in the next two games but lost both!
The Russian player finally managed to string together two victories in games 20 and 21, bringing the score to 12-9. But by then, there wasn’t enough time left to make up for those three points.
As the match was over, Artemiev reflected: “I think the match was very interesting and uncompromising but also I can say that I have big problems when I am down to my last seconds and probably I missed some great chances. But OK, it’s a fight and it’s only my problem so thank you Magnus, and congratulations.”
Carlsen: “I have to say that the match overall was tough. Almost every game was tough. I think over the course of the match there was one game which I won without any hiccups. So if you’re talking about angry that was sort of my constant mood throughout the match. Every game was long. It felt like I was outplayed in almost every game and it was just a massive struggle. I played Vlad before so I knew that he is very strong and I knew that the match was never going to be easy but still, when you’re there, we both really felt the tension very much and in that sense, it was a very interesting and very open match as well.”
The Nakamura-Fedoseev match was a repeat of the final of the Super Swiss, an one-day qualifier to the Speed Chess Championship in early October. Nakamura won 7.5-5.5 back then and Fedoseev became the qualifier because the winner was already seeded into the SCC as the reigning champion.
In Titled Tuesdays, Nakamura scored 5-3 vs. Fedoseev between May and September of this year. All in all, he was the favorite but not by the huge margin that came on the scoreboard. He was in brilliant shape, while Fedoseev was not having his day.
Nakamura started with an incredible 9-0, the second-best opening score in Speed Chess history. The games were not that lopsided actually, but somehow things went wrong for Fedoseev time and time again.
The five-minute segment comprised the first eight of those nine wins for Nakamura, who said: “I played well when I had very little time on the clock, I think that was probably the main thing that I did well in the 5+1.”
After the first break, Fedoseev wasn’t yet allowed a fresh start as he lost another game in an equally disappointing fashion.
10-0 would have meant “adoption,” but that didn’t happen as Fedoseev held the 10th game to a draw. After another loss and another draw, he finally managed to score his first win in game 13.
Fedoseev promptly won another game, but Nakamura then finished the three-minute segment with three more wins. The score before the bullet was a devastating 14-3.
However, we should honor where honor is due. The Move of the Match came from Fedoseev, who found a brilliant queen sacrifice in the second bullet game. Sadly for him, he couldn’t convert the game later on.
Fedoseev got two wins and a draw in the bullet segment, with seven wins for Nakamura. The latter revealed that before the match he had taken his opponent very seriously:
“Not to discredit my previous opponents, but for all the previous matches I didn’t actually do any preparation whatsoever whereas for this match I did quite a bit of preparation. Credit to Vladimir who is a very strong player and who did beat Alireza [Firouzja] in the first round.”
Fedoseev: “The match started with a huge disconnection from my side and then I tilted. I don’t think that in the world we can name a second player who is so good as Hikaru in the situation when his opponent is tilting and that’s why this match ended how it ended. Also, he was perfectly concentrated till the end of the match. I found many great tactical ideas but he always was better physically and mentally and again and again outplayed me.”
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 to 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
