GM Alireza Firouzja defeated GM Fabiano Caruana within the first quarterfinal match of the Pace Chess Championship 2024 with an awesome rating of 14.5-8.5. He’s the primary participant to qualify for the Semifinals that will probably be held dwell in Paris.
The following quarterfinal match will probably be GM Wesley So vs. GM Hans Niemann, going down on Wednesday, August 7, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET / 21:30 CEST / 1:00 a.m. IST (August 8).
Pace Chess Championship 2024 Bracket
Each day this week, from Tuesday by means of Friday, will function a quarterfinal match. The 4 winners will meet in Paris, the place they are going to bodily play face-to-face within the Semifinals. You should buy tickets to attend in individual right here.
Fabiano Caruana 14.5-8.5 Alireza Firouzja
Caruana’s by no means received a quarterfinal match within the SCC, and sadly for him, this yr was not an exception. SmarterChess predicted a Firouzja win with a 54 p.c probability, preferring his possibilities by one level within the 3+1 and 1+1 parts—a prognosis he blew out of the water within the 3+1.
Blitz 5+1: Firouzja 4.5-2.5 Caruana
The primary portion featured the primary and solely comeback Caruana had within the match. After Firouzja shut that down, and completed the phase with a two-point lead, he prolonged the lead even additional within the 3+1 video games.
The primary half of the portion went in Firouzja’s favor, however there have been main blunders by each side early on. Within the first sport, Firouzja was up the change however blundered a knight fork and allowed a draw; within the second, Caruana’s blunder—this time, he was up the change and successful—was a lot worse:
Caruana was successful in sport two till… ouch!https://t.co/0KZEzP3tI3#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/FeI68oJhsT
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 6, 2024
Firouzja received the following sport with checkmate on the board, however then Caruana got here again with two wins to even the rating. His preparation in the second left the commentators speechless.
Caruana later mentioned, “Within the [Dark Archangel Chessable] course, I am recommending one thing else fully. It is a loopy line that we performed and he kind of knew one thing about it, it was clear, as a result of he was going for essentially the most crucial line, however he did not know the whole lot.”
However Firouzja later mentioned he thought-about this comeback ” wakeup name, and it is good that I caught it early.” Caruana, for his half, mirrored concerning the match, “I by no means acquired my footing with the black items, other than that sport.”
The French number-one completed the 5+1 portion with two extra wins. His final victory was his greatest sport of the phase. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the total sport under.
Blitz 3+1: Firouzja 5.5-2.5 Caruana
On this portion, Firouzja received 4 video games and misplaced only one to take a five-point lead forward of the bullet. Earlier than the final sport of the phase, Naroditsky was stuffed with reward: “That is mind-expanding chess, sport after sport.” He later mentioned:
[Firouzja has] prevented pointless issues, that is been so spectacular. That is not a aspect of him that we have now been used to or that we have now seen displayed this many occasions over the course of a match.
The ultimate sport prompted Naroditsky’s remark. Though 19.Nxb5 would have received tactically, he as a substitute opted for the positionally-minded 19.Qg4—not the engine’s greatest transfer, however virtually, his opponent was unable to plug up the weaknesses on the sunshine squares. It wasn’t flashy, however it acquired the job completed.
Within the sport earlier than that, Firouzja additionally flexed his counter-attacking prowess. Caruana tried to provoke an assault with 23.g4?, however it backfired and opened up his personal king.
Nothing appeared to fairly go Caruana’s means, and early on within the bullet phase the match regarded destined for Firouzja’s taking.
Bullet 1+1: Firouzja 4.5-3.5 Caruana
“Firouzja appears unstoppable proper now,” mentioned Hess after Firouzja received the primary bullet sport, and after he received the primary three to take an eight-point lead, the match was already over.
The second sport provides an correct impression of how tilted Caruana was, as he blundered the change pondering he had a found assault in opposition to the queen. He did, however the queen was protected.
Caruana goes for the found assault in opposition to the white queen, however it is not hanging! 12-5 for Firouzja.https://t.co/AjProvmLRS#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/lJQxwcsapa
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 6, 2024
On paper, it was the closest phase, however it’s as a result of Firouzja took his foot off the fuel figuring out he’d clinched the match. Stringing collectively two wins in a row at one level, Caruana demonstrated the facility of king exercise within the endgame.
It was Firouzja’s worst phase within the match and he nonetheless received it by a degree. He earned $8,152.17 and Caruana left the match with $1,847.83 by win share.
Firouzja, after a disappointing Candidates Event, has had yr ever since, particularly in on-line occasions. He mentioned:
Final yr, I did not play a lot, I simply performed way more this yr so I believe I am a lot sharper and I am working a bit extra, all of this mixed makes my chess going again to [what it was in] 2021, 2022. It is good.
He’ll be enjoying within the Saint Louis Speedy & Blitz and the Sinquefield Cup later this month. In 2022, he received each occasions in addition to your entire Grand Chess Tour; repeating that will probably be a problem, however he is proven he is able to it.
He’ll meet three different gamers in Paris, which is simply an hour from Chartres the place he lives, in a single month. Wednesday will resolve whether or not a type of gamers will probably be Niemann or So.
The Pace Chess Championship is Chess.com’s most essential velocity chess occasion. A number of the largest names in chess compete to find out the most effective velocity chess participant on the planet. The principle occasion began with qualifiers on June 27 and 28 and concludes with the first-ever Closing on September 8, dwell in Paris. The video games are performed with time controls of 5+1, 3+1, and 1+1. The prize fund is $173,000.
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