Clutch Chess: Wesley So wins on tiebreaks
5/29/2020 – The Clutch Chess Champions Showdown is an online blitz tournament in which the four best US Grandmasters — Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So and Leinier Dominguez — compete in a knockout event. The tournament is organized by the St. Louis Chess Center and features a new format: Clutch Chess. In the semifinals Caruana clearly won against Dominguez while So narrowly defeated Nakamura. After day 1 of the finals So leads 4½-3½. Will Caruana be able to stage a comeback? Watch the games live and with commentary. Transmission starts at 22:00 CEST (16:00 Eastern Time, 15:00 CST).
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St. Louis Clutch Chess
The top four American players will play from Tuesday, May 26 - Friday, May 29, 2020 in a new knockout format called "Clutch Chess", created by Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, commentator, author, and chess innovator.
Clutch Chess will begin with two semifinal matches of twelve games played over two days, with the winners advancing to the finals. Games 1-4 and 7-10 of the matches will be scored using the traditional method of 1 point for a win and half a point for a draw. Games 5, 6, 11 and 12 - the final two games each day - are worth extra points and bonus prize money for a decisive result. The new scoring system means that a match isn’t over until the very end; with six points available in the last two games, anything can happen.
The games will be played with a time-limit of 10 minutes for the whole game and 5 seconds increment per move.
Scoreboards
Final
| Total | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | G5* | G6* | G7 | G8 | G9 | G10 | G11** | G12** | |
| Fabiano Caruana | 9 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Wesley So (*) | 9 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 |
*Games 5 and 6 are worth two points each
** Games 11 and 12 are worth three points each
(*) Wins the tournament on tiebreaks — more points in clutch games
Semifinals
| Total | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | G5* | G6* | G7 | G8 | G9 | G10 | G11** | G12** | |
| Fabiano Caruana | 15 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Leinier Domínguez | 3 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | G5* | G6* | G7 | G8 | G9 | G10 | G11** | G12** | |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 8½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ |
| Wesley So | 9½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ |
Live games
Live commentary
Scoring system
Schedule
| Date | Start Times | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 26 | Match A | Match B | |
| 3:00 PM CST | Game 1 | Game 1 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 1 in such Match | Game 2 | Game 2 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 2 in such Match | Game 3 | Game 3 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 2 in such Match | Game 4 | Game 4 | |
| 5 minutes after the later to conclude of Game 4 in Match A and Game 4 in Match B | Game 5 | --- | |
| 5 minutes after Game 5 in Match A | --- | Game 5 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 5 in Match B | Game 6 | --- | |
| 5 minutes after Game 6 in Match A | --- | Game 6 | |
| May 27 | 3:00 PM CST | Game 7 | Game 7 |
| 5 minutes after Game 7 in such Match | Game 8 | Game 8 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 8 in such Match | Game 9 | Game 9 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 9 in such Match | Game 10 | Game 10 | |
| 5 minutes after the later to conclude of Game 10 in Match A and Game 10 in Match B | --- | Game 11 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 11 in Match B | Game 11 | --- | |
| 5 minutes after Game 11 in Match A | --- | Game 12 | |
| 5 minutes after Game 12 in Match B | Game 12 | --- | |
| Match C (Winners of Match A vs Match B) | |||
| May 28 |
3:00 PM CST |
Games 1 - 6 | |
| May 29 |
3:00 PM CST |
Games 7 - 12 | |
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