It's blitz: Kasparov against Caruana, So and Nakamura

by Sagar Shah
4/26/2016 – On 28th and 29th of April we will witness 18 rounds of blitz chess: the top three finishers of the US Championship 2016 will fight Garry Kasparov. The last time we saw Garry playing blitz in public was exactly a year ago when he thrashed Nigel Short 8.5-1.5. He will now face the best in the business: Caruana, So and Nakamura. Here are the details and some pre-match trash talk!
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It's going to be a great spectacle when Garry Kasparov will take on the top three finishers of the US Championship 2016: Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura.

This is the first time Garry will play publicly after
he crushed Nigel Short 8.5-1.5 in blitz a year ago

The tournament has the the following format:

  • It will be a four player sextuple Round Robin. Each player will play against the other six times.
  • The time control is 5 mins + 3 seconds delay (not increment)
  • The prize fund is $ 50,000
  • The first game begins at 1 p.m. local time in Saint Louis. This would be 7 p.m. CET or 6 p.m. GMT.
  • The games can be watched live on the official website.​

It's great that the best three players finished at the top of the
US Championship - it makes the blitz tournament even more interesting.

The first thing that Garry told Yasser after entering the studio
was, "Look, Yasser I have lost some weight!"

Kasparov enters the studio around 2 hours and 30 minutes
 

"I hope Garry will not be in the best of forms (laughs).
But I think he will be practising on Playchess.com."

Yes, Garry is often seeing playing Blitz on our online chess platform playchess.com. Be careful if you are playing there, you might just bump into Garry who might be beating everyone with an anonymous handle!

Hikaru began with the friendly trash talk right after the US Championships ended.

Hikaru: It will be interesting to see how Garry does against us!

Maurice Ashley: How Garry does against you guys as opposed to how you guys do against Garry?

Hikaru: Of course!

Maurice: The trash talking starts early!

Nakamura: I mean if you look at Basketball you see that people always say Stephen Curry is better than Michael Jordan. With every passing generation, the players are better than the previous one. That's why I think it will be more interesting from Garry's point of view than our.

Maurice: Because you are supposed to be the better?

Hikaru: Well, we are supposed to be. But many consider him to be the best player ever! So it will be interesting.

Garry was in the studio when Nakamura said this

Garry: "For a moment I thought he was doing it on purpose [not finishing in the top three] (laughs!) I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him trailing. For me it was almost a given that I would be facing Nakamura, Caruana and So. It would be interesting to see how I fare against one of the best blitz players in the world [Nakamura]. I don't know if they are better, but they are surely much younger!"

It will be 18 rounds of blitz chess to remember! What do you think will happen? Will Garry thrash these youngsters like he beat Nigel Short a year ago, or will he find himself out of shape and struggle against the deadly trio? We look forward to your views in the comments section below.

Sagar01

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

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JohnTVian JohnTVian 4/26/2016 05:37
I think it's commendable for Garry Kasparov, who just turned 53, to still be competing against the younger players. If only Nakamura would do as good in the regular tournaments as he does with the blitz, he might of been the standing U.S. champion. But Caruana is a tough cookie to beat...
nokia x nokia x 4/26/2016 05:18
i only guess its will nakaramura before look vote and many vote him :)
Rational Rational 4/26/2016 04:58
I would be surprised if it does not finish Naka, Kasparov ,
So, Caruana . I have thought how Caruana's blitz seems much less than his classical form.
It is great that Kasparov will go for this, for me it is the fact that Kasparov still puts back into chess that seals his position as the best player ever and would love to see him win but Nakamura will not be holding back at all here
AlvaroFrota AlvaroFrota 4/26/2016 04:54
Go Kasparov go!
sharpnova sharpnova 4/26/2016 04:36
This is... wonderful. I can't fucking wait for this.

I think Naka is the favorite by far... I'm really curious how Kasparov will do against Fabiano... and Naka too.

Poor So. Maybe he can write some consolatory notes to himself on his score sheet to raise his spirits.
Cyric Renner Cyric Renner 4/26/2016 04:26
Yes Fabio is weak in blitz chess, barely above 2400.
eltollo eltollo 4/26/2016 04:23
My take:
1. Nakamura 2. So 3. Kasparov 4. Caruana

But as an older player I'd like to see Kasparov end higher.
firestorm firestorm 4/26/2016 04:11
Think I just died and went to heaven- blitz tournament between these four? And 6 rounds? That's like seeing Fischer appearing playing Karpov and a couple of others after not playing for a while :)
Maturner Maturner 4/26/2016 03:57
I'll put my money on Nakamura but it will surely be an interesting contest.
Petrarlsen Petrarlsen 4/26/2016 03:52
The respective blitz ratings of Nakamura, So, and Carlsen are completely different from their standard rantings : Nakamura is 2883 (only 7 points behind Carlsen) ; So 2726, and Caruana only 2665.

For me, I think that, as brilliant as he is, Kasparov would not be able to beat any of the four players that are above 2850 today (Carlsen, Nakamura, Ding Liren, and Vachier-Lagrave). But as for So and Caruana, I think that he will easily beat them, because, compared to their extremely high standard chess level, they are not very good (especially Caruana) in blitz. And I think he will be closer from Nakamura than from the two others.

It will be really interesting to follow this tournament. And perhaps we will also have some surprises !... Notably, the real level of Kasparov in blitz today is a factor that no one knows very precisely... What I think is that, quite certainly, he will be very well prepared : I can't imagine Kasparov playing in such an event without preparing very seriously !
RaoulBertorello RaoulBertorello 4/26/2016 03:12
My prediction on the final result of this blitz tournament: 1st Nakamura, 2nd Kasparov, 3rd So, 4th Caruana.
vivekanandpv vivekanandpv 4/26/2016 03:12
Marvellous! Could anyone share a link if it will be broadcast live?
Savvy Savvy 4/26/2016 03:04
Kasparov has played a lot of successful blitz and used to be clearly the best at that form of chess too. His three opponents here, although at the top of their game are devoted to classical chess and I almost believe that Kasparov plays more blitz than they do so I think it will be very even.
Since they know more theory now than him I think a lot will ride on what kind of positions Kasparov can steer the games towards - can he get the initiative and pressure them or will he mostly be defending... But dont forget that Kasparov is very competetive and probably doesn't do this unless he feels in decent form! I think The Trio better buckle up for a bumpy ride haha... Like Stephen Brady says: This is great!
Chess entertainment yet serious on the back of a fantastic championship all around! Thanks to all involved for all this!!
ubernomics ubernomics 4/26/2016 02:49
Hope the blitz tournament is rated. Last year's Sinquefeld-held blitz match between Caruana and Nakamura (won by the former) was apparently not FIDE-rated.

Hope Kasparov has another Kasparov-like performance, and this isn't the tournament where Father Time triumphs.
jhoravi jhoravi 4/26/2016 02:20
Caruana will be the underdog here. The rest are blitz specialists
josuevm josuevm 4/26/2016 02:11
@kurumban: Yes, Nakamura has played blitz against giants and lost huge... He is no longer the best blitz player in the world (Magnus Carlsen won the last world cup and Nakamura was not even a contender for the first places). I think Caruana will be first followed by Kasparov, who is by the way not just "a 50 year old sapien" but a former world champion and a genius!
stephen brady stephen brady 4/26/2016 02:07
This is GREAT! I am American, but I would love to see Garry finish on top here. There's absolutely no pressure on him, since he's been retired for a decade. However, I imagine there is still some psychological advantage for Garry against Naka, So, and Caruana. He will definitely win some of these games, and probably win at draw at least 1 match.
digupagal digupagal 4/26/2016 02:03
Gary is going to beat Fabiano for sure
kurumban kurumban 4/26/2016 01:53
Nakamura has played blitz against some powerful silicon giants. I don't think he would find a 50 year old homo sapien much of a problem!
Denix Denix 4/26/2016 01:42
This is very interesting to watch indeed, specially the facial expressions. This is what I watch in Blitz.
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