The 2020 Speed Chess Championship Main Event is a knockout tournament, in which 16 of the world's best grandmasters start. Top seed and favourite is Magnus Carlsen. The tournament runs from November 1 to December 13, 2020 on chess.com. Each individual match will feature 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess.
In the sixth match of the round of the last 16 Hikaru Nakamura faced the Armenian GM Haik Martirosyan. It was a rather one-sided match.
Right in the first game Nakamura indicated which direction this match would take.
In the second game Martirosyan had good chances, but...
The third game took a similar course. A passed pawn gave Martirosyan counterplay but at a crucial moment the Armenian missed the right move.
3:0. In game four Martirosyan managed to draw. Round 5 saw a well-known tactic.
The match turned into a lesson. From the eight games with a time-control of 5+1 Nakamura won seven, one ended in a draw.
The longest game of the match was played with a time-control of 3+1:
An interesting and instructive endgame.
