Speed Chess: Firouzja gets clear victory over Caruana

Firouzja wins all segments

Eight well-known GMs reached the quarterfinals of the Speed Chess Championship, an online event organised by chess.com which features matches consisting of 5-minute, 3-minute and 1-minute games (all with 1-second increments).

The first quarterfinal match took place on Tuesday, with Alireza Firouzja obtaining a clean victory over Fabiano Caruana. Firouzja will face the winner of the match between Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi. On the other side of the bracket, Hans Niemann will face Wesley So (on Wednesday) and Magnus Carlsen will face Arjun Erigaisi (on Thursday).

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In Tuesday's match, Firouzja prevailed in all three segments, first getting the upper hand by scoring a 4½-2½ victory in the 5-minute games, and then widening the gap by collecting a 5½-2½ win in the 3-minute section. It was possible for Caruana to recover the 5-point deficit in the bullet segment, but Firouzja continued to dominate, ending the match with a 4½-3½ victory in the final section.

The four winners of the quarterfinals will participate in the in-person final stages, set to take place on September 6-8 in Paris. Iranian-born Firouzja became a French citizen in 2021 and now represents France in official competitions. He lives in Chartres, a city located about 90 km (56 mi) southwest of Paris.

In the round-of-16, Firouzja had defeated Alexander Grischuk, while Caruana had got the better of Alexey Sarana.

Firouzja 1 - 0 Caruana

Time control: 3+1

Firouzja, Alireza3207

1–0

Caruana, Fabiano3137

Speed Chess Championship 2024 Chess.com06.08.2024[CC]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 Last month, Firouzja had played this line, with an early g2-g4, against MVL at the rapid section of the SuperUnited tournament in Croatia. This is the main variation in this setup. Be7 The game in Croatia followed 7...h6 8.Bg2 Be7 9.b3 and Firouzja went on to get an advantage in the middlegame - he failed to convert it into a win, as the game ended as a 69-move draw. 8.g5 Nfd7 9.h4 Firouzja had played 9.Bg2 Nc6 10.h4 0-0 11.b3 in a game against Peter Svidler from 2021. 9...b5 10.a3 Bb7 11.Be3 Nc6 12.f4 h6

Caruana spent 20 seconds (this is a 3-minute game) before playing this tempting move, which is a novelty - the move is not the most precise in the position, but surely creates a double-edged battle. 13.Rh3 Nc5 14.Qe2 Qc7 15.0-0-0 0-0-0 16.b4

Out of all the playable continuations in this favourable position for White, this is the most risky. It is likely that Firouzja was feeling confident after prevailing in the 5-minute section. The bold approach served him well in this game. More cautious, and still good for White, is 16.Nxc6 Qxc6 17.Kb1 16...Nd7 A very natural move for a blitz game, but not the most precise - White is clearly for choice. Engines show 16...Nxd4 17.Bxd4 e5 18.Bg1 Ne6 19.Qe1 and Black should not play Nxf4 due to 20.Nxb5 axb5 21.Rc3 but this is all but impossible to find with a bit over 1 minute on the clock. 17.g6 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 fxg6 19.Qg4 Better is the direct 19.a4 and bxa4 fails to 20.Nxa4 when there is no good way for Black to deal with the threat of Rh3-c3. 19...Bf6 20.Qxe6 Firouzja missed 20.Nxb5 with the same threat of transferring the rook along the third file - White's 13th move now makes perfect sense! 20...Kb8 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.Qxd5

Players had about 30 seconds each at this point. 22...Nb6 23.Bxb6 Qxb6 24.Rhd3 Rhe8 25.Bg2 Ka7 26.Kb1 g5 27.e5 dxe5 28.Qf7+ Kb8 A big mistake, but Firouzja fails to find the refutation. 29.Rd7

29.fxe5 is a good-looking move, making use of the fact that the black pieces are overloaded, e.g.: Rf8 30.Rxd8+ Rxd8 and now the simple 31.Re1 Qc7 32.Qxc7+ 29...Rxd7 Caruana missed 29...e4 closing the light-squared diagonal, with an equal position, e.g.: 30.hxg5 hxg5 31.fxg5 Rxd7 32.Qxe8+ Rd8 33.Rxd8+ Qxd8 with a drawn position. 30.Rxd7 The winning move! Not 30.Qxe8+ due to Rd8 30...Rd8 31.Rb7+ Game over. Kc8 1–0

All games

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Links

• Official website
• Carlsen beats resilient Firouzja, wins Chessable Masters
• Firouzja takes down Carlsen to win Chess.com Classic
• Vachier-Lagrave beats Firouzja in Armageddon, bags CrunchLabs Masters