Martirosyan Wins 8th Speed Chess Grand Prix
GM Haik Martirosyan has won the eighth Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix. The 20-year-old Armenian grandmaster beat Russian GM Vladislav Artemiev 2-0 in the knockout final and is now in fourth place in the overall Grand Prix standings.
The next Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix will be played on July 28 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 19:00 Central Europe.
The eighth Speed Chess Grand Prix tournament was held on Tuesday, July 21, with 745 participants. It was 15-year-old GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov who won the Swiss part as the only player with a 9.0/10 score.
The live broadcast of the tournament.
Abdusattorov, who is the fifth-youngest grandmaster ever, was in great shape. The Uzbek GM defeated, among others, GMs Vladimir Fedoseev, Hikaru Nakamura, and Fabiano Caruana (the last two using the same opening variation!) and drew with GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Here's his game with Caruana, who had won the Swiss part for the last two weeks.
The eight players who have qualified for the knockout part are GMs Abdusattorov, Martirosyan, MVL, Nakamura, Artemiev, Alexander Moskalenko, Eric Hansen, and IM Abdulla Gadimbayli.
July 21 Speed Chess Grand Prix | Swiss Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Score | SB |
| 1 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 9 | 55.5 | |
| 2 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 3 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 4 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 8.5 | 53.25 | |
| 5 | GM | @Sibelephant | Vladislav Artemiev | 8.5 | 49.5 | |
| 6 | GM | @Alexander_Moskalenko | Alexander Moskalenko | 8.5 | 48.5 | |
| 7 | GM | @erichansen | Eric Hansen | 8.5 | 46.75 | |
| 8 | IM | @GadimbayliA | Abdulla Gadimbayli | 8.5 | 46 | |
| 9 | GM | @GigaQuparadze | Giga Kuparadze | 8.5 | 42.25 | |
| 9 | GM | @vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 8.5 | 42.25 | |
| 11 | GM | @RaunakSadhwani2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 8 | 51 | |
| 12 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 8 | 49.75 | |
| 13 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 8 | 49.5 | |
| 14 | GM | @1977Ivan | Ivan Ivanisevic | 8 | 48.5 | |
| 15 | GM | @2Vladimirovich90 | Dmitry Andreikin | 8 | 48.25 | |
| 16 | GM | @VerdeNotte | Gawain Jones | 8 | 47 | |
| 17 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 8 | 46.75 | |
| 18 | GM | @ShimanovAlex | Aleksandr Shimanov | 8 | 45 | |
| 19 | IM | @okriak | Dmitry Obolenskikh | 8 | 42.5 | |
| 20 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 8 | 41 |
Nakamura, the winner of the knockout both last week and the week before, didn't survive the quarterfinals this time. He was knocked out by Artemiev, who accurately judged a pawn ending to be winning for him:
Vachier-Lagrave lost his first game to Martirosyan, but managed to win a drawn queen ending by tricking his opponent into a queen trade. The Armenian GM then won the armageddon and impressively set aside Artemiev 2-0.
♜ GM @Vachier_Lagrave TRICKS GM Martirosyan and pulls out a win when it seemed like all hope was lost! 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/rAxeLM2kaq
— Chess.com (@chesscom) July 21, 2020
Martirosyan won the $1,000 first prize and 12 GP points while Artemiev took second ($500 and eight GP points). Abdusattorov and Vachier-Lagrave both won $200 and four GP points, while the losing quarterfinalists each earned $100 and two GP points.
GM Kateryna Lagno (@KaterynaLagno) won the $100 prize for being the top-scoring female player.
Below are the current Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix standings. At the end of the season, the players with the four best scores will advance to the Speed Chess Championship to be hosted later this year.
Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix | Standings After July 21 (Top 20)
| # | Fed | Title | Name | Username | Swiss Points | Bonus Points | Overall Points |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura | @Hikaru | 43 | 28 | 71 | |
| 2 | GM | Vladislav Kovalev | @vladislavkovalev | 58 | 8 | 66 | |
| 3 | GM | Vladislav Artemiev | @Sibelephant | 33.5 | 24 | 57.5 | |
| 4 | GM | Haik Martirosyan | @Micki-taryan | 34 | 22 | 56 | |
| 5 | GM | Parham Maghsoodloo | @Parhamov | 42.5 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 6 | GM | Dmitry Andreikin | @2Vladimirovich90 | 33.5 | 14 | 47.5 | |
| 7 | GM | Sergey Karjakin | @SergeyKarjakin | 33.5 | 10 | 43.5 | |
| 8 | GM | Grigoriy Oparin | @OparinGrigoriy | 25.5 | 16 | 41.5 | |
| 9 | GM | Fabiano Caruana | @FabianoCaruana | 34 | 6 | 40 | |
| 10 | GM | Vladimir Fedoseev | @Bigfish1995 | 25.5 | 14 | 39.5 | |
| 11 | IM | Tuan Minh Le | @wonderfultime | 33.5 | 4 | 37.5 | |
| 12 | GM | Raunak Sadhwani | @RaunakSadhwani2005 | 32 | 4 | 36 | |
| 13 | GM | Alireza Firouzja | @Firouzja2003 | 25.5 | 10 | 35.5 | |
| 14 | GM | Alexander Grischuk | @Grischuk | 32.5 | 2 | 34.5 | |
| 15 | IM | Hans Niemann | @IMHansNiemann | 32.5 | 2 | 34.5 | |
| 16 | GM | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | @LyonBeast | 17.5 | 16 | 33.5 | |
| 17 | GM | Giga Kuparadze | @GigaQuparadze | 32.5 | 0 | 32.5 | |
| 18 | GM | Nordibek Abdusattorov | @ChessWarrior7197 | 25.5 | 6 | 31.5 | |
| 19 | GM | Rasmus Svane | @rasmussvane | 24.5 | 4 | 28.5 | |
| 20 | GM | Aleksandr Moskalenko | @Alexander_Moskalenko | 24 | 2 | 26 |
Games final eight
The Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix is presented by Gambit, where you can play classic games like Reversi, Backgammon, and Oh Ship with players from around the world.
More information about the Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix can be found here.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.
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In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!
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