Can You Calculate Like a Speed Chess Champion?

The Chess.com Speed Chess Championship is a knock-out tournament, featuring head-to-head online blitz and bullet matches between some of the strongest players in the world, including last year's winner, World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Matches for the event will be going on throughout the year with the final taking place on December 21st. The "Big Three" American players, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Hikaru Nakamura, are all competing along with World Junior Champion Jeffery Xiong, who made the cut by winning a qualifier. Test your tactical skills with puzzles from the games of the four American players in the championship.

Hikaru Nakamura at the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz. Photo: Austin Fuller

Tactic # 1

Hikaru Nakamura vs. Sergey Grigoriants

"It is clear that Hikaru is just faster and another kind of processor." -Sergey Grigoriants reflecting on the match

White has just captured a piece on e4. How can Black come out ahead?

Black to move.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "2017 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.09.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Grigoriants, Sergey"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4rk1/5ppp/b1n1p3/8/4RB2/P3PN2/4BPPP/5RK1 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[SourceDate "2015.11.12"]1... Bxe2 2. Re1 Bd3 {and Black's rook is trapped.} *[/pgn]

Match Winner: Hikaru Nakamura

Score: 20.5-7.5

Wesley So at the Paris GCT Rapid & Blitz. Photo: Lennart Ootes

Tactic #2

Wesley So vs. Anish Giri

"I thought this was going to be a solid match, but then things got out of control and very exciting." -Wesley So

White to move.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "2017 Speed Chess Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2017.05.25"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/R2b1rkp/8/1pQP4/2p2P2/6P1/6BK/3q4 w - - 0 39"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]39. d6 $1 {Opening up a path to the kingside for white's queen with ideas of
Qg5+ and Qe5+ while preventing the black queen from pestering his king with ...
Qh5+.} Qg4 40. Qe5+ Kh6 41. Rxd7 Rxd7 42. Bh3 Qd1 43. Qg5# 1-0[/pgn]

Match Winner: Wesley So

Score: 15.5-14.5

Fabiano Caruana at the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz. Photo: Lennart Ootes

Puzzle #3

Hou Yifan vs. Fabiano Caruana

The match between Caruana and Hou was one of the most anticipated, especially since Hou Yifan recently had one of the strongest tournament victories of her career at the Biel Chess Festival with a 2810 performance rating.

Black to move

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "2017 Speed Chess Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2017.08.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2479"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4b1rk/6q1/pp1p3p/2pP1p2/2P1pP1n/6rP/PP1RR1PK/3BQ1B1 b - - 0 40"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]40... Rxh3+ $1 41. Kxh3 ({If} 41. gxh3 Nf3+ 42. Kh1 Qxg1+ 43. Qxg1 Rxg1#) 41...
Qg4+ 42. Kh2 Nf3+ {and Hou resigned. If} 43. gxf3 Qh5+ 0-1[/pgn]

Match Winner: Fabiano Caruana

Score: 19-8

Jeffery Xiong at this year's U.S. Championship. Photo: USChessChamps.com

Tactic #4

Jeffery Xiong vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

The most recent Speed Chess match paired American prodigy and World Junior Champion, Jeffery Xiong, against one of the strongest players in the world, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

[pgn][Event "2017 Speed Chess Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2017.08.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2824"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r3r/1p3kpp/p1qBPp2/P1n1n3/3QP3/8/4B1PP/3R1RK1 b - - 0 25"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "300+2"]{What happens if Black plays} 25... Kxe6 {?} ({In the game, Xiong played} 25...
Nxe6 {, losing a piece to} 26. Qxe5) *[/pgn]

White to move.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "2017 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2017.08.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2824"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r3r/1p4pp/p1qBkp2/P1n1n3/3QP3/8/4B1PP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "300+2"]26. Qxe5+ $3 {The knight can be captured anyway!} fxe5 27. Bg4# *[/pgn]

Xiong showed great promise during the match and was able to finish the 5 minute blitz portion of the match with an even score against his more experience opponent. However, MVL took over the lead in the 3 minute time control and increased further it in the bullet segment.