Champions Showdown: The Kings Kicks Off in St. Louis

We are less than two weeks away from the Saint Louis Chess Club’s (SLCC) American Cup, an annual event pitting the best American players against each other in a mixture of classical, rapid, and even blitz time controls. See coverage of previous years’ events here and here.

As SLCC is known for always trying out innovative formats, this year’s American Cup is preceded by another combination of time controls and top players. The Champions Showdown: The Kings features three games per round, each in a different time control.

The six players play one “triathlon” round per day, beginning at 12:15 p.m. CST. Live coverage with IM Eric Rosen and WGM Thalia Cervantes is available on SLCC’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

The time controls are 3+2 for blitz, 15+10 for rapid, and 60+15 for semi-classical, and players who receive White in the rapid and blitz games will play with Black in the semi-classical round. Players earn prizes based on the result of each round (as explained here).

From March 4 through 6, GMs Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez, and Ray Robson will battle for their shares of a $250,000 prize fund. These six grandmasters also make up 75% of the Open line-up for the American Cup, with GMs Sam Sevian and Abhimanyu Mishra slated to join them.

In yesterday’s opening round, each match featured at least one decisive game, making the format a success from a results standpoint. So defeated Aronian 2½–½, Caruana defeated Nakamura 2–1, and Dominguez – Robson was a 1½–1½ split. Below are the highlights:

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Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC

One interesting format note: each day begins with the blitz game, followed by the rapid, and only then the “semi-classical.” Most tournaments that feature multiple time controls begin with the slowest and escalate to faster time controls as playoffs. While the American Cup has begun experimenting with rapid portions the day before the classical game, this is a far more immediate jolt from blitz to slow chess.

Follow the action today at 12:15 CST, and keep an eye out for American Cup coverage beginning next weekend.