Death Match Video Guide

Following this video guide, you'll retrace the steps of the Chess.com's greatest blitz and bullet combatants (Nakamura, Caruana, So...) as they wage a battle of wills in an epic three hour Death Match! Share the woes of time trouble, mouse slips, and speculative sacrifices all with live coverage from Chess.com's all star line up of commentators.

Death Match 1: IM Pruess vs IM Rensch ; Part 2 ; Part 3  Hit the way-back button and watch the low-tech hilarity at the inaugural Death Match 1, where all the games were bullet. The players narrate the games themselves, and turn the broadcast into equal parts sketch comedy, sports blooper highlights, and ESPN Classic. See how it all began!

Death Match 2: IM Shahade vs FM Sharma  IM Rensch and IM Pruess step out of the ring to commentate the 2nd ever Death Match as IM Shadade take on FM Sharma. With the introduction of Blitz to Bullet, the instructional elements takes leaps to catch up to the already soring entertainment level.     

Death Match 14: GM Moradiabadi vs GM Zherebukh ; Part 2 ; Part 3  With live commentary from GM Finegold and IM Rensch, GM Moradiabadi vs Zherebukh was nearly a record-breaker with the second-most games played in any Death Match!

Death Match 15: GM Caruana vs GM Aveskulov ; Part 2 ; Part 3 Chess.com raises the stakes featuring the first world class GM Fabiano Caruana vs GM Valeriy Aveskulov! Commentary from IM Danny Rensch and IM Lawrence Trent includes pre-match interviews as well their blend of instructive and hilarious analysis.

Death Match 16: GM Mekhitarian vs GM Hungaski  ; Part 2 ; Part 3 IM Rensch starts out commentary later to be joined by GM Finegold, in the battle for Western Hemispheric supremacy as South American GM Mekhitarian battles against North American GM Hungaski.

Death Match 17: GM van Wely vs GM Naiditsch ; Part 2 ; Part 3 The first Chess.com battle between TWO Super GMs! After stumbling out of the gate with a big deficit in the 5+1 segment, GM van Wely rattles off five in a row to draw even with GM Naiditsch. Who's the better bullet player? More importantly, who's the better trash talker? Watch and get all the answers!

Death Match 18: GM Polgar vs GM Short ; Part 2 ; Part 3 At the time, the biggest ever Death Match! World's best woman, GM Judit Polgar, takes on former World Championship Runner-Up GM Nigel Short. More than 2700 viewers watched as the two titans of chess played 28 games over the three-hour marathon.

Death Match 19: GM Smerdon vs GM Williams ; Part 2 ; Part 3 GM Ben Finegold and FM Mike Klein present this battle between GM Simon Williams and GM David Smerdon, two closely matched players with different styles. What will be more important: GM Williams' deep theoretical knowledge or Gm Smerdon's creativity? This 32-game Death Match almost had only the second tiebreak ever!

Death Match 20: GM Shulman vs GM Fridman ; Part 2 ; Part 3 GM Yury Shulman and GM Daniel Fridman, (linked by their wives - they're both married to top U.S. women) duke it out in this Death Match with commentary by GM Finegold and IM Rensch! This match also features the first ever "shutout" in the 3|2 portion.

Death Match 21: GM Balog vs GM Meier ; Part 2 ; Part 3 GM Finegold and IM Rensch present as epic battle between GM Georg Meier and GM Imre Baloghas. This isn't just any old Death Match. Watch Balog conversion of his literally last second opportunity sending the match into sudden-death overtime!

Death Match 22: GM Smeets vs GM l'Ami ; Part 2 ; Part 3 There's no mincing words! This Death Match was not really a battle; IM Rensch and GM Finegold commentate a one-sided bludgeoning by GM l'Ami. If it weren't for bad luck, GM Smeets would have no luck at all.

Death Match 23: FM Ju vs IM Esserman Death Match 23 held such promise; two of the most active and successful players on Chess.com faced off. The first game exploded with a fantastic (and successful!) queen sac. Things were tied up after three games when disaster struck and the live server failed! Host IM Danny Rensch calls up an old friend, GM Sam Shankland to play a quick, hilarious game.

Death Match 24: GM Andreikin vs GM Liêm From start to finish, it was Russia's rising star GM Andreikin who seemed to have all the right moves! GM Liem couldn't quite keep up! IM Rensch and GM Meier provide instructional commentary to games that were arguably closer than the final match score.

Death Match 25: GM Avrukh vs IM Norowitz  IM Rensch and GM Williams present a clash of opposites. GM vs IM. International professional vs park player. National team member vs largely unknown. It also ends up being one of the most exciting Chess.com has ever hosted!

Death Match 26: GM Krush vs GM Kosintseva IM Daniel Rensch and GM Robert Hess present GM Krush and GM  Kosintseva squaring off in Chess.com's Death Match 26. It was the highest-rated all-female Death Match ever, and it showed in the games.

Death Match 27: GM Lenderman vs GM Wang  GM Lenderman faces a 130-point rating deficient again GM Yue in Death Match 27; can he handle it? GM Williams and GM Krush supply the commentary for this clash of strong grandmasters.

Death Match 28: Kacheishvili vs Agdestein ; Part 2 GM Finegold  rejoins IM Rensch to present two of the world's most famous coaches: GM Agdestein vs GM Kascheishvili whose students participated in two of the last Death Matches: GM Krush and GM Lenderman! Will the coach show who is boss?

Death Match 29: GM Vachier-Lagrave vs GM Andreikin  GM Williams and GM Smerdon present GM Vachier-Lagrave vs GM Andreikin--at the time the highest ever rated Death Match. Can Andreikin repeat his crushing performance from Death Match 24? 

Death Match 30: GM Nakamura vs GM So GM Irina Krush and GM Robert present the current record holder for highest ever rated Death Match pits GM Nakamura vs GM So? The top two players in the U.S. (Caruana was still flying the Italian flag!) squared off on the virtual chessboard for a 33-game battle.

Death Match 31: GM Shankland vs GM Meier GM Yermolinsky and GM Khachiyan present the reappearnce of two vetern Death Match victors: GM Shankland and GM Meier both only one will walk away the only 2-0 Death Match record.

Death Match 32: GM Dlugy vs IM Norowitz Will former blitz champion GM Dlugy outplay vetern Death Matcher IM Norowitz? Join Chess.com hosts IM Rensch and GM Krush for a full replay of Death Match 32 to find out!

Death Match 33: GM Molner vs GM Nyzhnyk Hosts GM Krush and IM Rensch present GM Nyzhny vs GM Molner. You won’t believe the incredible lead one of these GMs jumps out to early in the match. Can the other fight back?

Death Match 34: GM Nakamura vs GM Vachier-Lagrave  IM Rensch and IM Pruess bring you the strongest Chess.com Death Match ever with two of the best players in the world returning to complete in thier second Death Match each!

Death Match 35: IM Rensch vs IM Trent IM Danny Rensch and IM Lawrence Trent perform double duty in the 1st part of this double death match as they not only play the game but also talk all the trash! With perhaps the most contested finish in DeathMatch History you'll want to stick around until the end!

Death Match 36: GM Hess vs GM Caruana GM Hess and GM Caruana round part two of Team Chess.com vs Team Caruana! The odds are stacks against Hess, but Caruana is giving 1 day odds in each time control which didn't look to be enough for GM Hess until the bullet portion where the Super GM was on his heels but was it too little too late? 

Death Match 37: GM Pons vs GM Ponomariov GM Hess and IM Rensch commentate an all Spaniard match up which is the first to include trash talking between the rounds! Just to up the excitement, Paco fought his way back into the match forcing overtime to finally decide a winner!