How To Watch Vachier-Lagrave vs Dominguez Speed Chess Championship Today
The Speed Chess Championship continues this week as two seasoned blitz grandmasters face off in what could be the closest match yet of the tournament. The French number-one (and world number-eight) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave takes on Cuba's top chess player, Leinier Dominguez Perez.
Speed Chess fans have enjoyed the star power of the first three matches, as Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, and Wesley So cruised to easy wins. But today's matchup is between the eight and nine seed, and while Vachier-Lagrave surely is favored, it won't be easy.
Watch the match live today, Thursday, Aug. 2 at 12 p.m. Pacific (3 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. UTC, 9 p.m. CEST)
The following viewing options will be available:
- Twitch.tv/chess: the official broadcast with IM Daniel Rensch and GM Robert Hess—watch here to see the Twitch chat.
- Chess.com/TV: watch here to see the Chess.com chat.
The match is the fourth of 15 action-packed events in the main Speed Chess Championship bracket.
- 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz.
- 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz.
- 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet.
- 3-minute breaks between segments.
- Higher seed starts with White, and colors alternate thereafter.
- Highest cumulative point total wins. If points are tied after the bullet segment, a four-game 1/1 tiebreaker match will be played.
- If the match is still tied after the additional four 1/1 games, a single armageddon game will be played: White 5+0, Black 3+0, Black gets draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating at the start of the Armageddon chooses his color.
- Full match rules are available here.
- Winner: $1,000 and advances to round two of the SCC.
- An additional $1,000 split by win percentage.
- Additional prize funds donated by the Twitch community during the live show will be split evenly between the two players.
Who's the favorite to win?
The Chess.com SmarterChess predictions make Vachier-Lagrave the solid favorite at 72 percent to advance. The statistical model bases its predictions on prior performance by the players in selected Chess.com events.
At least one expert is picking the underdog. Hikaru Nakamura, the number-one seed in the Speed Chess Championship, expects Dominguez to pull off the upset. Nakamura revealed the pick in his post-match interview last week. The winner of today's match will face Nakamura in round two of the bracket.
Be sure to read FM Mike Klein's food-centric interviews of the two players to preview the match.
Next up for the Speed Chess Championship is Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Alexander Grischuk on Tuesday, August 7 at 9 a.m. PDT.
Let us know your match predictions in the comments or on Facebook.
