So vs Wei Yi: Who's More Immortal?
With two of the opening matches of the 2018 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship now in the books, fans are still waiting for the first competitive match.
GM Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura were simply too strong for GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hou Yifan, respectively. Is the season due for a change this Sunday, July 29? We will find out at 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern, 2 a.m. Central Europe) as GMs Wesley So and Wei Yi will contest the next matchup.
The first two SCC matches were over before the one-minute segment even began.
Sure, So is the #2 seed and Wei Yi is #15, but that's largely as a result of the latter not playing many games on Chess.com's live server, which determined the seeding. So when it comes to online blitz, it's really a case of an elite player vs. an unknown.
What is known is that both can light up the board with the best of them. Today we ask you, the reader, to get involved!
Below are two electric wins, one from each player's past. Vote in the Chess.com homepage survey on which win was more beautiful. Yes, So's game came in a blitz match—does that help him or hurt him? You decide!
Wesley So - Garry Kasparov, Ultimate Moves, 2016
Here's a little more about the game from GM Greg Serper.
Now for Wei Yi's offering, played at classical time controls.
Wei Yi - Lazaro Bruzon, 6th Hainan Danzhou, 2015
Which one will live longer in your memory? You can argue it out in the comments, but please also remember to vote in the Chess.com homepage survey!
Then tune in to Twitch.tv/chess or Chess.com/TV on Sunday, July 29 at 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern, 2 a.m. Central Europe) to watch So and Wei Yi try to find even more magic on the chessboard!
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
