Speed Chess Week 1

So the winner yesterday was @kacparov , i.e super strong IM Kacper Drozdowski

https://www.chess.com/news/view/scc-grand-prix-1-drozdowski

He beat US GM @jefferyx who is himself one of the best players on chess.com in blitz and rapid , and potentially a future US Championship winner.

But before the K-O phase, @hikaru took place in the qualifier. Just for fun as he is qualified for the super final. And he played @kacparov and won easily. 

I cannot stress enough how dominant Hikaru is, on the board and online in Blitz format, and probably bullet as well. I would say that he is a top contender for the next Over The Board World Chess Championship for Blitz and Rapid. In Blitz, Only Magnus Carlsen can perhaps claim to be stronger.

onto the game @hikaru White agaisnt @Kacparov  ( who is not Garry Kasparov fyi)

offbeat opening which Hikaru plays often and understands very very well.

Black has done nothing wrong and is challenging the center with the pawns. White is attacking those central pawns with Bb2 and other pieces. 

Next position

The game starts to transition from a quiet type to a very open position with lots of tactics. Black is ambitious with d5-d4. White captures on d4 and here comes the first mistake by Black

Black should have taken on d4. Instead he inserts Ng4 which is refuted by White.

From now on, White takes the advantage and wins in nice fashion. I annotated the rest of the game below, it only takes one mistake and the game is essentially over