Holt Takes 4th Blitz "Death Match"
This weekend Chess.com hosted its fourth Blitz Death Match. The two participants -- IM Eric Hansen and GM-Elect Conrad Holt -- earned their way into the match via a long qualification process that required them to play hundreds of blitz and/or bullet games on our Live Server. You can read more about this process at IM David Pruess's blog here!
The match was close throughout, with the slight favorite on paper pulling through in the end. After the first segment of 5 minutes with 1 second increment, the match was tied 4-4. Conrad managed to squeeze a two game lead (5.5-3.5) out of the 3 minutes with 1 second increment time control, and he repeated that performace in the bullet segment of 1 minute with a 1 second increment to win the match by four games total, 15 to 11.
Here are some of the more interesting games from the match (one from each time control).
Conrad's first win of the match came as black in game 1 of the 5 minute time control:
Eric won a nice game in the 3 minute time control here:
With the final "clincher" game of the match being:
You can check out our Chess.com/TV Coverage by going here and clicking the "videos" tab on the upper right!
Congrats one more time to our winner, GM-Elect Conrad Holt!
Danny Rensch is an international master and Chief Chess Officer at Chess.com. After a successful scholastic chess career, Danny joined Chess.com as a co-founder in 2009. He directs the company's content, media partnerships, and professional chess events. Danny is an accomplished commentator and broadcaster, which he used to establish Chess.com's streaming and creator programs. He has channeled his lifelong passion for playing and teaching chess to advance Chess.com's mission of growing the game and helping people enjoy their lives through chess. With over 200 million registered users, Chess.com is the leading platform for playing and learning chess.
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Read “Dark Squares,” Danny’s Highly Anticipated Memoir
Danny Rensch has released his highly anticipated memoir on September 16, 2025. Described as Educated meets The Queen’s Gambit, this powerful and deeply personal book dives into his upbringing in an abusive cult and how chess ended up saving his life.
