Arnold Wins 12th Blitz Death Match

US Junior Chess Champion Grandmaster Marc Arnold won the 12th Chess.com Blitz Death Match in a triple overtime thriller!

Arnold beat the World Junior Champion Grandmaster Alexander Ipatov in the closest fight yet for the $1,000 Chess.com cash prize fund.

The match was held on Saturday March 30th, with Ipatov just shading the opening set of 5/1 games by a 4-3 score, and the players splitting the following 3/1 games 4-4.

Arnold fought back in the frenetic 1/1 games to take the lead by a single point, and as the 3 hour time limit for the contest ended Ipatov had to win the last game in progress to equal the scores. Incredibly, he did just that, forcing the contest into overtime!

It took three more games to separate the young stars, with Marc Arnold sealing his triumph in the third overtime game to win a thrilling match!

Congratulations to Marc on winning the longest Chess.com Blitz Death Match (in terms of time and number of games) ever, and good luck in the 2013 US Championships in May!

GM Marc Arnold receiving his US Junior Championship Trophy in 2012

.Co-hosting the event with

Co-hosting coverage of the contest with IM Danny Rensch was IM Lawrence Trent, fresh from his hugely popular stint as host of the official coverage of the Candidates Tournament in London.  Check out Lawrence's blog at Chess.com!

The host with the most...IM Lawrence Trent

The match result was a rating upset, with GM Marc Arnold (Elo 2538) a slight underdog against GM Alexander Ipatov (Elo 2578). Here are some of the exciting games from the match:

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Photo: Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL)