Nepomniachtchi Uses 1.b3/1...b6 To Win His 1st Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won the 18th Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix, his first win in the series, or in any Titled Tuesday before. The Russian grandmaster beat the German grandmaster Matthias Bluebaum 2-0 in the knockout final.
The next Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix will be played on October 6 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 19:00 Central Europe.
The 18th Speed Chess Grand Prix tournament was held on Tuesday, September 29, with 674 participants. Nepomniachtchi (@lachesisQ) had the best tiebreak of seven players who finished on 8.5/10 in the Swiss part. GM Hikaru Nakamura just missed the knockout this time as he finished ninth.
The live broadcast of the tournament.
After he had beaten both GMs Magnus Carlsen and Nakamura with 1.b3 at the recent Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, Nepomniachtchi said: "Probably I should try 1...b6; perhaps this would bring me more points than today with black. Clearly, there is some potential!"
That potential materialized today as Nepo scored his first-ever victory in Chess.com's weekly blitz tournament on Tuesdays—using his b-pawn on the first move in most games.
The world number-four player started with 6/6. Then after three draws and one more win, he finished among the top group of seven players with 8.5 points. He played 1.b3 in many of his white games and even 1...b6 as Black, keeping the promise he had made.
He did the latter against the Belarusian GM Sergei Zhigalko and played the remainder of the game in true gambit style:
Nepomniachtchi and Bluebaum qualified for the final-eight knockout together with GMs Paulius Pultinevicius, Maxim Chigaev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Le Quang Liem, Anton Demchenko, and S.L. Narayanan.
September 29 Speed Chess Grand Prix | Swiss Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rk | Fed | Title | Name | Username | Score | SB |
| 1 | GM | Ian Nepomniachtchi | @lachesisQ | 8.5 | 56.5 | |
| 2 | GM | Paulius Pultinevicius | @Pultis | 8.5 | 55.25 | |
| 3 | GM | Maksim Chigaev | @Fandorine | 8.5 | 54.25 | |
| 4 | GM | Vladimir Fedoseev | @Bigfish1995 | 8.5 | 51.25 | |
| 5 | GM | Le Quang Liem | @LiemLe | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 6 | GM | Matthias Bluebaum | @Msb2 | 8.5 | 47.25 | |
| 7 | GM | Anton Demchenko | @Anton_Demchenko | 8.5 | 40.75 | |
| 8 | GM | S.L. Narayanan | @Indianlad | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 9 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura | @Hikaru | 8 | 48.25 | |
| 9 | GM | Andrey Esipenko | @Andreikka | 8 | 48.25 | |
| 11 | GM | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | @Jospem | 8 | 48 | |
| 12 | GM | Sergei Zhigalko | @Zhigalko_Sergei | 8 | 47 | |
| 13 | GM | Dmitry Andreikin | @FairChess_on_YouTube | 8 | 46.75 | |
| 14 | IM | Alex Ostrovskiy | @Manbunovich | 8 | 45.5 | |
| 15 | GM | Baadur Jobava | @exoticprincess | 8 | 45.25 | |
| 16 | GM | Rasmus Svane | @rasmussvane | 8 | 44.5 | |
| 17 | FM | Petros Trimitzios | @TrimitziosP7 | 8 | 43.75 | |
| 18 | GM | Maxim Matlakov | @Borsch7 | 8 | 36.75 | |
| 19 | GM | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | @ChessWarrior7197 | 7.5 | 48 | |
| 20 | GM | Vladislav Kovalev | @vladislavkovalev | 7.5 | 44.25 |
Nepomniachtchi went on to win the tournament in minimalistic style as he needed just five more games that he all won: the single-elimination game vs. Narayanan (yes, with 1.b3) and then the two games vs. Fedoseev (who beat Nepo in last week's final) and Bluebaum.
While the tournament winner used normal openings against his compatriot Fedoseev, he went even further (in fact, one square further) in his white game with Bluebaum (@Msb2) as he mouse slipped 1.b4. The German GM followed the mainline and was automatically better out of the opening as Black, but later started to make mistakes:
Nepomniachtchi won the $1,000 first prize and 12 GP points. Bluebaum took second ($500 and eight GP points). Demchenko and Fedoseev both won $200 and four GP points, while the losing quarterfinalists each earned $100 and two GP points.
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (@Goryachkina) won the $100 prize for being the top-scoring female player.
Below are the current Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix standings. At the end of the season, the players with the four best scores will advance to the Speed Chess Championship to be hosted later this year.
Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix | Standings After September 29 (Top 20)
| # | Fed | Title | Name | Username | Swiss Points |
Bonus Points |
Overall Points |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura | @Hikaru | 69 | 56 | 125 | |
| 2 | GM | Vladimir Fedoseev | @Bigfish1995 | 66.5 | 32 | 98.5 | |
| 3 | GM | Vladislav Artemiev | @Sibelephant | 58.5 | 38 | 96.5 | |
| 4 | GM | Parham Maghsoodloo | @Parhamov | 68 | 24 | 92 | |
| 5 | GM | Haik Martirosyan | @Micki-taryan | 59.5 | 28 | 87.5 | |
| 6 | GM | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | @ChessWarrior7197 | 67.5 | 16 | 83.5 | |
| 7 | GM | Alireza Firouzja | @Firouzja2003 | 65 | 14 | 79 | |
| 8 | GM | Maksim Chigaev | @Fandorine | 65 | 14 | 79 | |
| 9 | GM | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | @LyonBeast | 49 | 28 | 77 | |
| 10 | IM | Le Tuan Minhe | @wonderfultime | 66.5 | 10 | 76.5 | |
| 11 | GM | Sergey Karjakin | @SergeyKarjakin | 65 | 10 | 75 | |
| 12 | GM | Vladislav Kovalev | @vladislavkovalev | 66 | 8 | 74 | |
| 13 | GM | Dmitry Andreikin | @2Vladimirovich90 | 57 | 14 | 71 | |
| 14 | GM | Grigoriy Oparin | @OparinGrigoriy | 50.5 | 20 | 70.5 | |
| 15 | GM | Raunak Sadhwani | @RaunakSadhwani2005 | 63.5 | 4 | 67.5 | |
| 16 | GM | Peter Svidler | @PSvidler | 50 | 14 | 64 | |
| 17 | GM | Le Quang Liem | @LiemLe | 50 | 14 | 64 | |
| 18 | GM | Aleksandar Indjic | @Beca95 | 57 | 6 | 63 | |
| 19 | GM | Rasmus Svane | @rasmussvane | 55.5 | 4 | 59.5 | |
| 20 | GM | Boris Grachev | @Guenplen | 47.5 | 12 | 59.5 |
Games final eight
The Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix is presented by Gambit, where you can play classic games like Reversi, Backgammon, and Oh Ship with players from around the world.
More information about the Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix can be found here.
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