Xiong Beats Abdusattorov In Junior Speed Chess Championship

PeterDoggers

Updated: Sep 22, 2020, 5:00 AM | 22 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Jeffery Xiong will be the opponent for GM Arjun Erigaisi in the quarterfinals of the Junior Speed Chess Championship sponsored by ChessKid. In what was the longest a match in the round of 16 so far, Xiong beat GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov 18.5-11.5.

It was the longest match not in time obviously, since all these matches are held with a match clock that runs exactly three hours in total. These players, however, managed to squeeze in 30 games in that timeframe. Xiong ended up winning with a slightly bigger margin than predicted.

Xiong (@jefferyx) took control from the very start as he won the first game and scored 6-2 in the five-minute segment in which he remained undefeated. He won the three-minute with a small margin (5.5-4.5) and then also won the bullet portion, which didn't see a single draw, 7-5.

In game four, Abdusattorov (@ChessWarrior7197) first missed a nice way to draw and then was beaten by a noble steed on e5 that defended and attacked at the same time.

Abdusattorov wasn't too lucky overall but definitely was in the following game. While the commentators were almost begging Black to make some air for his king with ...e5, Xiong forgot about his back rank in (bullet) game 22:

Abdusattorov earned $191.67 based on win percentage; Xiong won $500 for the victory plus $308.33 on percentage, totaling $803.33. He moves on to the next round, where he will play Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi.

Xiong said that playing in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz was "definitely a nice warm-up" for this match. "Actually I saw Nodirbek had very good results against many of the participants I faced, so I knew coming in it would be a very tough challenge."

"I played many mini-matches in the Titled Tuesday knockout. It helped but, you know, I had less experience, and Jeffery played extremely well," said Abdusattorov.

Both players confirmed that we can see them in action again in today's Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix. All titled players can participate and possibly face these GMs at 10 a.m. Pacific time / 19:00 CEST. More info here.

The live broadcast of the match with GM Robert Hess and GM Daniel Naroditsky.

All games

The final match in the round of 16 will be on Wednesday, September 23: Anton Smirnov vs. Raunak Sadhwani at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 Central Europe.

The 2020 Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championships is sponsored by ChessKid, the world's number-one site for kids to learn and play chess. Sixteen GMs younger than 21 years old play in a knockout format with 90 minutes of 5|1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3|1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1|1 bullet chess. In this second edition, there's a total prize fund of $25,000 on the line. Find all information here.

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Xiong Beats Abdusattorov In Junior Speed Chess Championship

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