How To Watch Hikaru Nakamura vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Speed Chess Today
The next match of the Speed Chess Championship quarterfinals is Thursday as Hikaru Nakamura (@hikaru) faces Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (@lyonbeast). The match winner will play Levon Aronian in the Speed Chess final four.
Nakamura is the top seed in the bracket and has never lost a Speed Chess match to anyone except Magnus Carlsen.
MVL was bounced out of the 2016 version of the Speed Chess Championship by Nakamura, and also lost a "Death Match" to the American the year before. But recently Vachier-Lagrave has been outperforming Nakamura in the classical chess ratings, currently 35 Elo ahead in the live rankings.
What does all this add up to? Find out who our statistical predictions think will win the match.
Watch the match live, .
The following viewing options will be available:
- Twitch.tv/chess: the official broadcast with IM Daniel Rensch and GM Aman Hambleton—watch here to see the Twitch chat.
- Chess.com/TV: watch here to see the Chess.com chat.
The match is the 12th of 15 action-packed events in the main Speed Chess Championship bracket.
- 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz.
- 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz.
- 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet.
- 3-minute breaks between segments.
- If a game begins before the end of the segment timer, that game counts fully and will be played to completion.
- Higher seed starts with White, and colors alternate thereafter.
- Highest cumulative point total wins. If points are tied after the bullet segment, a four-game 1/1 tiebreaker match will be played.
- If the match is still tied after the additional four 1/1 games, a single armageddon game will be played: White 5+0, Black 3+0, Black gets draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating at the start of the Armageddon chooses his color.
- Full match rules are available here.
- Winner: $1,500 and advances to round three of the SCC.
- An additional $1,500 split by win percentage.
- Additional prize funds donated by the Twitch community during the live show will be split evenly between the two players.
Who's the favorite to win?
The Chess.com SmarterChess predictions tab Nakamura as the overwhelming favorite in the match, with an 84 percent chance to advance. The American is expected to double MVL's score in each of the two blitz segments before winning the bullet segment by one game, according to the model.
Can MVL pull off a huge upset? You'll have to tune in to find out.
The SmarterChess statistical model bases its predictions on prior performance by the players in selected Chess.com events.
Don't forget to read FM Mike Klein's news preview of the match, complete with interviews of the two players.
Next up for the Speed Chess Championship is the final four with Duda, Wesley So, Aronian and today's winner. The semifinals matches are scheduled for Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
Check www.SpeedChessChampionship.com for results and the full schedule.
Let us know your match predictions in the comments or on Facebook.
