Niemann, Caruana Advance To Quarterfinals After Superior Bullet Performances

GMs Hans Niemann and Fabiano Caruana move on to the Quarterfinals of the Speed Chess Championship 2024 after defeating, respectively, GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexey Sarana in the last two Round of 16 matches of the season.

Bullet chess set today's winners apart from their opponents. Niemann's victory came only in the very last bullet game of the match, while Caruana dominated the bullet portion with a 7.5-1.5 score.

The first quarterfinal match, GM Alireza Firouzja vs. Caruana, takes place on Tuesday, August 6, starting at 1:30 p.m. ET / 19:30 CEST / 11:00 p.m. IST.

Speed Chess Championship 2024 Bracket

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 11.5-12.5 Hans Niemann 

2021 World Blitz Champion Vachier-Lagrave is clearly the more established player. He is one of two players to defeat GM Magnus Carlsen (besides GM Hikaru Nakamura) in the SCC, and he just won the CrunchLabs Masters last week to qualify for the CCT Finals.

21-year-old Niemann, on the other hand, lets his chess speak for itself. A four-time Titled Tuesday winner, he qualified for this event through the Titled Cup leaderboard. He's had an over 200+ point classical rating increase in the last four years and boasts a live rating of 2710 after the recently concluded Turkish League. He also revealed later that his preparation included watching "five or six hours of all of his matches," and it seems to have paid off.

SmarterChess predicted a Vachier-Lagrave victory with 56%-44%, but Niemann's domination in the 3+1 segment and then clutch victory in the final bullet game defied the odds.

• 5+1: Vachier-Lagrave 4.5-3.5 Niemann 
• 3+1: Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-5.5 Niemann
• 1+1: Vachier-Lagrave 4.5-3.5 Niemann

Blitz 5+1: Vachier-Lagrave 4.5-3.5 Niemann

The first segment featured four black wins and just one for the white pieces. Vachier-Lagrave lost the first game of the match, but regained control for the rest of the segment. In fact, the French GM's lead could have been larger if not for a few missed opportunities.

Niemann finished game one with a nice back-rank trick, but Vachier-Lagrave won games two and four to take the lead. After Niemann's 49...bxc5?? in game four, played too quickly, Vachier-Lagrave took exactly one second to play the response. Can you find the next move, after which Niemann resigned?

Neither player was impervious to blunders that would either throw away the win or, even worse, lose. The very next game, GM Anish Giri claimed White might still hope to win after capturing on g7 with the rook, but Vachier-Lagrave took it with the bishop, and it turned out to be an own goal after 32...Bf3!, trapping the rook. 

Niemann's resilience saved many half points, and his nicest (and luckiest) defense was in the final game of the segment. Giri speculated that Niemann blundered 54...Bf2+, skewering the rook, but the endgame turned out not to be so simple!

With that draw, Niemann entered the next segment only down by one point.

Blitz 3+1: Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-5.5 Niemann

This segment was shockingly one-sided for Niemann, who won five games in a row. Vachier-Lagrave critically managed to win the last two games to stop the bleeding.

After a chaotic draw where both sides could have won, Niemann took over and scored five wins in a row. GM Daniel Naroditsky called the first win Niemann's best game in the match up to this point—he devoured the black queenside, even if 26.b4? objectively could have been refuted.

"Maxime got outplayed in this game, there's nothing else to say, to be honest," said Giri about that one. Two games later, he put the Frenchman in zugzwang with queens still on the board. Just try to find a move for Black that doesn't lose material. Good luck with that!

Vachier-Lagrave plugged the holes of his sinking ship in the final two games. "The power of momentum in this match is incredible," explained Giri, and the comeback began after Niemann captured a pawn on e6 and missed the powerful 26.Nxf5!, presumably missing 26...Rxe2 27.Nxg7+ forks the rook on h5, leaving White a piece up.

Vachier-Lagrave won the next game with a kingside attack, bringing the match score to 5-7 in favor of Niemann. By this point, Giri said the match was 50-50. 

Bullet 1+1: Vachier-Lagrave 4.5-3.5 Niemann

As often happens, the entire match was decided in the very last bullet game. Vachier-Lagrave was able to recover from the previous segment and evened the score just before the last game, but Niemann ultimately prevailed. It turns out Niemann played a practice bullet match against GM Nihal Sarin, which he lost 6-1, but the practice may have been a good warm-up regardless.

The last two games were the most critical. In the penultimate game, Vachier-Lagrave won on demand to set up a winner-takes-all blockbuster finish.

MVL wins on demand and evens the score with one game left!https://t.co/U2U8vi1eyT#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/WITXseBaIz

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 31, 2024

The last game was an opening debacle for Vachier-Lagrave, and Naroditsky stated that "Maxime [was] simply sleepwalking his way through that opening!" Although the American GM won an exchange in the opening, converting is never easy in bullet. In the nervous time scramble that ensued, Niemann blundered his queen but was still winning after the miraculous 45.Bf2, winning back the piece on e6.

Niemann thwarted the pre-match predictions, saying in the interview, "I'm sure many people thought that I was a huge underdog, but I guess I showed that it was a bit closer than people would've predicted." He added: "I think that, as I was given an opportunity here to show my best chess, I showed that I could beat one of the best blitz players in the world."

If Niemann defeats So in his next match, he will make it to the Semifinals held in Paris. Get your popcorn ready.

Omg pic.twitter.com/rzUsnEpbUV

— GothamChess (@GothamChess) July 31, 2024

Niemann earns $4,562.50 and advances to the Quarterfinals while Vachier-Lagrave makes $1437.50 by win percentage.

Fabiano Caruana 15-8 Alexey Sarana

While the world number-three hardly needs any introduction, his matchup with Sarana was predicted to be a tossup. Sarana's won 12 Titled Tuesdays and is the reigning European champion. SmarterChess predicted a Caruana victory by the narrowest margin of 51%-49%, expecting the breakthrough to occur by just one point in the bullet segment.

Caruana, who just celebrated his 32nd birthday the day before, threw the statistical model in the trash with his performance in the bullet.

• 5+1: Caruana 3.5-3.5 Sarana
• 3+1: Caruana 4-3 Sarana
• 1+1: Caruana 7.5-1.5 Sarana

Blitz 5+1: Caruana 3.5-3.5 Sarana

There was just one draw in the hotly contested 5+1 portion—and just four in the entire match. Sarana first took a three-point lead after a very fortunate first game, but Caruana came back in the second half to even the score.

Sarana's momentum was largely fueled by his victory in the first game. Caruana threw his queen overboard with a mouse slip, in what was an easily winning, plus-two pawns position. It was captured before Game Review could even attach the "??" marker to the move.

In the second half, however, Caruana showed why he's the third highest-rated player of all time. He demonstrated exquisite technique in the last game of the portion, patiently playing on both sides of the board with his king. As GM Aman Hambleton said, "His technique is pretty much the best there is in the game." GM Rafael Leitao walks us through the entire game below.

By the way, if you click back to the opening moves, Caruana shared that he had this move 8.Qd3 prepared for none other than Giri from a while ago, and he used that preparation in this match.

Blitz 3+1: Caruana 4-3 Sarana

Caruana continued to keep the match close despite a few more unlucky turns, like the mouse slip in the first game. Game two was a perfect example. After losing the first game, Caruana bamboozled his opponent in an equal but "trickier-than-it-seems" position, only to blunder a knight fork leading to a draw.

"This is the closest you can get to winning without actually winning," says Aman Hambleton as Caruana does everything right until... https://t.co/RiHGSwXa9K#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/Cz5cf1XGuO

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 31, 2024

Caruana won the next two games, but Sarana evened the score again. Caruana scored the last victory of the segment while displaying the strength of two bishops on an open chessboard. 

With a draw in the last game (only the third draw out of 14 games by this point), Caruana was a slight favorite to win the match in the bullet segment.

Bullet 1+1: Caruana 7.5-1.5 Sarana

Caruana won the first game and showed exceptional calculation in just seconds. In the following position, both commentators expected 23.Qf2? which would run into the cheapo 23...Bxf5!, and Caruana saw that and chose the better 23.Qe3! in virtually no time at all. It doesn't look so impressive in hindsight, but imagine having under 10 seconds on the clock.

While the commentators predicted the bullet portion would be much closer, Caruana in fact dominated it. He took a five-point lead, even if both players missed a checkmate in one move at one point.

If you scroll down to the last move of the game, Sarana also achieved the prettiest checkmate of the day in this game, even if he lost the match. Caruana didn't lose a single other game in this segment, winning seven others.

Caruana didn't get a massage for his birthday (Danny asked if he did), but he did get a cupcake. "We take what we can get" after turning 32, said the seasoned grandmaster.

Asked about his mindset after mouse-slipping in the very first game, Caruana wasn't nearly as down about it as one might expect. He shared his positive and resilient mentality: "It's not really my fault, it was just an accident," and, "I figured that if my openings with Black stay okay, then I'll get my chances."

I figured that if my openings with Black stay okay, then I'll get my chances.

—Fabiano Caruana

Caruana earns $4,909.09 and Sarana $1,090.91 by win percentage. The reigning U.S. champion will play GM Alireza Firouzja in the Quarterfinals on August 6.

The Speed Chess Championship is Chess.com's most important speed chess event. Some of the biggest names in chess compete to determine the best speed chess player in the world. The main event started with qualifiers on June 27 and 28 and concludes with the first-ever Final on September 8, live in Paris. The games are played with time controls of 5+1, 3+1, and 1+1. The prize fund is $173,000.

Previous reports:

• Firouzja Fireworks Lead To Win Over Grischuk, So Outlasts Lazavik
• Carlsen Keeps It Classy, Nepomniachtchi Does A Houdini
• Arjun Prevails At The Final Turn, Nakamura Dominates
• Lazavik Qualifies For SCC Main Event, Goes Undefeated On Day 2
• Pranesh Tops Swiss Qualifier, 8 Players Move On To Knockout Stage
• Paris To Host Live Final Of 2024 Speed Chess Championship: Nakamura, Carlsen Confirmed