Nakamura's 7th Knockout Victory: 'Just Another Day At The Office'
The Rapid Chess Championship presented by Coinbase entered its 22nd week on Sunday and was won by a rampant GM Hikaru Nakamura who toppled GM Fabiano Caruana after winning all of his games en route to his seventh knockout victory.
A generational square-off took place in the semifinals with the elder players winning their encounters against GMs Nodirbek Abudsattorov and Hans Niemann respectively, with the latter playing the game of the event that featured an astounding king walk against GM Samuel Sevian in the quarterfinals. GMs Gata Kamsky, Jeffery Xiong, and Jules Moussard were all eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Participating in the event were 53 competitors—open to all GMs as well as the top-10 women, top-10 juniors, as well as 10 wildcards. The event continues next weekend, July 30, starting at 9 a.m. PT / 18:00 CEST.
Swiss
Caruana was the clear winner in Saturday's Swiss with a commanding score of 7/9 and was almost impeccable on his way to yet another successful event. Caruana's undefeated run included five wins and four draws, with his dynamic exchange sacrifice against Moussard standing out as the head turner of his performance.
Caruana was not the only American to find success in the Swiss; five of the seven qualifying spots were taken by players from the country. In the second spot, Nakamura backed up a recent spate of exceptional performances with four consecutive wins followed by five draws to secure his spot. His game against GM Alexey Sarana was particularly brutal.
GM Grigoriy Oparin pulled out all the stops in round nine against GM Le Quang Liem by executing a sizzling rook sacrifice; however, his tiebreaks were only good enough to secure him the 10th spot, thus missing out on the knockout.
Multiple-time U.S. championship winner Kamsky was at his brilliant best on Saturday and worked his way into a qualifying spot with key wins over GMs Brandon Jacobson and Pavel Ponkratov. Moussard was the surprise of the event, joining a round late and still managing to qualify with 6/9! A stroke of luck came for the French Olympiad team's board one when GM Kiril Alekseenko made a horrific blunder on move eight, resulting in the event's shortest game.
Saturday Swiss | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 5 | GM | FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 2769 | 7 | 32.75 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 2821 | 6.5 | 33.25 | |
| 3 | 17 | GM | ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2677 | 6.5 | 30.25 | |
| 4 | 32 | GM | HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 2617 | 6.5 | 28.5 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Konavets | Sam Sevian | 2766 | 6 | 27.75 | |
| 6 | 6 | GM | jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2722 | 6 | 25.75 | |
| 7 | 22 | GM | TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2630 | 6 | 24.75 | |
| 8 | 14 | GM | Annawel | Jules Moussard | 2702 | 6 | 23.25 | |
| 9 | 7 | GM | mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2728 | 6 | 22.5 | |
| 10 | 29 | GM | OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2596 | 6 | 21 | |
| 11 | 16 | GM | Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 2672 | 5.5 | 29 | |
| 12 | 34 | GM | AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2604 | 5.5 | 27.5 | |
| 13 | 20 | GM | LiemLe | Liem Le | 2641 | 5.5 | 19.25 | |
| 14 | 15 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2642 | 5 | 22.25 | |
| 15 | 37 | GM | jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2551 | 5 | 20.75 | |
| 16 | 43 | GM | LastGladiator1 | Aydin Suleymanli | 2513 | 5 | 20 | |
| 17 | 35 | GM | vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 2559 | 5 | 17.5 | |
| 18 | 41 | GM | FGHSMN | Bharath Subramaniyam.H Harishankkar | 2514 | 5 | 17 | |
| 19 | 44 | GM | starworld123 | Raja Rithvik R | 2549 | 5 | 12 | |
| 20 | 13 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2649 | 4.5 | 21.25 |
(Full final standings here.)
Knockout
The first round of the knockout, which pitted the top seed Caruana against the eight seed Moussard, was anything but one-sided, and some resolute defense from Moussard on the black side of a Catalan indicated that he had come prepared for a match.
After a draw in their first game, Moussard again looked to be holding against Caruana with the Nimzowitsch-Larsen attack, proving that going off the beaten track may be the only way to faze the American superstar. Unfortunately, Moussard came undone on move 33, and Caruana made no mistakes converting and booking his spots in the semifinals.
The clash between compatriots Niemann and Sevian saw the most exciting game of the knockout. Both players, known for their creative, combative styles, looked to embrace imbalance. Sevian was able to make some inroads via a knight sacrifice that opened up Niemann's king, though Niemann weathered the storm and found a fascinating way to defend... running his king all the way to h6 while queens and rooks were still on the board! Sevian found the defense less humorous than his opponent, who struggled to hide his surprise that it had worked.
Nakamura's knockout run began with a resounding win over Kamsky courtesy of a classic trick that commentator Naroditsky immediately recognized, exclaiming, "Hikaru has won maybe 10 games with this trap in the RCC." A pawn to the good, Nakamura converted and eliminated Kamsky.
♔@GMHikaru successfully lands an opening trap to win a pawn! #RapidChess pic.twitter.com/5ooJkcHab6
— ChesscomLive (@ChesscomLive) July 24, 2022
Young stars Xiong and Abdusattorov then faced off in the remaining quarterfinal and the world rapid champion showed his class with "a very impressive game" and was labeled "a monster" by Naroditsky and Le after finding the brilliant 43.Nexd5!!.
Caruana was then back in the box seat against Niemann in the semifinal and tamed him with a solid draw, perhaps trying to reduce the confidence the latter had gained after his astounding king walk. The blitz tiebreaker game also ended drawn, but this time the evaluation bar was swinging like a pendulum throughout. Yet another draw followed in the bullet tiebreaker to take the match into an armageddon game.
Gaining yet another solid position in the final game, Caruana capitalized on a positional error by Niemann and won an exchange. Several moves later Niemann resigned but could walk away happy knowing he had created somewhat of an online "immortal" game and had fought hard against the world number-five.
Meanwhile, against Abdusattorov, Nakamura employed the Trompowsky, an opening he had played just 214 times on Chess.com (compared to his 30,000 blitz games, meaning this is quite a rare occasion). The Uzbek world rapid champion handled the opening well but quickly blundered a pawn, leaving the floodgates open for Nakamura to "take, take, and take" until he had liquidated into a winning ending.
In the final between the RCC season leaders, it was clear that Nakamura's smooth run to the finals had left him with slightly more energy than Caruana. Like many games in the faster time controls, the final came down to one or two key moments under significant time pressure, which Nakamura was able to handle better and win the game and the knockout.
Standings, Results, Prizes
The winner of the Swiss tournament was Caruana, while the winner of the knockout was Nakamura. Below are the full standings and prizes of the knockout:
Sunday Knockout | Final Standings
| # | Fed | Player | Place | Prize |
| 1 | Hikaru Nakamura | Winner | $7,500 | |
| 2 | Fabiano Caruana | Finalist | $3,500 | |
| 3-4 | Nodirbek Abudsattorov | Semifinalist | $2,500 | |
| 3-4 | Hans Niemann | Semifinalist | $2,500 | |
| 5-8 | Gata Kamsky | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 | |
| 5-8 | Jules Moussard | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 | |
| 5-8 | Samuel Sevian | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 | |
| 5-8 | Jeffrey Xiong | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 |
The Rapid Chess Championship is a weekly tournament held by Chess.com. It is a nine-round Swiss event with a 10+0 time control held every Saturday, followed by a knockout event on Sunday between the top eight finishers and a 10+2 time control. If players draw, they play another 3+2 game; if drawn, they play a 1+1 game; and if that is drawn, a single armageddon game is played.
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Previous coverage
- Caruana Wins Week 22 Swiss: Summary Report
- So Captures First Knockout Victory in Bullet Playoff
- Sevian Wins Week 21 Swiss Heading Into Knockout: Summary Report
- Nakamura Wins 6th Knockout: 'In Bullet, I Have A Better Chance Of Winning'
- Bortnyk Wins Week 20 Swiss Heading Into Knockout: Summary Report
- Dubov Clinches 1st Knockout: 'Kramnik Was The Only Reason I Played'
- Sevian Wins Week 19 Swiss Heading into Knockout: Summary Report
- Fighting Spirit Prevails: Andreikin Wins Third Knockout
- Nakamura Wins Week 18 Swiss Heading into Knockout: Summary Report
- Battle Of Escape Artists: Andreikin Wins 2nd Knockout
- Fedoseev Wins Week 17 Swiss Heading into Knockout: Summary Report
- Grischuk Wins Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 16
- Nakamura Wins 5th Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 15
- Nakamura Wins 4th Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 14
- Nakamura Wins Third Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 13
- Nepomniachtchi Wins Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 12
- Sarana's First Knockout Victory: Rapid Chess Championship Week 11
- Aronian Clinches Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 10
- Nakamura Wins Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 9
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 8: Maghsoodloo Wins Swiss and Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 7: Andreikin Wins Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 6: Matlakov Wins Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 5: Nakamura Bests Aronian
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 4: Aronian Wins Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 3: Caruana Wins Second Consecutive Week
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 2: Caruana Wins
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 1: Nepo Strikes Back And Wins
- 2022 Rapid Chess Championship: All The Information
