Vachier-Lagrave Beats Firouzja To Clinch Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the second Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix, formerly known as Titled Tuesday. The French grandmaster beat GM Alireza Firouzja in the final, an eight-player knockout held after 10 rounds of Swiss.
The next Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix will be played on June 16 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 19:00 Central Europe.
The second Speed Chess Grand Prix tournament was held on Tuesday, June 9. As a reminder, this weekly tournament replaces the old Titled Tuesday with a similar 10-round Swiss but now also with an eight-player knockout that follows. The prize fund has been increased to $2,500 a week as well as Grand Prix points can be earned.
The live broadcast of the tournament.
Vachier-Lagrave (@LyonBeast) just had a disappointing Clutch Chess tournament behind him, where he was eliminated in the first round without finding his best form. In an interview, he acknowledged he has been struggling recently with his online chess.
What better way is there to start a comeback than by winning the next online event you enter?
MVL did well from start to finish. He ended as the sole winner of the Swiss part, scoring an undefeated 9/10. In the last round, he was on the ropes against the Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyan (@Hrant_ChessMood) but still won after some scary moments:
June 9 Speed Chess Grand Prix | Swiss Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Score | SB |
| 1 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 9 | 52 | |
| 2 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 8.5 | 61.5 | |
| 3 | GM | @vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 8.5 | 57.75 | |
| 4 | GM | @AnishGiri | Anish Giri | 8.5 | 54.25 | |
| 5 | IM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 8.5 | 53.25 | |
| 6-7 | GM | @Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 8.5 | 49.75 | |
| 6-7 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 8.5 | 49.75 | |
| 8 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nordibek Abdusattorov | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 9 | GM | @Colchonero64 | Nikita Vitiugov | 8 | 50.25 | |
| 10 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 8 | 49.75 | |
| 11 | GM | @tigra | Boris Savchenko | 8 | 46.5 | |
| 12 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 8 | 45 | |
| 13-14 | GM | @Evgeny81 | Evgeny Postny | 8 | 44 | |
| 13-14 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 8 | 44 | |
| 15 | GM | @obliviate12 | Vaibhav Suri | 8 | 42.5 | |
| 16-17 | GM | @Borsch7 | Maxim Matlakov | 8 | 40 | |
| 16-17 | GM | @MikaelyanArman1996 | Arman Mikaelyan | 8 | 40 | |
| 18 | GM | @Hrant_ChessMood | Hrant Melkumyan | 7.5 | 48.25 | |
| 19 | GM | @Alexander_Moskalenko | Александр Москаленко | 7.5 | 48 | |
| 20 | GM | @giantslayer83 | Girish A Koushik | 7.5 | 43.75 |
The eight-player knockout eventually saw Firouzja (@Firouzja2003) and MVL, who had drawn their game in the Swiss part, meeting in the final (two 3+1 games). After a draw in the first game, the Frenchman won the second with the white pieces, another one with many adventures:
Vachier-Lagrave won the $1,000 first prize and 12 GP points, while Firouzja took second ($500 and eight GP points). GM Vladislav Kovalev (@vladislavkovalev) and IM Le Tuan Minh (@wonderfultime) both won $200 and four GP points, while the losing quarterfinalists earned $100 and two GP points.
Peruvian WGM Deysi Cori (@dey_2018) won the $100 for the best female player, while GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (@lachesisQ) won the Chess.com streamers' prize of $100 that was given as 20 gifted subs to his channel.
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 June 9 (Top 20)
| # | Fed | Title | Name | Username | Swiss Points | Bonus Points | Overall Points |
| 1 | GM | Vladislav Kovalev | @vladislavkovalev | 17 | 6 | 23 | |
| 2 | GM | Anish Giri | @AnishGiri | 17 | 4 | 21 | |
| 3 | GM | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | @LyonBeast | 9 | 12 | 21 | |
| 4 | GM | Vladislav Artemiev | @Sibelephant | 8.5 | 12 | 20.5 | |
| 5 | GM | Vladimir Fedoseev | @Bigfish1995 | 17 | 2 | 19 | |
| 6 | GM | Sergey Karjakin | @SergeyKarjakin | 9 | 8 | 17 | |
| 7 | GM | Alireza Firouzja | @Firouzja2003 | 8.5 | 8 | 16.5 | |
| 8 | GM | Grigoriy Oparin | @OparinGrigoriy | 9 | 4 | 13 | |
| 9 | GM | Anatoly Bykhovsky | @abykhovsky | 8.5 | 4 | 12.5 | |
| 10 | IM | Tuan Minh Le | @wonderfultime | 8.5 | 4 | 12.5 | |
| 11 | GM | Vincent Keymer | @VincentKeymer | 8.5 | 2 | 10.5 | |
| 12 | GM | Evgeny Shtembuliak | @Shtembuliak | 8.5 | 2 | 10.5 | |
| 13 | GM | Nordibek Abdusattorov | @ChessWarrior7197 | 8.5 | 2 | 10.5 | |
| 14 | GM | Andrey Esipenko | @Andreikka | 8.5 | 2 | 10.5 | |
| 15 | GM | Dmitry Andreikin | @2Vladimirovich90 | 8.5 | 0 | 8.5 | |
| 16 | GM | Parham Maghsoodloo | @Parhamov | 8.5 | 0 | 8.5 | |
| 17 | GM | Radoslaw Wojtaszek | @Radzio1987 | 8.5 | 0 | 8.5 | |
| 18 | GM | Nodirbek Yakubboev | @hanzo_hasashi1 | 8.5 | 0 | 8.5 | |
| 19 | GM | Maksim Chigaev | @Fandorine | 8 | 0 | 8 | |
| 20 | GM | Rinat Jumabayev | @Jumbo | 8 | 0 | 8 |
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 by playing with players from around the world.
More information about the Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix can be found here.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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