The quarterfinals of Chess.com’s Speed Chess Championship conclude later today (the last match, between Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, will start at 1 p.m. ET, which will be just a few minutes after I finish writing this post), but it will be hard to top yesterday’s match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Carlsen came into the match a favorite, of course - only Hikaru Nakamura and the aforementioned MVL are expected to have at least moderate chances of success against him - but no one could have predicted the outcome.
How did it go? Carlsen won 22-4, without losing a game. Even more impressively, Caruana did not play badly, and did not tilt (or if he did, maybe only a very little, near the end). It was just Carlsen playing magnificently, about as well as it’s possible for flesh-and-blood within the constraints of blitz and bullet time controls.
Have a look and be amazed.