A very competitive Chess960 tournament in St. Louis finished yesterday, coming down to the chess equivalent of a photo-finish. Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja tied for first with 6.5/9, just half a point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. (Speaking of “half a point”, that’s all Garry Kasparov managed to acquire over the course of the tournament. He lost his first eight games, and only drew in the last round with Peter Svidler. It’s time for him to stop playing in these events/stop getting invited to them unless he’s willing and able to put in the time to get his chess in shape beforehand. His results have been getting progressively worse over the years, and it’s getting embarrassing.)
Back to the top of the table. Caruana and Firouzja played a pair of 10’+2” games, with first Caruana and then Firouzja winning with Black. Finally, it was time for an Armageddon game, with Caruana getting White and five minutes against Firouzja’s four minutes and draw odds. For a long time the game seemed headed for a draw, but Caruana kept creating problems for his opponent in a double knight ending, winning a pawn and eventually the game.
It was a fine achievement by Caruana, who had to win his last three games in the tournament to catch Firouzja. Both players won $31,250, and for Firouzja it was the cap on an incredible month in St. Louis. He tied for first here, won the rapid & blitz, the Sinquefield Cup, and the overall Grand Chess Tour. Between all of those successes, he earned more than $300,000. Not bad for a month’s work! (Technically more than a month’s work, as his GCT victory was based in part on earlier successes on the Tour.)