There has been great excitement in America for the past two days. The top three finishers in the U.S. Championship – Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura – were joined by Garry Kasparov in a special exhibition blitz tournament. The four players faced each other in three round-robins per day for two days, for a total of 18 games. There were small breaks between rounds (1-2 minutes) and longer breaks between each round-robin (10-15 minutes). The time control was five minutes per player per game, with a three-second delay (not increment) each move. For many, the real excitement was to see how Garry would fare against three of the top players in current chess and spectators were not disappointed. The chess site Chess24.com achieved record numbers of hits for the matches and Kasparov, although not victorious overall, played some sparkling chess, finishing only one and a half points behind Nakamura in first place. For Caruana it was a sobering experience and it was fascinating to see the world number two put firmly in his place in the final game below, a terrific end to the tournament.
White: Fabiano Caruana (2795) Black: Garry Kasparov (2812)
Ultimate Blitz Challenge: Round 18