5 Insane OTB Time Scrambles
WARNING: This blog contains nerve-wracking chess time scrambles. Proceed at your own risk if you have a history of heart disease, high blood pressure, or prefer to play daily chess games.
We've all been in a time scramble playing blitz on Chess.com. In this venue, a lightning-fast gaming mouse usually crowns the winner. Playing blitz over-the-board (OTB) is a completely different animal. The act of physically moving a piece and pressing the clock becomes a full-fledged endurance sport. To emerge victorious, you need hands steadier than a surgeon and quicker than a shell game trickster.
In recent years, OTB blitz has produced many insane games you have to see to believe! Here are my five favorites:
GM Irina Krush vs. WGM Jennifer Yu
2022 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship
The armageddon playoff between Krush and Yu served as my inspiration for this blog post. Inexplicably, Yu blundered a piece in the opening and had zero compensation. I'm glad she didn't resign because her incredible comeback produced the most memorable finish to any U.S. chess event in history.
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi vs. GM Alireza Firouzja
2021 Grand Chess Tour Paris
As a spectator watching a time scramble unfold, you feel just as nervous and excited as the players do. Sure, Firouzja's ability to ensnare Nepomniachtchi's king in an endgame mating net is a sight to behold. However, the reason I love this game so much is the epic commentary from GM Maurice Ashley and GM Yasser Seirawan!
GM Anish Giri vs. GM Jorden van Foreest
2021 Tata Steel Chess
Tate Steel Chess is the crown jewel of chess tournaments in the Netherlands. In 2021, we saw a spectacular finish as two Dutch players, Giri and van Foreest, played an armageddon playoff. GM Sopiko Guramishvili, who is Giri's wife, served as a commentator which added more suspense. Her reaction was priceless when her husband lost on time in a completely winning position!
IM Olga Badelka vs. WGM Ana Matnadze
2021 FIDE World Cup
Muscle memory allows us to perform a task without conscious effort. When it comes to winning a time scramble, chess players have countless more repetitions online than they do OTB. When you have a few seconds left on your clock on Chess.com, you instinctively go into pre-move beast mode. This may well explain why Badelka and Matnadze's armageddon playoff descended into absolute chaos. Clearly, the arbiter forgot to inform the players that pre-moves do not exist in the physical realm. It made for hilarious entertainment, though!
GM Vladislav Kovalev vs. GM Magnus Carlsen
2022 FIDE World Blitz Championship
Showing up a few minutes late to an OTB game is one of the oldest psychological tricks in the chess playbook. Carlsen took it to another level in his game against Kovalev en route to winning the 2022 FIDE World Blitz Championship. Watch Carlsen dismantle the strong grandmaster with just 30 seconds on his clock! To add insult to injury, Carlsen came to the board wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. Now that is what I call a disrespect speed run!
