Wesley So Tops Qualifier For Sunday's Super Swiss Knockout

GM Wesley So was the top finisher among 16 players who qualified for the $15,000 Super Swiss Knockout. The American grandmaster finished on 12/15 on Saturday. Sunday's knockout bracket starts at 12:00 p.m. Pacific / 21:00 Central Europe.

The Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss is a two-day qualification event from which one player will qualify for the 2020 Speed Chess Championship Knockout Final. The Super Swiss runs October 3-4, 2020, and has a $15,000 prize fund.

The 15-round Swiss had a total of 428 participants. Besides So, the other 15 players who qualified are GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Vladislav Artemiev, Praggnanandhaa R., Pavel Smirnov, Alexander Grischuk, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Andreikin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Grigoriy Oparin, Jose Martinez, Sanan Sjugirov, Pavel Ponkratov, and IM Renato Terry.

Super Swiss, final standings | Players on 10.5 points or more

So and Nakamura, who eventually finished in first and second place, were the only two players still on a 100 percent score after six rounds, and the standings started affecting play: their games in round seven were one of several quick draws as the players at the top were focusing on finishing among the top 16.

The two GM commentators, Maurice Ashley and Robert Hess, weren't amused but also realized it is unavoidable in a format like this.

So also had quick draws with Nepomniachtchi, Andreikin, and Praggnanandhaa, but one doesn't finish in first place without also beating strong players. Here's his win vs. Grischuk that saw a rare combination of a Maroczy Bind setup and castles queenside:

Because the tournament was played without increment (the time control was three minutes per player), there were many games where the final phase was absolutely crazy. For example the following, with the Polish FM Dawid Czerw being one of the many players who streamed during play. He points out that he walks into a mate in one, but his opponent misses it and gets mated herself:

While the rounds were finishing, Ashley and Hess would jump from board to board and see lots of these moments. "It's like a casino!" said Ashley, who also did a pretty decent Homer Simpson impersonation:

Things will be not as wild on Sunday when all games will be played with a one-second increment (which makes quite the difference) and the format is a knockout.

In the first round, the players will play two 5+1 games, two 3+1 games, and five 1+1 games. Both the quarterfinals and semifinals consist of two 5+1 games, three 3+1 games, and six 1+1 games. In the final, there will be two 5+1 games, four 3+1 games, and eight 1+1 games.

The tiebreaker in each round is a single armageddon game with five minutes for White and four minutes for Black (who has draw odds) with the higher seed choosing the color.

The $250 prize for the top female player went to WGM Meri Arabidze (@Meri-Arabidze). The prize for the best streamer was won by Nakamura, who worked with a two-cam setup for the first time.

Besides the $3,500 first prize, on Sunday the players will be fighting for a spot in the prestigious Speed Chess Championship, Chess.com's flagship event that will run later this year with world-class players fighting for a $100,000 prize fund.

See also:

• This Weekend: Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss
• 2020 Speed Chess Championship