Hikaru Nakamura has won the Speed Chess Championship

Hikaru Nakamura has won the chess.com Speed Chess Championship after blowing Maxime Vachier-Lagrave away with a 7.5/8 burst at the end. It was the 3rd Speed Chess title in a row for Hikaru, but the first time he’d won the event when Magnus Carlsen played. Maxime showed the same level of play that had enabled him to knock Magnus out in the semi-final, with the final 18.5:12.5 scoreline little reflection of the fierce battle we witnessed. Maxime even took the lead in the bullet section, but summed up that Hikaru, “deserved to win and played more consistently”.

The next big online tournament will be the second stage of the Champions Chess Tour, starting on December 26th here on chess24. We can expect the likes of Nakamura, MVL, Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen to be in action in an event that will stretch into the new year.

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