Anand is the Rapid King, crushes the field

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 14/11/2016

The Champions Showdown entered the rapid leg on the fourth day of play. Viswanathan Anand played a faulty combination to beat Hikaru Nakamura after the latter missed the riposte. He then beat Topalov twice to take the lead after the classical and rapid games. Garry Kasparov was at his nostalgic best as he commentated on the games. An illustrated report.

Pictures from the Facebook page of the Saint Louis Chess Club

Champions Showdown: Anand is the Rapid King, crushes the field

Anand drew both of his games on day three to finish the classical leg of the multi-format
tournament with 3.5/6. He led together with Topalov who also had the same score.

Players share their thoughts on multi-format tournaments in this 2-minute video

Garry Kasparov was in the studio to commentate on the games with Tania Sachdev, Yasser Seirawan, and Alejandro Ramirez.

Besides his insightful commentary on the games, Kasparov was at his nostalgic best. When talking about the rapid time controls, he said, "I remember when I first played with Nigel Short in London in February 1987. There were six games, 25 minutes each. It was a special format for television — each game would last one hour, so they had enough time for commentary and advertising. There were no draws — I won four games and he won two. There was a lot of blood spilled on the stage. From there we went to Brussels. It was the first meeting of the Grandmasters Association (GMA). Wait, (to Seirawan) you were there, too!"

Seirawan said, "Yes, we were there together!" Kasparov continued,"I showed the tape of the rapid match there. Do you remember the reaction? They were quite concerned. What's going to happen with chess? Again, you don't blame them because it was quite unusual. 25 minutes?! I mean, come on, Botvinnik was still there!"

Kasparov proceeded to rubbish the claims that chess is dying out as a sport, saying,"This is the secret of the success of the game of chess over the centuries. It can always adjust. It moved from one country to another — absorbing its cultural and social traditions. For example, chess in Japan is called Shogi, which is different from the European chess."

Rapid Games

With a score of 3.5/6, Anand and Topalov went into the rapid leg of the tournament in joint lead. Nakamura was just half-a-point behind them with 3.0/6. Caruana was struggling to score and had chalked up only 2.0/6, winless yet. He decided that he needed to brush up on his skills with fast time controls before the rapid games began.

Therefore, he crashed a local rapid tournament at the Saint Louis club in the evening a day before the tournament!

Rapid Round Robin 01+02

Before the day's play began, each commentator had to predict the winner of the rapid leg. Kasparov put his bet on Nakamura, while others chose between Caruana and Topalov.

Topalov played interesting chess throughout the day. In the past, he had highlighted his reluctance to play quickplay games.

He started the day with the white pieces by letting Caruana off the hook — first in the middlegame, and then by failing to pick up the knight here.

In Anand-Nakamura, White unquestionably had the edge and played 23.g3.

The commentators were wondering about it when Garry pointed out that Vishy did not want to calculate here as he knew Hikaru will always try to be tricky with tactical resources. Therefore, he made a quick decision to tie down Black's pieces.

Anand pushed forward with 50.b6?? He had a beautiful cutting-off idea in mind. Can you calculate why he allowed the knight fork? And then find out what is wrong with his idea?

[Event "Champions Showdown 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2016.11.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "181"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]

1. e4 {5} e5 {10} 2. Nf3 {5} Nc6 {5} 3. Bc4 {5} Bc5 {5} 4. O-O {6} Nf6 {5} 5.
d3 {5} d6 {8} 6. c3 {6} O-O {32} 7. Re1 {14} a6 {5} 8. a4 {9} h6 {14} 9. Nbd2 {
10} Kh8 {85 A new move at the top level.} (9... Be6 {was Kramnik's choice
against Anand in Leuven.} 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Nf1 Nh5 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. fxe3 Qe8
14. b4 Nf6 15. Ng3 a5 16. b5 Ne7 17. c4 Ng6 18. Rf1 b6 19. Nd2 Rd8 20. Qe2 Rd7
21. Nh5 Rdf7 22. Nxf6+ Rxf6 23. Rxf6 Rxf6 24. Rf1 Qf7 25. Rxf6 Qxf6 26. Qg4 Nf8
27. Qh5 Qe7 28. h3 Nd7 29. Nb3 Nf6 30. Qd1 d5 31. exd5 exd5 32. c5 Nd7 33. cxb6
cxb6 34. d4 Qg5 35. Qf3 Kh7 36. e4 Nf6 37. dxe5 Qxe5 38. exd5 Nxd5 39. Qd3+ Kh8
40. Nd2 Nc3 41. Qd8+ Kh7 42. Qd3+ Kh8 43. Qd8+ Kh7 44. Qd3+ {1/2-1/2 (44)
Anand,V (2770)-Kramnik,V (2812) Leuven 2016}) 10. Nf1 {31} Ba7 {19} 11. h3 {26}
Be6 {30} 12. Bxe6 {35} fxe6 {5} 13. Be3 {8} Bxe3 {11} 14. Rxe3 {9} Ne7 {40} 15.
d4 {119} Ng6 {5} 16. dxe5 {26} dxe5 {9} 17. N1d2 {45} b5 {76} 18. c4 {109} Qd7
{107} 19. Qb3 {47} c6 {46} 20. Rd3 $16 {61 Seirawan pointed out that Aronian
has had some success with this kind of structure with black -- doubled pawns
on e-file. Kasparov pointed out that that is because he would generally have
some dynamic compensation on other parts of the board. He added that here,
Hikaru is just under pressure on all fronts.} Qc7 {171} 21. axb5 {90} axb5 {5}
22. Rxa8 {17} Rxa8 {5} 23. g3 {5 Kasparov points out that Vishy does not want
to calculate here as he knows Nakamura will always try to be tricky with
tactical resources. Therefore, he makes a quick decision to tie down Nakmura's
pieces.} Nf8 {121} (23... Ra1+ 24. Kg2 (24. Kh2 Qb6 $11) 24... Nh5 {was
Kasparov's immediate suggestion. His point is that} 25. cxb5 cxb5 26. Qc3 (26.
Qxe6 Nhf4+ {is all tears for white.}) 26... Qb8 27. Rd7 $16) 24. cxb5 {14} cxb5
{5} 25. Kg2 {34} Qb7 {5} 26. Qb4 {34} N8d7 {8} 27. Rb3 {38} Rb8 {11} 28. Qe7 {
14} Qb6 {30} 29. Rd3 {18} Re8 {13} 30. Qd6 {10} Qxd6 {5} 31. Rxd6 {5} Nc5 {5}
32. Rb6 {5} Ncxe4 {16} 33. Nxe4 {5} Nxe4 {5} 34. Rxb5 {25} Nd6 {5} 35. Rb6 {8}
Nc4 {22} 36. Rb4 {5} Rc8 {42} 37. b3 {5} Nd6 {5} 38. Nxe5 {5} Nf5 {5} 39. Rc4 {
16} Ra8 {5} 40. Rc2 {12} Nd4 {11} 41. Rb2 {5} Ra5 {7} 42. f4 {7} g5 {7} 43. b4
Rb5 44. Kf2 {12} gxf4 {10} 45. gxf4 Kg7 46. Nd3 {15} Kf6 {10} 47. Ke3 {5} Nc6 {
5} 48. Kd2 {6} Rh5 {19} 49. b5 {5} Na5 {5} 50. b6 $4 {68 Vishy is confident
that he has calculated a brilliant finish. He is wrong!} (50. Kc3 Rxh3 (50...
Nb7 51. b6 Rxh3 52. Ra2 {transposes}) 51. b6 Nb7 52. Ra2 Rg3 (52... Nc5 53. Kc4
Nxd3 54. b7 $18) 53. Kd4 Nd6 $16) 50... Nc4+ {7} 51. Kc2 {5} Nxb2 {5} 52. Ne5 {
5} Nc4 $4 {38 But Nakamura blunders back!} (52... Nd3 $3 {is the drawing idea.}
53. Kxd3 {White is forced to play this.} (53. Nxd3 Rb5 $19) (53. b7 Nb4+ 54.
Kc3 Na6 $19) 53... Rxh3+ 54. Kc4 Rg3 55. b7 Rg8 56. Kd3 Kf5 57. Nc6 Kxf4 58.
b8=Q+ Rxb8 59. Nxb8 h5 60. Nd7 {holding back the e6 pawn.} h4 61. Ke2 {
entering the square for the h pawn.}) 53. b7 {5} Nxe5 {5} 54. fxe5+ {5} Kf5 {5}
55. b8=Q {5} Rxh3 {5} 56. Kd2 {8} h5 {5} 57. Ke2 {8} h4 {5} 58. Kf2 {5} Rg3 {5}
59. Qf8+ {9} Kxe5 {5} 60. Qh8+ {5} Kf5 {5} 61. Qxh4 {5} Rg5 {5} 62. Kf3 {5} Kg6
{5} 63. Kf4 {5} Rf5+ {5} 64. Ke4 {5} Kf7 {5} 65. Qh7+ {5} Kf6 {5} 66. Qg8 {5}
Re5+ {7} 67. Kf4 {7} Rf5+ {5} 68. Kg4 {5} Ke7 {5} 69. Qc8 {5} Kf7 {6} 70. Qd7+
{5} Kf6 {5} 71. Qe8 {5} Rg5+ {5} 72. Kf4 {5} Rf5+ {5} 73. Ke4 {5} Re5+ {5} 74.
Kd4 {5} Rd5+ {5} 75. Kc4 {5} Ke5 {14} 76. Qh8+ {5} Kf5 {5} 77. Qg7 {5} Rd1 {15}
78. Qf7+ {5} Kg4 {5} 79. Qxe6+ {5} Kf3 {5} 80. Kc3 {9} Rf1 {5} 81. Kd2 {5} Rf2+
{12} 82. Kd3 {5} Kg2 {5} 83. Qg4+ {5} Kh2 {5} 84. Ke3 {5} Rg2 {5} 85. Qh4+ {5}
Kg1 {5} 86. Kf3 {5} Rg8 {5} 87. Qe1+ {17} Kh2 {5} 88. Qe5+ {5} Kh1 {5} 89. Qh5+
{27} Kg1 {5} 90. Qc5+ {5} Kh1 {5} 91. Kf2 {5} 1-0

The commentary team was in awe as blunders and brilliancies walked hand in hand in most of the games!

Hikaru Nakamura bounced back (as usual) in the second round of the round robin. Here, he won a pawn with an old tactical motif:

[Event "Champions Showdown 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2016.11.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]

1. e4 {5} e5 {10} 2. Nf3 {5} Nc6 {5} 3. Bc4 {5} Bc5 {5} 4. c3 {5} Nf6 {5} 5. b4
{5} Bb6 {9} 6. d3 {5} d6 {5} 7. a4 {5} a5 {5} 8. b5 {5} Ne7 {5} 9. Nbd2 {5} Ng6
{30} 10. O-O {5} O-O {19} 11. Bb3 {5} c6 {9} 12. Nc4 {8} Bc7 {5} 13. Re1 {12}
h6 {15} 14. d4 {7} Be6 {35} 15. Ba3 {161} Bxc4 {37} 16. Bxc4 {5} Re8 {5} 17.
Bb3 {172} d5 {24} 18. exd5 {24} cxd5 {71} 19. dxe5 {5} Nxe5 {5} 20. Bc5 $2 {16}
(20. Nxe5 Bxe5 21. Rc1 $11) 20... Nxf3+ {17} 21. Qxf3 {5} (21. gxf3 {also
suffers from the same problem.}) 21... Bxh2+ $1 {5} 22. Kf1 {57} (22. Kxh2 Qc7+
23. g3 Qxc5 $17 {Black is a pawn up now.}) 22... Be5 {15} 23. Bd4 {70} Bxd4 {55
} 24. Rxe8+ {5} Qxe8 {8} 25. cxd4 {5} Qd7 {6} 26. Re1 {66} Rc8 {12} 27. Qf4 {36
} b6 {12} 28. Ba2 {82} Qc7 {29} 29. Qe5 {5} Kf8 {41} 30. g3 {112} Qd7 {16} 31.
Qf4 {9} Ne4 {98} 32. Bb1 {30} g5 {12} 33. Qe3 {24} Rc3 {47} 34. Bd3 {5} Ra3 {14
} 35. Qe2 {20} Rxa4 {19} 36. Bxe4 {5} dxe4 {5} 37. Qxe4 {5} Qxd4 {61} 38. Qa8+
{5} Kg7 {5} 39. Re8 {42} Ra2 {26} 40. Qf3 {5} Rb2 {46} 41. Re7 {25} Qf6 {14}
42. Qe3 {5} Rxb5 {12} 43. Rc7 {5} Qe5 {22} 0-1

Anand swept Topalov off the board with both colours in the two round robins.

In the first rapid round robin, Caruana finally managed to win a game for the first time in this event — against Topalov. But he lost to Nakamura again in the second round robin.

[Event "Champions Showdown 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2016.11.13"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]

1. d4 {5} Nf6 {10} 2. c4 {5} e6 {5} 3. Nf3 {5} d5 {5} 4. Nc3 {5} dxc4 {5} 5. e4
{5} Bb4 {5} 6. Bxc4 {5} Nxe4 {5} 7. O-O {5} Nxc3 {5} 8. bxc3 {5} Bd6 {5} 9. Bg5
{9} Be7 {6} 10. Bxe7 {12} Qxe7 {5} 11. Re1 {5 The first new move.} O-O {5} 12.
Ne5 {5} Nd7 {51} 13. Nxf7 {14} Nb6 {95} (13... Rxf7 14. Rxe6 (14. Bxe6 Qf6 15.
Bxf7+ Qxf7 $15) 14... Qd8 (14... Qg5 15. Re3 Kf8 16. Bxf7 Kxf7 17. Qb3+ Kf8 18.
Rae1 $18) 15. Re3 Nf6 16. Qb3 Qd7 17. Rae1 Kf8 18. Be6 Qe8 19. Qa3+ Qe7 20. Bd7
$3 $18) 14. Ne5 {5} Nxc4 {5} 15. Nxc4 {5} b6 {6} 16. Qg4 {66} Bb7 {17} 17. Ne5
{44} Rf6 {37} 18. Qe2 {47} Raf8 {73} 19. f3 {5} c5 {39} 20. Rad1 {5} Rf4 {60}
21. Nd3 {65} Ba6 {30} 22. Qxe6+ {12} Qxe6 {5} 23. Rxe6 {5} Bxd3 {5} 24. Rxd3 {5
} cxd4 {5} 25. cxd4 {7} Rd8 {15} 26. Re4 {49} Rf5 {5} 27. Re7 {7} Rf7 {9} 28.
Re5 {39} Rc7 {18} 29. d5 {100} Kf7 {28} 30. Kf2 {21} Rc2+ {28} 31. Re2 {5} Rc5
{5} 32. d6 {27} Rd7 {61} 33. Rd4 {19} Rf5 {57} 34. Rde4 {17} a5 {84} 35. g4 {
109} Rf6 {58} 36. Re7+ {5} Rxe7 {5} 37. Rxe7+ {5} Kf8 {5} 38. Rd7 {5} b5 {55}
39. Ke3 {5} b4 {5} 40. Ke4 {21} a4 {34} 41. f4 {12} Rh6 {22} 42. h4 {134} b3 {5
} 43. axb3 {5} axb3 {5} 44. Ke5 {19} Rxh4 {10} 45. Rb7 {9} Ke8 {62} 46. Rxg7 {9
} b2 {5} 47. Rb7 {5} Rxg4 {5} 48. Rxb2 {5} Rg1 {14} 49. Rb8+ {5} 1-0

We invite the readers to find a suitable caption for Topalov here.

While choosing your caption, bear in mind this complicated battle that occurred in the final round of the day. Topalov fought with passion as Nakamura counter-attacked with an uncompromising attitude. But then something weird happened that left even Anand scratching his head as he talked with the commentators while this game was in progress:

[Event "Champions Showdown 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2016.11.13"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E81"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "202"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]

1. d4 {5} Nf6 {10} 2. c4 {5} g6 {5} 3. Nc3 {7} Bg7 {5} 4. e4 {5} d6 {5} 5. f3 {
5} O-O {6} 6. Be3 {5} a6 {7} (6... e5 {is the main move.}) (6... Nc6 {is also
famous.}) 7. Bd3 {8} c6 {5} 8. Nge2 {13} b5 {5} 9. O-O {12} bxc4 {24} 10. Bxc4
{5} d5 {5 A rare position in GM practise} 11. Bb3 {89} a5 {11} (11... dxe4 12.
fxe4 Ng4 13. Bf4 e5 14. dxe5 Qb6+ 15. Qd4 Nd7 16. Qxb6 Nxb6 17. Nd4 c5 18. Nf3
c4 19. Na4 Nxa4 20. Bxa4 Rb8 21. h3 g5 22. Bxg5 Nxe5 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. Be7 Bxb2
25. Rab1 Be6 26. Bxf8 Kxf8 27. Rf2 c3 28. Bb3 Ke7 29. Rbxb2 cxb2 30. Rxb2 a5
31. Rc2 Bxb3 32. axb3 Rxb3 33. Rc7+ Kf6 34. Rc6+ Kg7 35. Ra6 Rb5 36. Kf2 Rb2+
37. Kf3 Ra2 38. g4 h6 39. e5 a4 40. Kg3 a3 41. Kh4 Re2 {1/2-1/2 (41)
Chatalbashev,B (2579)-Kozul,Z (2593) Zadar 2008}) 12. Kh1 {42} Ba6 {23} 13. Rc1
{17} e6 {58} 14. Bg5 {33} h6 {69} 15. Bh4 {5} g5 {37} 16. Bf2 {5} Nbd7 {5} 17.
e5 {10} Nh5 {76} 18. Na4 {23} Bb5 {27} 19. Re1 {18} f6 {13} 20. exf6 {22} Qxf6
{5} 21. Nec3 {73} Ba6 {31} 22. Ne2 {5} g4 {180} 23. Ng1 {65} Nf4 {64} 24. Rxc6
{14} Nd3 {5} 25. Bg3 {5} Nxe1 {5} 26. Qxe1 {5} Rfe8 {10} 27. Nc3 {38} Qf7 {21}
28. fxg4 {10} Bxd4 {92} 29. Nf3 {12} Bg7 {5} 30. g5 {23} h5 {5} 31. Bc2 {82}
Nf8 {46} 32. h3 {57} Rec8 {7} 33. Rd6 {82} Rd8 {5} 34. g6 {18} Qe8 {5} 35. Ba4
{6} Qxg6 {51} 36. Nxd5 {5} Kh8 {10} 37. Nf4 {78} Qf5 {21} 38. Nh4 {10} Qf7 {5}
39. Rb6 {15} Bd4 {23} 40. Rc6 {33} Rdc8 {20} 41. Qe4 {6} Bg7 {37} 42. Nhg6+ {37
} Nxg6 {5} 43. Nxg6+ {5} Kg8 {5} 44. Ne5 {8} Qf5 {10} 45. Qxf5 {21} exf5 {5}
46. Rb6 {15} Rcb8 {14} 47. Rg6 {24} Kh7 {6} 48. Rg5 {5} Bf6 {15} 49. Rxf5 {5}
Kg7 {11} 50. Rxf6 {5} Kxf6 {5} 51. Nd7+ {5} Kf5 {5} 52. Nxb8 {5} Bc4 {5} 53. b3
Bd3 54. Nc6 {15} Bb1 {11} 55. a3 {5} Kf6 {5} 56. Bb5 {5} Re8 {5} 57. Kh2 {8}
Re3 {9} 58. Nxa5 {5} Rc3 {10} 59. Bc4 {11} Be4 {5} 60. Bf1 {15} Rc1 {5} 61. Nc4
{8} Ba8 {13} 62. Ne3 {5} Rc3 {5} 63. Bf4 {5} Rxb3 {5} 64. a4 {5} Rb4 {5} 65.
Bc4 {15} Rxa4 {5} 66. h4 {8} Ra3 {5} 67. Be2 {6} Kg6 {5} 68. Kg3 {5} Be4 {5}
69. Bf3 {5} Bb1 {5} 70. Nc4 {5} Rc3 {5} 71. Ne5+ {5} Kf6 {5} 72. Kh2 {5} Kf5 {5
} 73. Bg3 {5} Be4 {5} 74. Bxh5 {5} Rxg3 {5} 75. Kxg3 {5} Kxe5 {5} 76. Bf3 {5}
Bf5 {5} 77. Kf2 {5} Bd7 {5} 78. Ke3 Be6 79. g3 {10} Bd7 {10} 80. Bh5 {5} Be6 {5
} 81. Be8 {5} Kf5 {5} 82. Bh5 {6} Ke5 {5} 83. Be2 {5} Bd7 {5} 84. Kd2 {5} Be6 {
5} 85. Kc3 {5} Ke4 {5} 86. Bd1 {5} Ke5 {5} 87. Kb4 {5} Kd4 {8} 88. Kb5 {5} Ke5
{5} 89. Kc5 {5} Bd7 {5} 90. Be2 {5} Be8 {5} 91. g4 {5} Kf4 {5} 92. g5 {5} Ke5 {
11} 93. Bd1 Bf7 94. Be2 Be8 95. Kb6 {15} Kd6 {15} 96. Bd3 {5} Bh5 {5} 97. Bc2 {
5} Be8 {5} 98. Bd1 {5} Bf7 {5} 99. h5 Ke5 100. g6 {10} (100. h6 {is the
simplest win.} Bg6 101. Bh5 Be4 102. Kc7 Ke6 103. Kd8 Bd3 104. Ke8 Ke5 105. Ke7
Bf5 106. g6 Be6 107. h7) 100... Be8 {10} 101. h6 $4 {5} (101. g7 Bf7 102. h6
Kf6 103. Bc2 Bd5 104. Be4 Bg8 105. Bd3 Bd5 106. Kc5 Bg8 107. Kd4 Bb3 (107...
Ke7 108. h7 $18) 108. Bc4) 101... Bxg6 {5} 1/2-1/2

The Sunday crowd had a gala time enjoying the creative play of the world's strongest players, in contrast to the snoozefest that is witnessed in most modern tournaments.

Standings at the end of the rapid games. The fifth and final day will see blitz action.

Standings:

Rank	Name	Rating	Classical	Rapid	Blitz	Total Score
1	GM Viswanathan Anand	2779	3.5/6	4.5/6	-	8.0
2	GM Hikaru Nakamura	2779	3.0/6	3.5/6	-	6.5
3	GM Veselin Topalov	2760	3.5/6	1.5/6	-	5.0
4	GM Fabiano Caruana	2823	2.0/6	2.5/6	-	4.5

The commentary was top-notch in the quality of the analyses and full of delightful anecdotes. Enjoy!

Details:

The 2016 Champions Showdown shall be an exhibition event featuring four players (Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Veselin Topalov). Over five days, the Players shall complete two Classical Round Robins (G/60 +5” delay), two Rapid Round Robins (G/15 +5” delay) and four Blitz Round Robins (G/3 +2” delay).

Day	Date	Time	Showdown in Saint Louis
Wednesday	9-Nov		Arrival
Thursday	10-Nov	1:00 PM	RR1: Round 1
		3:30 PM	RR1: Round 2
Friday	11-Nov	1:00 PM	RR1: Round 3
		3:30 PM	RR2: Round 1
Saturday	12-Nov	1:00 PM	RR2: Round 2
		3:30 PM	RR2: Round 3
Sunday	13-Nov	1:00 PM	Rapid (6 rounds)
Monday	14-Nov	1:00 PM	Blitz (12 rounds)
Tuesday	15-Nov		Departure

Place	Prize
1st	$60,000
2nd	$40,000
3rd	$30,000
4th	$20,000
Total Prize Fund: $150,000 USD

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