2017 Speed Chess Championship: Carlsen vs. Grischuk in the First Semifinal
With apologies to those who haven't yet seen the result of the Carlsen-So match, this post is kind of a spoiler. Unfortunately, since the semi-final match between Magnus Carlsen and Alexander Grischuk starts today at 1 p.m. ET, it seemed to me better to spill the beans and give fans the chance to watch the new match live than to keep the suspense about Carlsen-So a little while longer. (And while those of us rooting for So may have hoped for the best, I don't think too many of us held out real hopes that he'd manage to slay the Norwegian viking.)
Anyway, the match will have the usual format of (slightly more than) three hours' playing time, with 90 minutes of 5'+2" action, 60 minutes of 3'+2", and a final half-hour of 1'+2". Carlsen and Grischuk met in this competition last year as well, and it was pretty close until the bullet games, when Carlsen put the pedal to the metal and pulled away. Will Grischuk do better this time around? Maybe...but I wouldn't bet on it.
Reader Comments (1)
If a person visits this site after an event has finished he should expect spoilers.
[DM: Maybe, but I'm trying to be nice. As often as not I'm unable to watch those matches live, or every once in a while forget that they're happening. When that happens, it's nice to watch the goings-on afterwards without knowing the result, so I'd like to give readers that same opportunity.]