CHESS#1332

The next big event is the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships

Hikaru Nakamura won the London Chess Classic and the 2018 Grand Chess Tour. He beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a nail-biting final, taking the eighth and final game after seven razor-edged draws. Fabiano Caruana took third beating Levon Aronian in a concurrent match.

The Naka–MVl match was expected to be close as both are past masters at speed-play. However, Caruana pulled off a surprise, which isn’t really a surprise. Aronian tried the strategy that worked for Magnus Carlsen in the title match, drawing the classical games and going to speed-play.

Aronian was rated much higher in rapid (Elo 2802, world #6) and blitz