Moroni Claims Spell Chess Crown In Grand Final Reset

GM Luca Moroni Jr. has been crowned as Chess.com's top wizard after toppling IM Nhat Minh To in the Grand Final Reset of the 2024 Spell Chess Championship. Moroni, who was the only GM to qualify for the knockout, won $600 for his first-place finish ahead of Nhat who will receive $350 for second place.

Heavyweight IMs Yoseph Taher and Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage qualified for the Semifinals but were defeated by Nhat and Moroni, respectively, while the Chess.com Community Championship Series defending champion CM Matfey Rogov was swept 3-0 in his quarterfinal and then again in the consolation bracket by surprise packet Yash Shah.

Partner up and get practicing with your best bughouse partner because the Chess.com Community Championship Series will return with the Bughouse Championship later in August (dates to be confirmed).

Standings

Moroni proved on Friday that the skills that GMs possess can transfer to other variants and the 2558-rated Italian started by knocking over Ecuadorian expert Cesar Sanchez 3-0. In the third game, Moroni looked to be on the verge of defeat after his queen was frozen by Sanchez.

Then, Moroni followed up with the spectacular 12.Nc4!! and saved his freeze spell for something more important... White allows his queen to be captured on f6 but threatens to freeze Black's own queen and king. 13.Nd6 can then be played which is checkmate as Black is unable to freeze White's knight due to the three-turn cooldown.

Meanwhile, in the other quarterfinals, IMs Nhat, Taher, and Liyanage comfortably won their matches and set up all-titled semifinals, while the remaining players were relegated to the consolation bracket.

One of the most nail-biting clashes of the day was Taher-Nhat which required a sudden death 1+2 game to decide a winner. In the end, it was Nhat who came out on top after castling queenside and flagging Taher. Even if Taher had stopped checkmate, Nhat's two remaining jump spells would have allowed him to forcibly take White's king.

Moroni-Liyanage was a 3-0 blowout in favor of the eventual winner and a crucial win with Black came for the Italian player when he miraculously stopped his king from being taken by using a jump spell of his own to throw his queen in the line of fire.

Despite losing his semifinal 3-0, it was Liyanage who played 18.Rh1!!, a move that commentator and FM James Canty claimed was the move of the tournament: "I have never seen a greater move than this in this format."

"I have never seen a move greater than this in this format. This is the best move I've ever seen," says Canty as IM Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage is about to take down GM Luca Moroni. pic.twitter.com/btgivCjKPC

— chess24 (@chess24com) August 2, 2024

Though Moroni would post a clean sweep against Nhat in the subsequent winner's final, one special feature of the Community Championship Series is that players have a second chance to win the event should they win the Losers Final. 

Nhat didn't just win the Losers Final and book a Grand Final spot with Moroni, he also managed to defeat him 3-1 to force a Grand Final Reset. The high point of this match was in the fourth game when commentator AnnitaDrink stated: "He (Moroni) is shaking his head, he sees something that I don't see."

Nhat immediately followed up with a devastating combination that confirmed AnnitaDrink's suspicions.

In the above position, if Black captures White's now-unfrozen queen then White can play 19.Bxd8++ with a jump spell and, therefore, must play 18...Kf8 and give up his queen. Moroni humorously blamed his sub-optimal play on the lasagna he had for dinner. The quintessential Italian!

While waiting for the Grand Final reset, commentators Canty and AnnitaDrink got wind that the world number-two GM Hikaru Nakamura was trying his hand at Spell Chess... and losing! If you need any further proof that Spell Chess is difficult for anyone starting out, check out Nakamura being four-move checkmated in a lobby game against a 1500-rated player.

After the interlude, Moroni rallied to win the Reset by a margin of 3-1, leading to an exchange between the players where Moroni claimed he "stole this tournament so bad."

In his post-match interview, Moroni spoke about how he intended to play future editions of the Community Chess Championship and, despite claiming he is "not good" at bughouse, suggested he might return to defend his title.

The Chess.com Spell Chess Championship is the third event in the Chess.com Community Championship series and features a chess variant born from a partnership with the creators of Clash of Clans, Supercell.

The format includes eight 75-minute arenas with a 3+2 time control with the top player from each qualifier playing in an eight-player, double-elimination bracket where $2,000 in prizes will be split between the best finishers.

Previous Coverage

• Spell Chess Specialists Qualify For Knockout Ahead of Bok, Bortnyk, Hambleton
• Younger Brother Triumphs In Atomic Rivalry
• National Master Halts GM Martinez's Reign In Crazyhouse Championship
• Martinez Defends Variant Crown In 3 Check Chess
• Martinez Is King of The Hill In Variants Final
• Variants Community Series Results
• Variants Community Series: All The Information