Firouzja Scores Nearly Double Caruana, Qualifies For Paris Semifinals

GM Alireza Firouzja defeated GM Fabiano Caruana in the first quarterfinal match of the Speed Chess Championship 2024 with an overwhelming score of 14.5-8.5. He is the first player to qualify for the Semifinals that will be held live in Paris.

The next quarterfinal match will be GM Wesley So vs. GM Hans Niemann, taking place on Wednesday, August 7, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET / 21:30 CEST / 1:00 a.m. IST (August 8).

Speed Chess Championship 2024 Bracket 

Every day this week, from Tuesday through Friday, will feature a quarterfinal match. The four winners will meet in Paris, where they will physically play face-to-face in the Semifinals. You can buy tickets to attend in person here.

Alireza Firouzja 14.5-8.5 Fabiano Caruana

Caruana's never won a quarterfinal match in the SCC, and unfortunately for him, this year was not an exception. SmarterChess predicted a Firouzja win with a 54 percent likelihood, preferring his chances by one point in the 3+1 and 1+1 portions—a prognosis he blew out of the water in the 3+1.

• 5+1: Firouzja 4.5-2.5 Caruana
• 3+1: Firouzja 5.5-2.5 Caruana
• 1+1: Firouzja 4.5-3.5 Caruana

Blitz 5+1: Firouzja 4.5-2.5 Caruana

The first portion featured the first and only comeback Caruana had in the match. After Firouzja shut that down, and finished the segment with a two-point lead, he extended the lead even further in the 3+1 games.

The first half of the portion went in Firouzja's favor, but there were major blunders by both sides early on. In the first game, Firouzja was up the exchange but blundered a knight fork and allowed a draw; in the second, Caruana's blunder—this time, he was up the exchange and winning—was much worse:

Caruana was winning in game two until... ouch!https://t.co/0KZEzP3tI3#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/FeI68oJhsT

— chess24 (@chess24com) August 6, 2024

Firouzja won the next game with checkmate on the board, but then Caruana came back with two wins to even the score. His preparation in the second one left the commentators speechless. 

Caruana later said, "In the [Dark Archangel Chessable] course, I'm recommending something else entirely. It's a crazy line that we played and he sort of knew something about it, it was clear, because he was going for the most critical line, but he didn't know everything."

But Firouzja later said he considered this comeback "a good wakeup call, and it's good that I caught it early." Caruana, for his part, reflected about the match, "I never got my footing with the black pieces, aside from that game."

The French number-one finished the 5+1 portion with two more wins. His last victory was his best game of the segment. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the full game below.

Blitz 3+1: Firouzja 5.5-2.5 Caruana

In this portion, Firouzja won four games and lost just one to take a five-point lead ahead of the bullet. Before the last game of the segment, Naroditsky was full of praise: "This is mind-expanding chess, game after game." He later said:

[Firouzja has] avoided unnecessary complications, that's been so impressive. That's not a side of him that we have been used to or that we have seen displayed this many times over the course of a match.

The final game prompted Naroditsky's observation. Although 19.Nxb5 would have won tactically, he instead opted for the positionally-minded 19.Qg4—not the engine's best move, but practically, his opponent was unable to plug up the weaknesses on the light squares. It wasn't flashy, but it got the job done.

In the game before that, Firouzja also flexed his counter-attacking prowess. Caruana tried to initiate an attack with 23.g4?, but it backfired and opened up his own king.

Nothing seemed to quite go Caruana's way, and early on in the bullet segment the match looked destined for Firouzja's taking.

Bullet 1+1: Firouzja 4.5-3.5 Caruana

"Firouzja seems unstoppable right now," said Hess after Firouzja won the first bullet game, and after he won the first three to take an eight-point lead, the match was already over.

The second game gives an accurate impression of how tilted Caruana was, as he blundered the exchange thinking he had a discovered attack against the queen. He did, but the queen was protected.

Caruana goes for the discovered attack against the white queen, but it isn't hanging! 12-5 for Firouzja.https://t.co/AjProvmLRS#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/lJQxwcsapa

— chess24 (@chess24com) August 6, 2024

On paper, it was the closest segment, but it's because Firouzja took his foot off the gas knowing he'd clinched the match. Stringing together two wins in a row at one point, Caruana demonstrated the power of king activity in the endgame.

It was Firouzja's worst segment in the match and he still won it by a point. He earned $8,152.17 and Caruana left the tournament with $1,847.83 by win percentage.

Firouzja, after a disappointing Candidates Tournament, has had a good year ever since, especially in online events. He said:

Last year, I didn't play so much, I just played much more this year so I think I'm much sharper and I'm working a bit more, all of this combined makes my chess going back to [what it was in] 2021, 2022. It's good.

He'll be playing in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz and the Sinquefield Cup later this month. In 2022, he won both events as well as the entire Grand Chess Tour; repeating that will be a challenge, but he's shown he's capable of it.

He will meet three other players in Paris, which is just an hour from Chartres where he lives, in one month. Wednesday will decide whether one of those players will be Niemann or So.

The Speed Chess Championship is Chess.com's most important speed chess event. Some of the biggest names in chess compete to determine the best speed chess player in the world. The main event started with qualifiers on June 27 and 28 and concludes with the first-ever Final on September 8, live in Paris. The games are played with time controls of 5+1, 3+1, and 1+1. The prize fund is $173,000.

Previous reports:

• Niemann, Caruana Advance To Quarterfinals After Superior Bullet Performances
• Firouzja Fireworks Lead To Win Over Grischuk, So Outlasts Lazavik
• Carlsen Keeps It Classy, Nepomniachtchi Does A Houdini
• Arjun Prevails At The Final Turn, Nakamura Dominates
• Lazavik Qualifies For SCC Main Event, Goes Undefeated On Day 2
• Pranesh Tops Swiss Qualifier, 8 Players Move On To Knockout Stage
• Paris To Host Live Final Of 2024 Speed Chess Championship: Nakamura, Carlsen Confirmed