credit to chess.com
Teenagers are conquering chess. After Gukesh Dommaraju recently won the classical World Chess Title, eighteen year old grandmaster Volodar Murzin just became the 2024 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion, being the second youngest champion after Nodirbek Abdusattorov won in 2021 at seventeen years old. Murzin scored ten points out of thirteen without any losses. He won $90,000, not bad for playing chess for three days.
Jeans Gambit Accepted
credit to chess.com
The tournament was marred by a controversy involving Magnus Carlsen who quit because of disagreement with FIDE regarding of all things--his pants. As a chess fan, I'm disappointed by this but that is a story for another time. Controversy aside, I have no doubt that Murzin deserved the title.
He won it convincingly beating strong players including Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura while not losing any game.
Murzin vs Caruana
In an equal endgame, Caruana traded queens but ended up in a losing position.
lichess.com
The Knight vs Bishop endgame was in White's favor and he converted after a few moves.
Nakamura vs Murzin
Hikaru blundered with Rb8, correct move was Rb6 which still drawish.
lichess.com
After Kc7 Rb6, Black can push the c pawn and White will have to lose material to stop it.
Next will be the Blitz World Championship.