2022 Champions Showdown

Fabiano Caruana was crowned the winner of the 2022 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX after defeating Alireza Firouzja in Armageddon during their rapid playoff match. The victory capped off an incredible day for Caruana, who won his final three games in regulation to finish with 6.5/9 and catch Firouzja to force a playoff tiebreaker.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov surged ahead today in the Champions Showdown, winning all three of his games to finish tied for first with Alireza Firouzja, both on 4.5/6. Yesterday’s leader Ian Nepomniachtchi slipped to third place with 4.0/6, while former World Champion Garry Kasparov was unfortunately once again shut out from scoring any points.

Check out the full replay of live coverage from the day here. The time control for the event is game in 20 minutes with a 5 second increment.

The 2022 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX kicked off today with an elite 10-player rapid round-robin featuring Chess960 (Fischer Random), a rich variant where the starting arrangement of the pieces is shuffled on the back rank.

After the first day of action, 2022 FIDE Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi leads the field with a perfect 3/3 score, while 2018 World Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana is currently in clear second with 2.5/3.