It was an all-American affair in the consolidation match of the 2024 Speed Chess Championship, and streamer extraordinaire Nakamura battered his young opponent, outthinking and outlasting Niemann in the progressively faster time controls.
After defeats to Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen, respectively, in the semifinals, Nakamura and Niemann faced off in a match that may not have had that much riding on the line in terms of tournament prestige, but human elements still made it a notable clash between two of North America’s greatest players.
Niemann’s infamous defamation lawsuit also named Nakamura as a defendant, and the world number two has certainly made his share of content and cheating insinuations about his embattled opponent. Tonight, it was no contest in Paris as Nakamura dominated the matchup with a 21-9 scoreline to secure himself a third-place finish.
Starting strong in the 5+1 portion, Nakamura still left Niemann room to breathe as his 5-2 lead dwindled to just a single point by the end of the segment—but when the Titled Tuesday time control came around, the biggest chess streamer left nothing to chance. A 7.5-1.5 scoreline in the 3+1 segment effectively clinched the match, with many miracle saves completely demoralizing Niemann, who fell a further five points behind in the bullet portion despite a small late resurgence.
Still, he took the defeat in better stride than one might have expected:
Carlsen was quite complimentary towards Niemann in yesterday’s post-match interview, saying that the young American has improved quite a lot recently. When Nakamura was asked the same question, he voiced the opposite opinion, saying, “having played Hans in some blitz a couple years ago, I thought he played much better then than he did today,” adding that “in classical chess, it’s probably true” that Niemann has improved. He also noted how this was a rare and great opportunity for him to play chess like this in front of a live audience of fans.
Tomorrow, the 2024 edition of the Speed Chess Championship will conclude with the grand final between Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja. “If I play anything close to how I played today, I’m just gonna lose [in the grand final],” the Norwegian phenom said after his semifinal match with Niemann, and seeing how impressive Nakamura was today—and how Firouzja still rose to the occasion—that assessment definitely feels correct, and brings with it the promise of a mouth-watering title decider.
