Budapest hosted the competition for the second time since 1926.Continue reading
Judit Polgár, the best female chess player of all time, triumphed at a special chess festival where all eight teams consisted of a current or former NBA basketball player and an international grandmaster. The event took place the weekend before the Las Vegas Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.
The Chesstival, held in Las Vegas, was organized by former NBA star Derrick Rose and former world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. The idea came from Rose, a chess enthusiast and the youngest MVP-award winner in NBA history, who wanted to create an event that would bring together his two passions, basketball and chess. In the Head & Hand format game, the chess master announced the name of the piece, but only the name, and his basketball teammate had to make the move.
“Teaming up with Grant Williams was great fun! He is not only interested in chess. He also shows his determination and focus on the chessboard. The first game was tough as I did not know much about either my partner or his chess, and it was also a new experience for me to play freestyle with Rajon Rondo and Hikaru Nakamura. We all come from the sports field. It does not matter if you are a chess player or a basketball player, because it is in our blood that we want to win,” wrote Judit Polgár, who has already retired from competition, on her social media page.
According to the 48-year-old legendary Hungarian player, the semifinal was tough, but since she understood her partner’s chess level, she felt that she could help him with better guidance during the game against Vidit Gujrathi and Jeremiah Robinson Earl. “They played in full harmony. But at one point, they had to make a follow-up move and got lost in time trouble,” she reported on the semifinal.
The finals against Fabiano Caruana and Tony Snell seemed to be a great opening for the Polgár-Williams duo. “But the white pieces got into action. At some point, it was scary for us. Anyway, we did not give up, fought on, and with some critical defensive moves by Grant, we were able to hold on, and even win at the end in great time trouble.”
She concluded:
I am proud of Grant. He showed great fighting spirit, good nerves, and huge curiosity while we were creating our strategy for each game. His time management was a key factor in our victory.”
The $25,000 prize was donated to the Grant Williams Family Foundation. The foundation identifies and promotes opportunities for the next generation in the areas of mentoring, financial literacy, technology, and the arts.
The other event of the festival was the blitz tournament, featuring 12 basketball stars. This time, no grandmasters participated, but they could still give advice about the openings before the game started. Quinten Post, player for the Golden State Warriors, won the tournament. Post will donate his prize to Reading Partners which, according to its website, provides “individualized reading support to put students on a path toward reading at grade level by fourth grade.”
Via MTI, Chess.com; Featured image: MTI/Lakatos Péter