IMs Polina Shuvalova and Lawrence Trent filled the last two spots of the 2023 I’M Not A GM Speed Chess Championship Semifinals after, respectively, winning Groups C and D. The other two semifinalists are IMs Greg Shahade and Levy Rozman (aka GothamChess). 

Shuvalova is the highest-rated player in the tournament (2506 FIDE), but IM Daniel Rensch put her to the test in round three. He beat her four times in a row to win their first match, but Shuvalova struck back just as hard in the tiebreaks with a 3-0 score.

Despite a bleak prediction for Trent’s chances by Shahade yesterday, the English IM won all three matches. In his final showdown against IM Kostya Kavutskiy, he played the “Swindle of the Day” in game two and the Game of the Day in game three, finally totaling a 4-1 score.

The Semifinals begin on Monday, October 16, starting with Shahade vs. Rozman at 2:00 p.m. ET / 20:00 CEST / 23:30 IST. 

In just two days, 16 players have been whittled down to the final four—the Group Stage is over. In the matches that remain in the tournament, we will go back to the regular Speed Chess Championship format. 

Group C

“I have had a few late-night training sessions with an unnamed staff member this week…. The bad news is I got my a** kicked… the good news is, I don’t know if there’s any good news here.”

– @DanielRensch, who did not wear the green pawn suit today#IMSCC #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/bxIc1X8oxS

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 13, 2023

Shuvalova won her first match with a 4-0 sweep against Martinez and didn’t even smile or celebrate. Instead, she immediately focused on analyzing her games—and she would repeat this for every match. Souleidis defeated Rensch only in the last bullet game, to win by one point.

The top seed was the only player to win two out of two matches going into the last round. In her last game against Souleidis in round two, both players missed a surprising opening blunder, which could have been punished twice, first with 14.Nxc6! and 15.Nxc6!. But it was a bullet game, and she later found a nice desperado to trade into a winning endgame. 

Rensch bounced back with a match win over Martinez, who had a tough day at the office and lost seven games in a row (across two matches). Needing just a half-point in the last game, the Chief Chess Officer still found the brilliant 15…Bxc2!! and forced the draw despite having yet another winning position:

Going into the last round, Shuvalova needed just one more match win to take Group C. And when she won the first two games against Rensch, it looked like smooth sailing.

The human green pawn struck back hard and won the next four games to steal the match. In a must-win final game, Shuvalova was up a full rook but, in severe time trouble, blundered the game and the match:

IM @DanielRensch wins four games in a row to take down the top seed Polina Shuvalova!

They’ll play tiebreaks next to decide who wins Group C. #IMSCC #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/H2lzJF63mZ

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 13, 2023

Martinez, finally warmed up, won a match for the first time, with 4-2 against Souleidis, but it was too late. The only players to score two match wins, Rensch and Shuvalova, would play bullet tiebreaks, the winner being the best of four.

Shuvalova reasserted herself and won the first two games in a row. In game three, Rensch turned around a lost position into an objectively winning one, but just as the moment was ripe, he lost on time. Shuvalova, with a commanding 3-0 score, won Group C. 

On the cusp of bringing it home in a must-win game, Rensch loses on time and Shuvalova wins Group C!#IMSCC #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/F7tVTBmdYB

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 13, 2023

Asked about how she prepared for Friday’s games, she answered that her last two weeks were spent playing in the 73rd Russian Women’s Championship, where she finished in tied second-fourth. Although Shuvalova wasn’t sure if it helped, it certainly didn’t hurt!

The Russian IM has already reached the 2500 rating minimum needed for the grandmaster title. She still, however, needs to gain two more GM norms (of three). The grandmaster title is nice, but she also pointed out a major downside:

“If I gain the GM norms, I will not anymore [be] able to participate in this event, so it would be quite frustrating!” says @poli_chess, winner of Group C.#IMSCC #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/RHMw4uLuPl

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 13, 2023

In his interview afterward, Rensch shared: “It’s really easy to underestimate how hard it is to lose several games and kind of give up a lead and then gather yourself, and she did it… ultimately, she was the better player.”

All Games | Group C

Group D 

The next and final group of four was: 

• Commentator, author, coach, and (retired?) chessboxer Trent
• Chess.com’s Director of Indian Content, Rakesh Kulkarni
• Three-time winner of the American Continental Women’s Championship, IM Deysi Cori
• Teacher, commentator, and self-described “washed up IM” Kavutskiy 

The two standout players from the first two rounds were Kavutskiy and Trent. Rakesh had a rough start, losing 0-4 to Trent in his first match. Trent finished that match with a checkmate on the board:

Lawrence Trent means business as he wins his first match 4-0!#IMSCC #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/FMI9RrAx1i

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 13, 2023

Rakesh had a much closer match in the second, but Kavutskiy finished on top with 3.5-2.5. Cori, too, got off on the wrong foot, scoring just two points out of 10 games in her first two matches—she would go on to win 4-2 against Rakesh in the last round.

The third and final round was the most consequential as the two tournament leaders, Trent and Kavutskiy, went head to head. 

Kavutskiy showed a keen tactical vision in game one as he used a key diagonal and rank to smash out the decisive combination. Can you find the best moves here for White?

Trent was about to go down two points in the second game but found the uncontestable swindle of the day, discovering a resource when others might even consider resigning: 

The swindle of the day most definitely goes to Lawrence! 💀 Wow! #IMSCC #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/fbpWz3s4ry

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 13, 2023

“That was the big game-changer,” said Trent after the match. “And after that, I felt like I had pretty much everything under control,” said Trent. “Had he won that, he’d be up 2-0 and a massive favorite to win.”

Our Game of the Day is clearly the next game, which is an attacking brilliancy by Trent. It is another one of those scintillating King’s Indian-style attacks, and Trent finished it off with a queen sacrifice for a checkmate that landed on the board.

 GM Dejan Bojkov annotates the game below. (It will be added soon.)

Trent won the last game and finished with a 4-1 score, making it to the Semifinals.

Likely responding to Rensch’s comment about his hair (or lack thereof), Trent showed some humility and yes, more self-deprecation, despite the marvelous performance of winning all three matches with no tiebreaks or armageddons.

“A bit like my hairline, my performance got progressively worse as the day went on!” says @LawrenceTrentIM after winning Group D. #IMSCC #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/dIp2NfZCAy

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 13, 2023

On playing Shuvalova on Monday: “She’s a better chess player than me, which is a big issue going into the match. But, you know, I think my style is gonna be problematic for her.”

All Games | Group D

Group Standings 

Semifinals Bracket

The I’M Not A GM Speed Chess Championship is a spin-off of Chess.com’s beloved Speed Chess Championship. Starting on October 12 at 11 a.m. ET/17:00 CEST/20:30 IST, players of IM (international master) strength will compete in a series of fast chess matches. The event features a $15,000 prize fund.

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