2022 FWFRCC Finals - Live

Last week, in 2022 FWFRCC Finals (November 2022), I recorded the nuts and bolts of the final stage of the 'FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship'. Now let's have a look at the action on the last day.

Hikaru v. Nepo Final + Can Carlsen Win A Medal? Fischer Random World Championship (6:10:36) • 'Streamed live on Oct 30, 2022'

The description said,

Chess stars Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi are competing to become the Fischer Random world champion! The 2022 Fischer Random World Championship is an over-the-board event in Reykjavik, Iceland. Magnus Carlsen also takes on Nodirbek Abdusattorov on the final day of competition!

A link in the description went to 'Oct 29, 2022 - Oct 31, 2022' Fischer Random World Championship Finals 2022 (chess.com). For more from Youtube's Chess.com channel, see:-

• 2022-10-25: Opening Prep Is USELESS: Carlsen, Hikaru, and Nepo Fight For Fischer Random Title | FRWC 2022 Finals
• 2022-10-26: Can Hikaru, Magnus, Nepo, or Chess’ Elite Knock Champion Wesley So Off The Fischer Random Throne?
• 2022-10-27: Wesley, Magnus, Hikaru, and Nepo CHASE DOWN Nodirbek in the Fischer Random World Championship!
• 2022-10-29: Can Magnus and Hikaru Break Their Tie and Stop Nodirbek’s DOMINANT Fischer Random Performance?
• 2022-10-30: HIKARU v. NEPO FINAL + Can Carlsen Win A Medal? Fischer Random World Championship • Starts at 25:30 with the first game already in progress

The last link leads to the same video shown in the embedded stream above. The last two streams featured commentary by GMs Naroditsky and Hess. I haven't (yet) watched the first three streams to confirm if the same pair commentated all five. In the final post from last month 2022 FWFRCC Follow-ups (October 2022), I wrote,

This past week I managed to watch a few hours of the 2022 FWFRCC group stage. I was amazed by the quality of the games and of the commentary.

I should mention that I watched on the Youtube channel for Chess24. Here's a list of live streams from the same channel [FWFRC = FIDE World Fischer Random Championship]:-

• 2022-10-25: [FWFRC] Day 1 | Peter Leko & Nils Grandelius
• 2022-10-29: [FWFRC] Semifinals | Peter Leko & Alejandro Ramirez
• 2022-10-30: [FWFRC] Finals | Peter Leko & Alejandro Ramirez
• 2022-10-30: [FWFRC] Finals Pt2 | Peter Leko & Alejandro Ramirez

From what I've seen so far, my preferred chess960 commentator has to be Peter Leko. Hungarian GM Leko was one of the earliest practitioners of chess960 and rubbed shoulders with Fischer when the eccentric American GM lived in Hungary. For a previous post on an early high profile match, see 2001 Leko - Adams on Geocities (May 2022).

2022 FWFRCC Finals

In my previous post on this blog, 2022 FWFRCC Follow-ups (October 2022; FWFRCC stands for 'FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship'), I ended saying,

This past week I managed to watch a few hours of the 2022 FWFRCC group stage. I was amazed by the quality of the games and of the commentary. Unfortunately, I won't be able to write about the winner until the next scheduled post on this blog next month.

The official announcement of the winner -- 'Hikaru Nakamura is the 2022 FIDE World Fischer Random Champion' -- is shown below.

Source: FIDE Fischer Random World Chess Championship 2022
frchess.com -or- fischerrandom.fide.com

The event was covered by all of the major chess news sites. Let's follow the action on FIDE's own site. All of these stories, plus many more, are also available on the official site(s):-

• 2022-10-03: Wesley So set to defend his Fischer Random title (fide.com, as are the rest of the stories on this list)
• 2022-10-23: Are you ready to Random!? (signed 'GM Jonathan Tisdall', as are the rest)
• 2022-10-24: FIDE World Fischer Random Championship [FWFRC]: Group stage ready to begin
• 2022-10-25: [FWFRC]: Veterans show muscle; teenager [Abdusattorov] shows fire
• 2022-10-27: [FWFRC]: Home and away – a day of double duels
• 2022-10-29: Carlsen crashes out, Nakamura downs prodigy to set up surprise final • 'Ian Nepomniachtchi gained Fischer Random revenge for his unsuccessful classical title challenge against Magnus Carlsen last year, and immovable object Hikaru Nakamura toppled the irresistible force of the preliminaries, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, to set up a title match few predicted.'
• 2022-10-30: New U.S. World Champion – Nakamura follows in Bobby Fischer’s footsteps • 'US Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura gained his first world title, winning the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship today in Reykjavik, Iceland. He defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi, the previous and current challenger for the classical chess world title, winning in a nail-biting "Armageddon" playoff game after their match ended 2-2.'

GM Tisdall has emerged as one of the leading authorities on C960/FRC. For the previous post on this blog, see Chess960 Movers and Shakers (November 2020). As for GM Nakamura, he has been mentioned so many times on this blog that he deserves his own category. Since that's not likely to happen anytime soon, use the search box in the right navigation column. Congratulations on his impressive success in the 2022 FWFRCC!