Ultimate Blitz Challenge with Garry Kasparov

The top three finishers in the U.S. Championship - Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura - will join Garry Kasparov in a special exhibition blitz tournament. The four players will face each other in three round-robins per day for two days, for a total of 18 games. There will be small breaks between rounds (1-2 minutes) and longer breaks between each round-robin (10-15 minutes). The time control is five minutes per player per game, with a three-second delay (not increment) each move. The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is happy to provide a total prize fund of USD $50,000 for the blitz event, with a first prize of USD $20,000. Garry Kasparov has generously offered to donate his prize winnings to support the U.S. Olympiad team. In the event of tied final scores, prizes will be divided evenly. Games are unrated. Official site: www.uschesschamps.com