Basketball and chess pros joined forces in the latest sports-and-chess crossover event, the Chesstival, which took place the weekend before the Las Vegas Freestyle Grand Slam, which begins on Wednesday. Grant Williams, of the Charlotte Hornets, won the Head & Hand event, while Quinten Post, of the Golden State Warriors, won the blitz tournament that followed. Both players donated $25,000 each to the charity of their choice: respectively, the Grant Williams Family Foundation and Reading Partners.
The Group Round-Robin of the main Freestyle Chess event starts on Wednesday, July 16, at 2 p.m. EST / 20:00 CEST / 11:30 p.m. IST.
Fans cheered on their favorite chess and basketball players. Photo: Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess.
The Chesstival took place on July 13th and featured two events: Freestyle Head & Hand (a.k.a. hand and brain) followed by a five-round Freestyle Blitz Tournament. The time control for hand and brain was 10+0, with 5+0 for the blitz. Retired NBA player Derrick Rose conceived of this event two years ago, and after organizing with the Freestyle Chess team, the event has finally come to fruition.
Rose, standing between commentator James Dash and Magnus Carlsen, was one of the masterminds behind the event. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess.
You can see a summary of the two events below:
Head & Hand: Williams & Polgar Pull Through
Williams and GM Judit Polgar won all three matches to win Head & Hand, which was a single-elimination knockout. Top chess players paired with top basketball players to make up two-player teams. We saw several super-grandmasters and strong players in the field, including GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Fabiano Caruana (world numbers one through three).
According to the rules of hand and brain, the super-grandmaster called out which piece to move and it was the amateur who decided where to move that piece. To make things even more interesting and chaotic, the starting position of the pieces on the first row was randomized for each game, according to the rules of Chess960.
In the upper half of the bracket, G-League player Tony Snell & Caruana cleaned up the first match after winning several hanging pieces in a row, including a queen. Post, playing with IM Tania Sachdev, found a nice way to trap the opponent's rook as early as move 12:
In the lower half, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl of the New Orleans Pelicans, partnered with GM Vidit Gujrathi, took out the team of Rose and Carlsen in the very first match, after winning a full knight. Williams and Polgar advanced to the Semifinals after winning on time, though they were dominating on board and clock as well.
A victorious handshake from the team that would win it all.
We had a whole new position in the Semifinals, which was determined by the now iconic lottery device—and the ball picked out by the winner of this year's first Freestyle Chess event and German number-one, GM Vincent Keymer.
In Post & Sachdev vs. Snell & Caruana, we could have seen a checkmate as early as move four, but fortunately Caruana could steer his opponent to safety by saying "rook." The only legal move avoids an embarrassing fate.
It was Black who went on to win, even if they missed another forced mate much later in the game. 35.Kd3! would have been the coldest of showers, with the unstoppable threat of 36.R1g5 and checkmate.
In Robinson-Earl & Vidit vs. Williams & Polgar, the former team found the brilliant 38.Bxh6!! but had to find the follow-up of 39.Ne7+ to justify it, winning. The latter team advanced, however, after 39.Nxh6? Kxh6 left them up a piece in the endgame.
We came close to seeing our first draw in the Final, between Snell & Caruana and Williams & Polgar. Black cannot break the blockade on the light squares, even with an extra pawn, but a transition into the pure king and pawn endgame was a losing choice for White.
Williams, who likened playing chess with shooting from the free-throw line, shouted out his partner: "I had a great partner who honestly led the way and led the charge and I just did my best to hopefully use my brain to get close to matching hers."
Polgar followed up: "Our secret was definitely that Grant was excellent in time management... some of the critical moments we were able to hang on, even if we had downhill, we were just hanging on, fighting, and then waiting for the opportunity."
Williams and Polgar were a powerful team. Photo: Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess.
Blitz Tournament: Post Wins With Nearly Perfect Score
Next was the blitz tournament, which featured 12 basketball stars. This time, no grandmasters participated, but they could still give advice about the openings before the game started. The seven-foot Dutchman Post won by half a point, scoring four wins and one draw.
Post had to exhibit both qualities of defense and offense to reach his nearly perfect score. He was in trouble in round one against De'Anthony Melton, but one slip allowed him back in the game with 13.Re2!. Two moves later, he found a discovered attack to win the queen.
He showed a clear familiarity with attacking patterns as he teed up for a decisive rook sacrifice in game three. 28.Rhxh5! was a full rook sacrifice for a pawn, but it won the game.
The only draw he made, Post really could have won that too. Up a queen, he accidentally allowed a stalemate.
Post deserved to sit on his throne after that performance. Photo: Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess.
Williams and Post were interviewed at the end of the event before each receiving a $25,000 check and a trophy. Williams will donate his winnings to the Grant Williams Family Foundation, which "strives to close the inequity gap and hopes to remove obstacles for underserved students by providing invaluable resources and programs," according to the mission statement on the website.
He called the day "special" and said, "Chess is a game that connects the world, similar to basketball, so hopefully we can continue to grow it together."
Chess is a game that connects the world, similar to basketball, so hopefully we can continue to grow it together.
—Grant Williams
Post, after winning blitz tournament, 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." He said, "I think this will only grow, only get bigger. I was talking to D Rose earlier; there's probably a lot more of the guys in the NBA that play chess, so we'll definitely get some more players out here... I'm excited for next year."
I think this will only grow, only get bigger.
—Quinten Post
How to Watch
GM David Howell, Jonah Malkin, and James Dash hosted the broadcast.
The $750,000 3rd leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam will be played in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 16th - 20th. Participants include GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez and Parham Maghsoodloo. The Chesstival was a promotional event and the prize money, $50,000 in total, went to charity.
Previous Coverage: