Chess.com Speed Chess Championship 2018 Round Of 16 Betting Odds

–Chess is a surprisingly popular game among bettors–particularly in Europe.

–Magnus Carlsen won this tournament in 2017 but isn’t in the field this year

–All events will be streamed live at Chess.com and Twitch.

The Chess.com Speed Chess Championship is definitely one of the most unique and innovative tournaments you’ll find anywhere. The fact that it’s a Speed Chess tournament isn’t particularly unusual as they’re are plenty of those all over the world at all levels of competition. For example, there’s a high level World Chess Tour event in August called the ‘Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz’ with a prize pool of $150,000 US.

What’s innovative about the Speed Chess Championship is how it is contested and presented. It takes inspiration from eSports with a single elimination tournament where the participants are in remote locations–in other words, they’re not playing head to head on a stage as in most events. They’re in different places but the audience can watch their moves and see their reaction on webcam as part of Chess.com’s live streaming coverage. The tournament will begin on July 24, 2018 and the ‘Round of 16’ will continue until early September.

You can read the full format for the competition at the link below but the basic rules are as follows: “Each 2018 Speed Chess Championship match will feature 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet chess.”

2018 SPEED CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT

All events will be streamed live on Chess.com and video game streaming powerhouse Twitch.tv:

CHESS.COM TV

TWITCH.TV/CHESS

You’ll find a preview of the opening match between Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian at the link below:

CHESS.COM SPEED CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018–FABIANO CARUANA VS. LEVON ARONIAN PREVIEW

You’ll find a schedule with a full field rundown here:

CHESS.COM SPEED CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018–SCHEDULE & FULL FIELD RUNDOWN

Anything else you need to know about the tournament can be found here:

CHESS.COM SPEED CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

A good explanation of Blitz Chess is found at Wikihow.com

HOW TO PLAY BLITZ CHESS (WIKIHOW)

They’ve even got a ‘hype video’:

Here’s the official SPORTS BETTING EXPERTS odds on all eight ‘Round of 16’ matchups. We’ll be back for the quarterfinals which kick off on September 20, 2018:

CHESS.COM SPEED CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND OF 16 BETTING ODDS

FABIANO CARUANA VS. LEVON ARONIAN (7/24/18)

Fabiano Caruana: +210
Levon Aronian: -250

HIKARU NAKAMURA VS. HOU YIFAN (7/26/18)

Hikaru Nakamura: -3500
Hou Yifan: +1750

WESLEY SO VS. WEI YI (7/29/18)

Wesley So: -250
Wei Yi: +210

MAXIME VACHIER-LAGRAVE VS. LEINIER DOMÍNGUEZ (8/2/18)

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: -475
Leinier Domínguez: +400

IAN NEPOMNIACHTCHI VS. ALEXANDER GRISCHUK (8/7/18)

Ian Nepomniachtchi: +125
Alexander Grischuk: -145

ZAVEN ANDRIASIAN VS. GUJRATHI VIDIT SANTOSH (8/30/18)

Zaven Andriasian: +100
Gujrathi Vidit Santosh: -120

SERGEY KARJAKIN VS. JAN-KRZYSZTOF DUDA (9/6/18)

Sergey Karjakin: -475
Jan-Krzysztof Duda: +400

ANISH GIRI VS. SHAKHRIYAR MAMEDYAROV (9/7/18)

Anish Giri: +150
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: -170

About the Author: Jim Murphy

For more than 25 years, Jim Murphy has written extensively on sports betting as well as handicapping theory and practice. Jim Murphy has been quoted in media from the Wall Street Journal to REASON Magazine. Murphy worked as a radio and podcasting host broadcasting to an international audience that depended on his expertise and advice. Murphy is an odds making consultant for sports and 'non-sport novelty bets' focused on the entertainment business, politics, technology, financial markets and more.