Leinier Domínguez returns to Fischer Chess

September 5, 2021

The best chess player born in Cuba since the legendary Capablanca, Leinier Domínguez, will soon participate in the Champions Showdown of chess 960 or random chess, in an event that will once again see retired former world champion Garry Kasparov compete.

The event will take place from September 8 to 10 at the American Saint Louis Chess Club, and will also feature the presence of the world number two, Fabiano Caruana; and the recent winner of the Grand Chess Tour 2021, Wesley So, the reigning universal champion of this chess variant devised by American genius Bobby Fischer.

The ten registered masters will play a round-robin tournament, competing for a total purse of 150 thousand dollars.

"We are delighted to bring this fan-favorite tournament to our global audience in September. Fans will surely enjoy the thrilling action," said Tony Rich, executive director of the Saint Louis Chess Club, in statements cited by Chessbase.

The roster of the 2021 Champions Showdown is completed by Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Peter Svidler and Sam Shankland.

In the previous edition, Nakamura finished tied at the top with the notable absence of this year, Magnus Carlsen, while Domínguez anchored in seventh place and Kasparov in eighth.

In this variant, the initial position of the pieces is decided randomly—although said process is subject to certain restrictions—which determines the existence of 960 possible arrangements before the start of each game.