GM Penguin on the Train
Adding to the list of playing chess tournaments from absurd locations, Grandmaster Andrew Tang (aka PenguinGM, owing to his Lichess username) almost made it to the Knockout Stage of the Freestyle Chess Grandslam Weissenhaus Qualifier!
On January 6 2025, an online Play-In: Swiss was conducted on ChessCom which saw the attendance of many top Grandmasters including Alexander Grischuk, Sam Sevian, Javokhir Sindarov, Vladimir Fedoseev, etc. At stake, were 4 spots into the Knockout Stage where the 4 qualified players would meet 12 pre-seeded Super GMs, namely, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So, Praggnanandhaa, MVL and more. The Play-In stage was played with an exciting 10+2 time control which allowed the viewers to witness exciting time scrambles and clutch victories.
Eight rounds deep into the tournament, Andrew Tang was spotted fighting for his chances to qualify from a MOVING TRAIN! Daniel Naroditsky, who was commentating on the games, pointed out how difficult it to concentrate and play at a high level in such extraordinary circumstances, let alone leading the tournament. Yes, Tang was in contention to qualify with 7 points after 8 rounds, until his unfortunate loss came in the final round to Javokhir Sindarov who eventually made it through.
Replying to a post by the “Twitter King” — Anish Giri, Tang said, “It was a valiant effort given my connection issues.” It was indeed.
The tournament, however, went down to the wire and ended with Vladimir Fedoseev taking the top spot with an undefeated 8/9, justifying his European Fischer Random Champion title. Following Fedoseev were Denis Lazavik, Javokhir Sindarov and Oleksandr Bortnyk, who made their way to the Knockout Stage. Sam Sevian started his tournament with 6/6 yet missed his chances by a whisker, losing 2 out of his final 3 games. Alongside Sevian were players like Andrew Tang, World Rapid Champion Volodar Murzin, Jorden van Foreest, etc. who fell half a point short of having a shot.
Following are the pairings for the Double-Elimination KO Stage:
The Round of 16 commences at 4 PM GMT this evening — follow the results HERE
