Back to his bullet roots
After ten rounds, Alireza Firouzja is sharing 6th-8th place at the Candidates Tournament in Madrid. So far, the youngster has lost three games and beaten Richard Rapport, and is out of the race for first place.
Last year, the Iranian-born star reached the second spot in the world ranking. Expectations were high after Magnus Carlsen hinted that he would gladly face him in a World Championship match — unlike other opponents. Things have not been going according to plan in Madrid, though. After his round-10 loss, the 19-year-old played over 300 bullet-chess games online, and not during a rest day.
The world champion shared on Twitter:
Now that Alireza has gone back to his bullet roots, I’m sure he’ll be inspired and win tomorrow!
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) June 29, 2022
One of Firouzja’s rivals during his bullet-chess spree was GM Daniel Naroditsky, who is working as an official commentator in the Candidates. Anish Giri quipped:
Just read that Daniel Naroditsky played 200+ hyperbullet games at 5AM. Seems quite unprofessional given he is an official commentator at the Candidates, but I guess he can handle it all!🤯
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) June 30, 2022
Not surprisingly, the excellently prepared Firouzja had a good run during his marathon on LiChess. He gained almost 150 rating points in 357 games!
![Play Like Tigran Petrosian with GM Marian Petrov [TCW Academy]](https://cncinfoweb.link/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Play-Like-Tigran-Petrosian-120x86.jpg)
