Speed Chess Championship 2020 Bets: Can a Woman be Champion?

Chess.com introduced a new IM Not a GM Speed Chess Championship where top international masters are taking part. The tournament started on the 18th of April and now only four players remained. In our Speed Chess Championship 2020 bets, we show the favorite to win the tournament. 

In these special circumstances several new tournaments have been born in many different sports, and it happened in the world of chess as well. With the absence of real-life chess tournaments, a new online version of Speed Chess was made.  The IM Not a GM Speed Chess Championship gives the opportunity to compete for international masters. As it comes from its name, grandmasters, the best chess players are not taking part in it. Still, fans can see great games in the tournament if they follow the streaming of them online. Matches feature 75 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 45 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 25 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess. While the total prize fund is $6,000.  

In the Speed Chess Championship 2020 bets, American player is the favorite

16 international masters have started the championship on the 18th of April with only four players remaining now. Online sportsbooks in the US are giving the smallest odds for the victory of American IM John Bartholomew. He will play against Greg Shahade in the first semi-final on the 11th of May. Shahade is also an American master, who has founded the New York Masters and the US Chess League. His opponent, Bartholomew won his first Grandmaster norm in 2013. He is probably one of the most-known chess players thanks to his YouTube channel, where he has instructional chess videos. His odds to win the game is 1.245 while to win the whole tournament is 1.50. 

Other favorites

His biggest rival can be Alina Kashlinskaya, who has the odds of 4.50 at 1xBet Sportsbook for the final victory. The young Russian international master and woman grandmaster is also the 2019 European Women’s Individual Chess champion. In this tournament Kashlinskaya first eliminated German IM Christof Sielecki in a thrilling game, winning 13-11 at the end. Then she had a more convincing victory against Eric Rosen, and now she will face American Teddy Coleman in the other semi-final. 

Online gambling sites in the US are expecting a tight game between them, with similar odds for their wins. Alina’s is slightly favored with 1.70 while Coleman has the odds of 2.03 to win the game. The American IM, who is a software engineer in real life played an exciting game against Levy Rozman and got through with an 11.5 v 9.5 result. But even if he could manage to defeat Alina, he wouldn’t have too much of a chance to win in the final according to the Speed Chess Championship 2020 bets. You can follow the games on chess.com/TV or on Twitch with commentaries of grandmasters Robert Hess and Daniel Naroditsky. 

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