Liang Wins S-Chess Championship, Beats Ex-Bughouse-Partner Xiong In Grand Final

GM Awonder Liang defeated GM Jeffery Xiong 2.5-1.5 in the Grand Final to win the Seirawan Chess Championship 2024 and $600. It was an exciting clash between the two friends who together won the Bughouse Chess Championship earlier this year. GM Yasser Seirawan, one of the two creators of this variant, got as far as the Losers Final, where he lost against Xiong 2.5-1.5.

Qualifier Winners And Knockout Bracket

The Knockout was an eight-player double-elimination tournament, so players could lose two matches before they were truly eliminated. To learn more about the rules of the variant, you can check out our previous report on the qualifiers. Whoever reached 2.5 points first won each match and the time control was 3+2. 

In addition to the players listed above, the other five players who qualified were Arian Rahimpour (the only untitled player), IM Kacper Drozdowski, GM Guha Mitrabha, GM Benjamin Bok, and IM Nhat Minh To. Liang won both of his first matches with perfect 3/3 scores, against Mitrabha and then Drozdowski, before beating Xiong 3-2 in the Winners Final. They would have a rematch at the end of the event.

Even for experienced players, the two new pieces introduced patterns they had never seen before. The confusion stemming from that also led to several one-move blunders, even from the strongest players in the event, as we will see throughout the report.

Yasser gets forked by a hawk twice in a row! pic.twitter.com/iQGegYJqwL

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 8, 2024

Xiong actually defeated Seirawan 3.5-2.5 in his first match, before taking down Minh To 3-1. One of the games in that second match allowed Xiong to show off the checkmating power of a hawk, which moves like both a knight and bishop.

The only player to defeat him was Liang, twice. One of their games from the Winners Final shows a peculiar and common tactic in Seirawan Chess, in the screenshot below. The knight "hangs" on c3, but if it's taken by the pawn, White wins by checkmate with 6.Qxd8 @Ed1#, capturing the black queen and, in the same turn, placing an elephant on d1 to defend the white queen. 

Many other tactics stemmed from this motif—that the d-file cannot be opened if the queens are facing each other. But FM Bruce Harper, Seirawan's longtime friend and co-creator of the variant, joined the broadcast and explained that despite some quirks, the variant is still extremely similar to chess: 

All the same principles apply. It's quite amazing, in a way, how often a good piece is still a good piece and a bad piece is a bad piece. So all the positional concepts apply, which I think is why this is a good variant because it doesn't really change chess. It just kind of puts it in technicolor.

It doesn't really change chess. It just kind of puts it in technicolor.

—Bruce Harper

After the early loss to Xiong, Seirawan crawled back to the Losers Final by defeating Rahimpour 3-1, Drozdowski 2.5-1.5, and Minh To 3-1. That final match produced two cute checkmates we never get to see in chess.

33...Hf2# is a mate in one, the hawk forming a smothered mate all by itself.

In the same match, we saw a smothered mate by the elephant.

We were next off to the Losers Final. Xiong won the first game on time. The next game featured an elephant endgame with no other pieces on the board—something Seirawan said he's never gotten to play yet. It ended in a draw by perpetual check. 

The younger grandmaster won the match in the third game, though Harper called it a kind of "letdown." In the opening, a Nimzo-Indian, Seirawan forgot that White's move 4.e4 is still possible thanks to the hawk on b1.

In regular chess, of course, 4.e4 isn't a good move because the knight on c3 is pinned. So White got an overwhelming opening advantage, and even Xiong actually blundered a pawn later, his center was so strong that he won regardless.

That was the end of the road for Seirawan, but he stayed to analyze the Grand Final between Xiong and Liang. Both creators of the variant provided their insights on the broadcast. By the way, they shared that they nearly called the variant "Sharper Chess," before settling on Seirawan Chess, also known as S-Chess. 

Liang won after four games. After an uneventful draw in the first game, Liang won game two with an attack. The doubled pawns, particularly the weakness on f6, proved easy pickings for the hawk, which scooped up the rook on h8.

That victory was short-lived, however, as Liang hung a bishop in one move. The score was again even, 1.5-1.5.

Harper praised the next game as extremely high-quality, but as it devolved into a time scramble, Xiong lost on time. In the following position, the players and commentators agreed chances would be equal if Black had brought the rook to c8.

With that, Liang became the Seirawan Chess Champion without having to play Seirawan himself! The players graciously joined the broadcast at the end and analyzed all of the games for over 30 minutes. You can listen to their direct thoughts in the timestamped video below.

The next and last Community Championship is the Crazyhouse Chess Championship. The qualifiers will occur December 2-5, with the Knockout on December 6. You have just about a month to start practicing!

The Chess.com Seirawan Chess Championship is the seventh event of the Chess.com Community Championships series. The tournament was decided with an eight-player double-elimination bracket. Each competitor qualified via one of eight 75-minute arenas with a 3+2 time control.

Previous Coverage

• Yasser Seirawan Himself Qualifies For Seirawan Chess Championship
• O.G. Of Fog Of War FM Chan Wins Community Championship
• Chess.com Community Championships Could See Repeat Winner
• Embrace The Darkness! Get Ready For The Chess.com Fog Of War Chess Championship
• Minh To Prevails In Duck Chess Championship
• Rosen, Minh To Join Duck Chess Experts in Finals
• Rubber Ducks And Madness In The Next Event Of The Chess.com Community Championships
• Comeback Kings Liang, Xiong Win Bughouse Championship
• Arjun, Nihal Take Aim At Two-Time Bughouse World Champions Liang, Xiong
• Tang Scores 71/80 In 6th Qualifier With Mysterious New Bughouse Partner
• Helmsknight, Vasquez Overcome Team Tang To Qualify On 3rd Attempt
• Xiong, Liang Win 50 Consecutive Games In Bughouse Championship Qualifier
• Moroni Claims Spell Chess Crown In Grand Final Reset
• Spell Chess Specialists Qualify For Knockout Ahead of Bok, Bortnyk, Hambleton
• Younger Brother Triumphs In Atomic Rivalry
• National Master Halts GM Martinez's Reign In Crazyhouse Championship
• Martinez Defends Variant Crown In 3 Check Chess
• Martinez Is King of The Hill In Variants Final
• Variants Community Series Results
• Variants Community Series: All The Information