Chess.com's 2017 Speed Chess Championship: Matches 2 & 3

This past week there were a couple more matches in Chess.com's 2017 Speed Chess Championship: Sergey Karjakin vs. Georg Meier and Wesley So vs. Anish Giri. The first match was an utter blowout in terms of the score, but on a game-by-game basis the players were well-matched. Karjakin (the reigning world blitz champion) did everything a bit better than Meier, and while Meier also had his chances Karjakin was far more efficient in converting his opportunities.

The So-Giri match was another story altogether. It went back and forth all the way and came down to the wire. I won't offer any spoilers: it's entirely up to you whether you want to see the result first or relive the drama for yourself.

The Karjakin-Meier video is here, and So-Giri is here. The next match is a ways off: Alexander Grischuk vs. Richard Rapport takes place July 20. One last bit of info: the winner of the So-Giri match jumps from the frying pan into the fire, and will get Magnus Carlsen next, assuming the world champion gets past bottom seed Gadir Guseinov on October 5.