Tani Beats Shreyas in Thrilling Open to UK vs. USA Match!

UPDATE: The main event took place on Sunday, June 28, 2020, and UK and USA tied 10-10, which means USA wins thanks to the "draw odds" earned by Tani. Congrats to both teams for a hard-fought match. Their is a rumor that a rematch is happening!

In a fantastic display of tactics and speed from both players, USA's Tani Adewumi bested UK's CM Shreyas Royal in Thursday's opening contest of the UK vs. USA Rising Stars Chess Match.

The match was tied 1-1 after the rapid portion but Tani won the first game of the tiebreak in the closing seconds. If you missed it, you can re-watch the entire action on ChessKid.com here.

With the win, the American squad now has "draw odds" in Sunday's 10-on-10 battle. Like this match, that will also be broadcast on Chess.com/TV and will start at 9am Pacific/12pm Eastern/5pm UK.

This marquee match was jointly hosted by ChessKid and the UK's Chess in Schools and Communities. FunMasterMike and IM Malcolm Pein commentated. This not only opened the Rising Stars Match, but also was a sort of prelude to July's ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship, where Tani and Shreyas are two of the eight invited players.

Tani explained in the interview segment that his style resembled Paul Morphy more than Fabiano Caruana (the two players he mentions heavily in his new book "My Name is Tani and I Believe in Miracles"). But he opened much more conservatively than the 19th-century hero, placing his pieces on modest squares and not launching any attacks.

Both commentators wondered if Black's control of the center refuted the opening, but suddenly after 16. Qa5 it was clear that White's control of the dark squares put Shreyas on the defensive. Still, Tani saved his best for later, with the sparkling (and very much Morphy-style) 28. Rxe6! tactic. The move exposed the black king too much and Tani even got to mate with a pawn.

Shreyas struck back in game two with an even more crushing attack. He also used some tactical wizardry to see the multi-move combination beginning with 14. Bxh6! which took advantage of the overworked queen. By capturing the "hook" pawn, White ate four pieces in a row before his knights galloped in to finish things off.

In a funny twist, had Black defended the mate on h7 with 18...f6, then 19. Nxe6 Qxe6 20. Bd5 is a carbon-copy of Tani's trick in game one!

There was a small delay going into the tiebreaker game, as this author/commentator had to go find a coin to flip. It seems no one is usual real money these days!

Abraham Lincoln proved to be a home-currency advantage as Shreyas called "tails" but the penny showed "heads." Interestingly, choosing white was not automatic. Tani verbally wavered on the air before choosing to move first (in his two-game mini-match with me in St. Louis last year, Tani actually preferred to play black in both games -- you can see game one here and game two here).

Tani's reaction after winning the final game. Perhaps no chess player has jumped so high on a live broadcast before!

The tiebreak game, played at 3+1, was dominated by Shreyas for all but the final few moves. After winning the exchange, both players dwindled down to only a few seconds. Instead of trading queens, then trading rooks, the British player inverted the exchanges and lost to an in-between move, the final move of the match.

To watch the exciting conclusion of the UK vs. USA Rising Stars Match, tune in to Chess.com/TV on Sunday, June 28 at 9am Pacific/12pm Eastern/5pm UK with commentary from FunMasterMike and other top coaches!