March Madness at Dos Hermanas

After a dramatic week of 12 qualifiers hosted exclusively at www.chessclub.com, the ICC version of “March Madness” and the science of bracketology now comes into play as the world’s strongest online blitz tournament, Dos Hermanas, reaches the decisive 32-player knockout finals.

Click here for brackets for Dos Hermanas 32-player final.

Battling it out now for the €7,600 (about $9,600) prize fund will be no less than 27 GMs, 2 IMs, 1 FM and two untitled players, one of which yet again being defending two-time champion Jorge Sammour-Hasbun! Will Jorge again defy the odds as an untitled player for a a remarkable three-in-a-row to take the top prize of €2,000 (roughly $2,500), or will one of the top-seeded GMs, such as Hikaru Nakamura, Ivan Cheparinov, Gabriel Sargissian or Daniel Fridman finally end his remarkable winning run at Dos Hermanas?

And you have a courtside seat here at ICC to follow all the action as it unfolds game by game. Play gets underway in the first stage of the finals on Friday, March 20th starting at 15:00 EDT (20:00 CET), with the final 8 going forward to play for the title on Saturday, 21st March at 15:00 EDT (20:00CET).

JOHN B. HENDERSON

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