Millionaire Monday Set

Millionaire Monday Set, Final Four Battle for $100K
by Peter Hess

After seven rounds of grueling chess, Millionaire Monday has been set, with the winner looking to capture the $100,000 grand prize in the highest stakes tournament ever in the US — guaranteed $1 million in prizes. The previous highest stakes tournament was over eight years ago, but with only half as large a prize purse.

Grandmasters Wesley So, Ray Robson, Yangyi Yu, and Jianchao Zhou will battle each other in a series of rapid games for the title of Millionaire Chess Champion. The road to the final four was certainly not easy for these players. While So was relatively unscathed throughout the tournament, the American GM Robson bounced back after a rocky start, having drawn a lower rated player early on in the tournament, pulling away with 4.5 points in the last five rounds. Decisive victories by So and Robson in round seven allowed for the two players to move directly into the Millionaire Monday bracket, while the remaining two spots took a little more chess to clinch.

Chinese GMs Yu and Zhou were forced to play in a single round-robin in an effort to win the huge cash prize. Yu was remarkable in the Chess Olympiad in August, where he led the Chinese national team to a gold medal with a phenomenal 9.5/11 finish — also earning him a gold medal on their third board.

Full article here.