Mother-Daughter Duo Overcome Team ChessKid, Advance To Semifinals

The mother-daughter duo of GM Pia Cramling and WFM Anna Cramling reigned supreme in the first quarterfinal match of the 2024 Team Chess Battle 2. They controlled the match against Team ChessKid—IM Alice Lee and FM Mike Klein—for the most part, scoring 2-0. Only the second game was a bundle of nerves as it took 110 moves for the Cramlings to convert a winning position with little time, but they never truly lost their grip in that game or the match.

The next quarterfinal match will be IM John Bartholomew and IM Danny Rensch (Team "Dandinavian") vs. IM Eric Rosen and WGM Nemo Zhou ("Oh Yes My Queen"), on Wednesday, October 9, at 12:00 p.m. ET / 18:00 CEST / 9:30 p.m. IST.

Team Chess Battle 2 Bracket

Team Chess Battle Is Back

Most of the time, chess is an individual game, but we are now seeing a third team event in the last month. At the start of September, we saw the 45th Chess Olympiad and, concurrently with this event, there is the 2024 Global Chess League. Chess.com's Team Chess Battle, an event featuring titled chess celebrities, is back for its second edition.

Team C-Squared won the inaugural title but will not be participating this time, as GM Fabiano Caruana will be playing in the 2024 U.S. Championship starting this Friday. Pia partnered with GM Peter Leko last time, on a team that was eliminated in the first match by GM Wesley So and Lee. Klein and Anna, on the other hand, make their debuts. You can see all the teams below.

At this unique tournament, teams of two players are allowed to discuss their moves as they attempt to outplay an opposing team. The format is essentially the same as last time (February of this year) except that the time control has increased from 10+10 to 15+10, to give the players more time to banter in between moves. 

Before the games begin, the players are all interviewed together in the same room. This opens the door to trash-talking or complimenting opponents, sharing any match strategy publicly, roasting your own teammate if you wish (as GM Anish Giri did with Rensch earlier), and general banter.

Anna shared her excitement and also slight apprehension: "I have always wanted to be in the same team as my mom for something like this, and I hope I don't get too roasted by my own mom!"

I have always wanted to be in the same team as my mom for something like this, and I hope I don't get too roasted by my own mom!

—Anna Cramling

The closest we came to trash-talk from Klein was challenging to be more kind than his opponents: "We're going to be more wholesome than they are."

Team ChessKid vs. Team Cramling, today at 3pm Eastern!

I can't trash talk two of the nicest people in the chess world, so I'll just say that me + Alice are going to be EVEN MORE WHOLESOME than Anna and Pia.

Take that @AnnaCramling!https://t.co/0sJxO9gHpP

— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) October 7, 2024

He also shared, "I know only two things in Swedish. One, I cannot pronounce because I've asked the ChessKids to come and watch this show, and the other is I can just say 'thank you,'" eliciting smiles from the opposing team. 

Anna responded more combatively: "The only trash-talk that we want to do is going to be on the chessboard and me and my mom have prepared our whole life for this moment!" Now let's get to the games.

For the first one, we can begin with the end. Upon winning a convincing positional game, the Cramlings celebrated with a heartwarming hug—definitely beating the other team for the wholesome prize already. The thumbnail image at the top of this article highlights that moment.

"MOM! YOU'RE A GENIUS!" - @AnnaCramling

Anna & Pia Cramling win game one with a wholesome celebration 🥰 pic.twitter.com/DWHjop3kE3

— Chess.com (@chesscom) October 7, 2024

They played from the same room after Pia had microphone issues in her location. Klein, however, jokingly questioned whether he lost to a grandmaster or to a toaster.

Mike: "I was okay losing to a legendary grandmaster, but if you look at your camera, Pia, it appears I've lost to a toaster."#TeamChess pic.twitter.com/LbQS0ihdJG

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 7, 2024

After the game, Klein pointed out that he learned a painful lesson about allowing a knight outpost on f4. While the black knight on f4 was stable, the same could not be said for its counterpart on f5, which was eventually pushed away with ...g6.

Anna called out the idea of playing g6 a move earlier than they played it, and Team ChessKid sacrificed a piece when it was still possible to retreat. The "bad bishop" on h7 ended up playing a surprisingly beautiful role in defending the king at the very end, with 37...Kh8! (Klein called this "diabolical") 38.Qc8+ Bg8, and the game ended with checkmate.

This meant that the Cramlings needed a draw with the white pieces to clinch the match, though Pia warned her daughter from the beginning that one should never play for a draw and that the best strategy is to play chess normally.

White kept control of the position in the Queen's Gambit Declined, never giving any chances the entire game—even if it lasted over 100 moves. In the middlegame, Klein came up with the creative placement of 20...Na3 and 21...b4, but one move later Team ChessKid played one move move that was too slow. After 22...a5? 23.Nf4! White was close to winning, as we will see.

Converting a winning position is almost never easy, against strong opposition, and some say it's the hardest thing to do in chess. In a dominant position, Pia was overwhelmed with the many options, including temporarily sacrificing a knight on d5. It was incredible to see how she tamed her own excitement, however, and finally settled soberly on the simpler, positional plan of trading the minor pieces and doubling on the c-file.

It's worth listening to her thought process before seeing the moves on the analysis board below.

After considering the exciting Nxd5, this is a grandmaster's mind as she soberly hones in on the winning plan:#TeamChess pic.twitter.com/DHANjKRy97

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 7, 2024

The conversion was shaky and took a long time, as the Cramlings nervously approached one second while playing just on the 10-second increment, but they finally got it done with a deadly pin on the c-file.

Anna, who said she felt like she aged 30 years in this one game alone, said, "I have never been this stressed in my whole life!" Meanwhile, it was the host of the broadcast, WGM Dina Belenkaya, who did add the only true diss of the day:

We finally have some trashtalk, but from the host!

Dina: "I got to tell you, Mike, now I understand why you only made it to FM and not IM."#TeamChess pic.twitter.com/XwhkPjFATn

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 7, 2024

Team ChessKid receives $500 as they exit the tournament, which is a single-elimination knockout. 

A job well done, but there isn't much time for the Cramlings to rest on their laurels. On October 15, they will face the winners of Team Ratata Spanish Squad vs. ChessDojo.

Team Chess Battle is an event where two-player teams can freely communicate while facing other teams in a series of rapid chess games. Eight teams of two players each compete in a single-elimination bracket. Matches consist of two games (the Final is a four-game match) with a 15+10 time control. The event goes from October 7 to October 18 and features a $10,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

• Team Chess Battle Is Back With Levy Rozman, Anna Cramling, James Canty, And Other Celebrities