GM Mackenzie Molner Awaits Death Match 33 Qualifier

The U.S. has produced and harvested a glut of GMs in the last few years, so it's understandable if you haven't been able to remember them all. GM Mackenzie Molner is one of those names, and his skills will be on display as the invited player in September's Death Match 33.

Molner did something that few, if any, of the other recently minted American grandmasters can claim. He earned all of his norms domestically before being confirmed in 2013.

His name might be more familiar to longtime Chess.com users. Molner was a frequent contributor to Chess.com's content. His presentations on the Pirc, Blumenfeld, and other topics can still be found in the video library.

Molner tied for first in the 2013 U.S. Open (the 2015 tournament will be played in his home state of Arizona at the beginning of August). He also competed in the 2014 U.S. Championship and has been a standout player for the Arizona Scorpions of the U.S. Chess League. He's was named "most improved player" in 2011 and has been an all-star candidate (last season his performance rating topped 2700).

He also had a storied scholastic career. Molner won the Denker Tournament of High School Champions as a sophomore coached several teams that won state titles.

We often show complicated tactical struggles when highlighting a player's skills, but today we present a technical endgame display from Molner against a near-2700:

All Chess.com members have the chance to play Molner, except the two men who have qualified for a Death Match thus far in 2015.

Molner and his challenger will receive a minimum of $200 and maximum of $800 for their three-hour match, depending on how many of the three segments each person wins. To date, no player has won all three time controls since the institution of the segment bonus (which began in Death Match 30). You can read about the format, prize structure, and scheduling in this news post.

Of the 32 previous matches, 13 of them have featured American vs. non-American matchups (determined by time of match; for example Zherebukh and Caruana were not playing for the U.S. when they competed, while So played only one of his two matches under the U.S. flag!). The tally so far? Seven wins and six losses for the internationals. Should a non-U.S. player qualify, Molner will be looking to even the mark!

Let's take a look at who has been actively playing blitz in July on Chess.com. These games don't count (only games in August qualify for the 100-game minumum) but it does show who has a good shot:

GM Hikaru Nakamura (2918) -- That's right, the top blitz player on Chess.com has been extremely active on the site, perhaps relaxing a little after qualifying for the Candidates Tournament.

Nakamura has played 240 games thus far in July and at the time of this report had pushed his rating above 2900, more than 150 points clear of the field. He is eligible since he was the invited player in January's match, not the qualifying player.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2683) -- Has only played 14 blitz games in July (a 9-5 series win over GM Robert Hess), but may want to become only the second player to win two Death Matches. MVL won Death Match 29 late last year, while GM Georg Meier is the only person to win two of them.

GM Nikolay Chadaev (2632) -- New to the site this year, he's played 11 games in July, only losing one!

IM Minh Tran (2601) -- Has nearly 1500 completed games on Chess.com, with 43 blitz games in July. He would be the second Vietnamese player to compete in a Death Match (GM Le Quang Liem played in Death Match 24).

GM Robert Hess (2539) -- Like Nakamura, his scheduled has freed up recently. Hess just graduated from Yale University and played in 170 games in the first three weeks of July. He would surely love to win one of these; he's 0-2 in previous attempts.

The qualifier will be announced in early September, at which point an exact date and time will be set for later that month.