[Editor's Note: for the uninitiated, Chess960 is also known as Fischer-Random Chess, a chess variant which involves more or less random positioning of the pieces on each player's back-rank.  The chess variant emphasizes creativity and talent instead of memorization and analysis of opening moves by using a randomized initial chess position. The name 'Chess960' is due to the 960 possible initial positions.  For more information on this variant visit Chess960 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or read the ICC help file See help Fischer-random.]

Top seed GM Alexander Grischuk (depressnyak) of Russia was in majestic form on Sunday as he easily won the Mainz Chess Classic Chess960 online title hosted on ICC.

En route to the main event of the 16-player final, the Muscovite beat with ease IM Anatoly Bykhovsky of Israel (3-1) and GM Dmitry Koneonenlo of Ukraine (3-1) to face fellow Russian IM Artur Gabrielian (Dinamit)  - who caused an upset by beating second seed and last year's champion GM Hikaru Nakamura (Smallville) in the quarter-finals - in a Moscow showdown for the title.

But again Grischuk proved unstoppable as he eased to victory by a resounding score of 3.5-0.5 to take the 750 Euro first prize, invitation and hotel to the upcoming Mainz Chess Classic later next month in Germany.

Four open qualifiers were held on ICC earlier last week to determine the 16-player final that saw a record number of 973 ICC members playing Chess960 (FischerRandom).  The full list of finalists, results and game downloads can be found at our dedicated Mainz Chess960 page by clicking here.