Nakamura Defeats So To Repeat As Speed Chess Champion

On Friday, GM Hikaru Nakamura won his second-straight Speed Chess Championship title, defeating GM Wesley So by the score of 19.5-14.5. So came back from a four-game deficit early in the match and at one point was even leading the defending champion. Nakamura showed his class in the bullet segment, outscoring the reigning Fischer Random World Champion by a full four points in that time control.

Chess.com's own SmarterChess had predicted the match would end closely, even calling for an overtime victory by Nakamura. In fact, the World Blitz Championship finalist held just a 51-percent edge according to SmarterChess which meant that this was the predicted to be the championship's closest match on paper.

Nakamura was disappointed in his performance, even lamenting in the Twitch chat, "Pretty terrible play by me after the first eight games." Even so, Nakamura held a pragmatic view of the result, "Yeah, not the best win ever, but it's a win."

With his victory, Nakamura now becomes the only player in Speed Chess Championship history to win the event twice, though GM Magnus Carlsen did emerge victorious in the SCC's predecessor, the 2016 Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship, and won the inaugural Speed Chess Championship against Nakamura. After Nakamura defeated GM Vlad Dobrov, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and the ever-dangerous GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the previous rounds, his and So's incredibly busy schedules delayed the final all the way through late February. 

Still, the fans were treated to some high-level chess and a deserved victory by arguably the fastest player on the planet.

Chess.com's Peter Doggers will be providing a full report covering this epic final. Until then, you can check out today's full match on twitch.tv/chess and youtube.com/chess, and you can read more about the Speed Chess Championship after the jump.

This year, the Chess.com Speed Chess Championships will feature a series of three innovative esports bracket tournaments featuring the world's best chess players and a guaranteed combined prize pool of $100,000.

Find out the details for the 2019 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, the 2019 Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship and the 2019 Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championship Sponsored by ChessKid.

You can find important information on each of the events below:

• 2019 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship
• 2019 Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championships
• 2019 Chess.com Junior Chess Championships Sponsored by ChessKid
• 2019 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Qualifiers

You can read about our previous Speed Chess Championships here:

• 2018 event
• 2017 event

Speed Chess Championships Schedule

• 2019 Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championships
• 2019 Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championships
• 2019 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Qualifiers
• 2019 Chess.com Speed Chess Championships

2019 Speed Chess Championships

Broadcast and streaming:

All 2019 Speed Chess Championship matches will be broadcast live with full chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess. 

Bracket:

Seeding:

• Seed 1 by defending 2018 SCC Champion
• Seeding 2-12 by July FIDE Blitz rating
• Seeding 13-16 by the organizer

2019 Speed Chess Championship schedule (all times Pacific):

9/2/2019 Mon 6:00 PM Match 3 (5 vs. 12) Ding vs. Shankland
9/3/2019 Tue 7:00 AM Match 8 (2 vs. 15) Vachier-Lagrave vs. Wei Yi
9/4/2019 Wed 7:00 AM Match 4 (4 vs. 13) Nepomniachtchi vs. Danielian
9/6/2019 Fri 9:00 AM Match 2 (8 vs. 9) Duda vs. Giri
10/1/2019 Tue 9:00 AM Match 5 (3 vs. 14) Nakamura vs. Dobrov
10/2/2019 Wed 9:00 AM Match 7 (7 vs. 10) Mamedyarov vs. So
10/3/2019 Thu 7:00 AM Match 1 (1 vs. 16) Aronian vs. Firouzja

10/3/2019 Thu 10:30 AM Match 6 (6 vs. 11) Artemiev vs. Grischuk

Round 1: Round of 16

(1) Hikaru Nakamura vs. (16) Vladimir Dobrov

Vlad Dobrov put together an admirable performance in his Speed Chess Championship debut, testing the defending champion Hikaru Nakamura throughout the match. While the Russian grandmaster kept the blitz portions interesting, Nakamura found ways to continue building pressure both on the board and on the clock, leading to a massive 27-8 victory for the American.

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(5) Ding Liren vs. (12) Sam Shankland

The match between Ding Liren and Sam Shankland kicked off the Speed Chess Championship, the premier Chess.com tournament of the year. Fresh off his playoff victory against Magnus Carlsen in the Sinquefield Cup, Ding out-muscled Shankland, the 2018 U.S. champion, using a dominant performance in the bullet portion to suppress any chance of a late comeback. Ding won the match 19-12.

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(8) Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs. (9) Anish Giri

He was four points down in the match, and three going into the bullet portion, but prevailed in the end. On Friday Jan-Krzysztof Duda eliminated world number four Anish Giri from the Speed Chess Championship in what was the third match of the round of 16.

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(7) Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs. (10) Wesley So

Wesley So showed that he was a force to be reckoned with this Speed Chess Championship by eliminating Azeri grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The match went just as Hikaru Nakamura predicted in his post-match interview on Tuesday. Mamedyarov kept the match close, but So was resilient and built an advantage late in the blitz portion, leading to an 18-12 match win.

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(2) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs. (15) Wei Yi

In the second match of the 2019 Speed Chess Championship French star Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat the Chinese GM Wei Yi in an enthralling clash.

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(3) Levon Aronian vs. (14) Alireza Firouzja

In the first match, the well-respected veteran Levon Aronian squeaked by the surging chess prodigy Alireza Firouza who came one game short of completing a furious comeback in the bullet section. Aronian defeated Firouza 13.5-12.5, just getting by the dangerous young grandmaster described as possibly the next world chess champion by GM Simon Williams.

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(4) Ian Nepomniachtchi vs. (13) Elina Danielian

Everyone expected the Russian star Ian Nepomniachtchi to crush Elina Danielian in the 2019 Speed Chess Championship, and he more than lived up to those predictions with a dominating win, 27-2.

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(6) Vladislav Artemiev vs. (11) Alexander Grischuk

Another possible future world chess champion played another established superstar in the second match. Vladislav Artemiev defeated Alexander Grischuk in a high-level battle between the two Russian super-GMs. The score was level for much of the match, with neither grandmaster having held more than a one-game lead heading into the bullet portion.

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Round 2: Quarterfinals

• Event 13 (Round 2, Match 1)
• Event 14 (Round 2, Match 2)
• Event 15 (Round 2, Match 3)
• Event 16 (Round 2, Match 4)

Round 3: Semifinals

• Event 15 (Round 3, Match 1)
• Event 16 (Round 3, Match 2)

Round 4: Finals

• Event 17 (Round 4, SCC CHAMPIONSHIP)

Event prizes: $50,000 total. 

Prizes by round:

• Round 1 -- $16,000
• Round 2 -- $12,000
• Round 3 -- $12,000
• Round 4 -- $10,000
  

Prize breakdown:

Round 1: 16 players, 8 matches, $16,000 prize pool.

• Winner: $1,000 and advance to round 2
• $1,000 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $2,000

Round 2: 8 players, 4 matches, $12,000 prize pool.

• Winner: $1,500 and advance to round 3
• $1,500 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $3,000

Round 3: 4 players, 2 matches, $12,000 prize pool

• Winner: $3,000
• $3,000 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $6,000

Round 4: 2 players, 1 match, $10,000 prize pool

• Winner: $5,000
• $5,000 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $10,000

Detailed format:

Qualifiers

Two spots will be determined by two qualifier events. The first qualifier event will take place Tuesday, August 6 at 1 p.m. PDT and will feature a combined Titled Tuesday/Speed Chess Championship Qualifier tournament. The second qualifier will take place Wednesday, August 7 at 9 a.m. PDT and will feature the top 8 combined blitz and bullet players on Chess.com in a Knockout format with time controls of 3+1 and 1+1. The Women's Speed Chess Champion and the Junior Speed Chess Champion will automatically qualify for the Speed Chess Championships.

Main bracket

• Each 2019 Speed Chess Championship match will feature 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet chess.
• The bracket will feature the winners of the two qualifying spots, the winners of the Women's and Junior's Speed Chess Championships and 12 invited players
• The invites in the main bracket will be seeded 2-12 by July 2019 FIDE blitz ratings at the conclusion of the qualifiers. The defending champion will be seeded 1.
• The qualifiers in the main bracket will be seeded as follows: (13) Women's Speed Chess Championship Winner, (14) Invitational Qualifier Winner, (15) Junior Speed Chess Championship Winner, (16) Titled Tuesday Open Qualifier Winner
• The main bracket will be a single-elimination knockout.
• The winner of each match advances to the next line in the bracket.
• If match is tied after the last 1+1 bullet game, a tiebreak of 4 additional 1+1 games is played as a mini-match.
• If match is still tied after the mini-match tiebreaker, a single armageddon game will be played: White 5+0, Black 3+0, Black gets draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating at the start of the Armageddon chooses his color.

List of players:

The following chess players have confirmed their participation in the 2019 Speed Chess Championship main bracket:

• Ding Liren – world number 3 at time of invitation

• Anish Giri – world number 4 at time of invitation.

• Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – world number 7 at time of invitation.

• Alexander Grischuk – Three-time world blitz champion

• Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – world number 8 at time of invitation.

• Ian Nepomniachtchi – world number 9 at time of invitation.

• Levon Aronian – world number 10 at time of invitation.

• Wesley So – 2018 Speed Chess Championship Finalist

• Hikaru Nakamura – 2018 Speed Chess Champion

• Jan-Krzysztof Duda – 2018 Speed Chess Championship Semifinalist

• Sam Shankland – 2018 US Chess Champion

• Vladislav Artemiev – world number 11 at time of invitation

• Elina Danielian – Women's Speed Chess Champion

• Wei Yi – Junior Speed Chess Champion

• Alireza Firouzja – Speed Chess Championship Qualifier Winner

• Vlad Dobrov – Speed Chess Championship Qualifier Winner

Rules:

For the official rules of the 2019 Speed Chess Championship, please visit this article.

2019 Women's Speed Chess Championships

Broadcast and streaming:

All 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship matches were broadcast live with full chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess. 

Bracket:

Matchups and pairings were based on FIDE standard ratings as of March, 2019.

Round 1:

• (1) Kateryna Lagno vs (8) Elina Danielian

Deciding the match in the very last bullet game, eighth seed GM Elina Danielian of Armenia kicked out top seed GM Kateryna Lagno of Russia from the Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship.

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• (2) Alexandra Kosteniuk vs (7) Anna Zatonskih

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk cruised to victory against IM Anna Zatonskih in Sunday's quarterfinal match of the Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship. Especially in the bullet section, Kosteniuk was just too strong.

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• (3) Valentina Gunina vs (6) Irina Krush

GM Valentina Gunina showed her blitz skills as she crushed GM Irina Krush 24 to 5 in Monday's quarterfinal match of the Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship. The match saw the highest percentage of decisive games ever on Chess.com.

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• (4) Harika Dronavalli vs (5) Marie Sebag

Coming to the match well prepared, GM Harika Dronavalli defeated GM Marie Sebag 15.5-10.5 on Thursday and will now face Elina Danielian in the Women's Speed Chess Championship semifinals.

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• Semifinal 1: Harika Dronavalli vs Elina Danielian

Elina Danielian defeated Harika Dronavalli 15-13 in the first Women's Speed Chess Championship semifinal. 

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• Semifinal 2: Alexandra Kosteniuk vs. Valentina Gunina

Coming back from a four-point deficit hadn't been seen in the history of speed chess matches on Chess.com until Valentina Gunina defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk 16.5-14.5.

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• Final: Valentina Gunina vs. Elina Danielian

She entered the competition as a qualifier, joined the bracket as the lowest seed and ended up winning the whole thing. Elina Danielian beat Valentina Gunina 15-13 in the final of the inaugural Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship.

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2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship schedule:

The following dates are tentatively scheduled for Women's Speed Chess Championship events:

Seeding

• Seeding 1-8 by March FIDE rating at release of bracket

Qualifiers

• Event 1 (Round 1): May 8, 2019

Round 1: Quarterfinals

• Lagno vs. Danielian (Round 2, Match 1): 13.0-14.0 
• Kosteniuk vs. Zatonskih (Round 2, Match 2): 20.0-8.0
• Gunina vs. Krush (Round 2, Match 3): 24.0-5.0
• Dronavalli vs. Sebag (Round 2, Match 4): 15.5-10.5

Round 2: Semifinals

• Semifinal 1 (Dronavalli vs. Danielian): 13-15
  Semifinal 2 (Gunina vs. Kosteniuk): 16.5-14.5

Round 3: Finals

• Final (Gunina-Danielian): 13-15

Event prizes: $20,000 total. 

Prizes by round:

• Qualifiers -- $1,000
• Round 1 -- $8,000
• Round 2 -- $6,000
• Round 3 -- $6,000
  

Prize breakdown:

Round 1: Open Qualifier, $1,000 prize pool.

• Winner: $750
• Runner-up: $250

Round 2: 8 players, 4 matches, $8,000 prize pool.

• Winner: $1,000 and advance to round 2
• $1,000 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $2,000

Round 3: 4 players, 2 matches, $6,000 prize pool

• Winner: $1,500
• $1,500 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $3,000

Round 4: 2 players, 1 match, $6,000 prize pool

• Winner: $3,000 + qualification to the Speed Chess Championships
• $3,000 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $6,000
  

Detailed format:

Open qualifier

• Swiss tournament: 10 rounds, 3+1 blitz.
• Standard Chess.com tournament tiebreaks used only for the qualifier spot. No tiebreaks used for cash prizes; cash prizes split equally by point total.
• Must be titled and female to enter.
• Open to all who meet eligibility requirements, including those players invited to main bracket. If an invited player wins a qualifying spot, she gets the cash prize, and the qualification goes down to the next eligible finisher.

Main bracket

• Each 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship match will feature 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet chess.
• The bracket will be seeded 1-8 by March FIDE ratings
• The main bracket will be a single-elimination knockout.
• The winner of each match advances to the next line in the bracket.
• If match is tied after the last 1+1 bullet game, a tiebreak of 4 additional 1+1 games is played as a mini-match.
• If match is still tied after the mini-match tiebreaker, a single armageddon game will be played: White 5+0, Black 3+0, Black gets draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating at the start of the Armageddon chooses his color.

List of players:

The following chess players have confirmed their participation in the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship main bracket:

• Kateryna Lagno – women's world number 4 at time of invitation

• Alexandra Kosteniuk – women's world number 7 at time of invitation

• Valentina Gunina – women's world number 8 at time of invitation

• Harika Dronavalli – women's world number 13 at time of invitation

• Marie Sebag – women's world number 22 at time of invitation

• Irina Krush – 7-time US Women's Champion

• Anna Zatonskih –– women's world number 43 at time of invitation

• Elina Danielian –– winner of the 2019 WSCC open qualifier

Rules:

For the official rules of the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship, please visit this article.

2019 Junior Speed Chess Championships

Sponsored by ChessKid

ChessKid is the official sponsor of the 2019 Junior Speed Chess Championship. ChessKid is the world's number one site for kids to learn and play chess!

Broadcast and streaming:

All 2019 Junior Speed Chess Championship matches will be broadcast live with full chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess.

Bracket:

Matchups and pairings are based on FIDE standard ratings as of March, 2019.

Round of 16:

• (1) Wei Yi vs. (16) Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu put up a great fight, but eventually Wei Yi was a mountain too high. The Chinese grandmaster won their Junior Speed Chess Championship match on Friday with a score of 14.5-11.5.

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• (8) Jorden Van Foreest vs. (9) Aryan Tari

It came down to the wire. Jorden van Foreest led for most of the match, but his opponent Aryan Tari come back and took over the lead in the bullet before van Foreest eventually won the first Junior Speed Chess Championship match in the last bullet game.

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• (4) Alireza Firouzja vs. (13) Jose Martinez Alcantar

Alireza Firouzja was the clear favorite, and he proved it. The Iranian rising star crushed José Martinez of Peru 18-7 in their Junior Speed Chess Championship match.

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• (5) Samuel Sevian vs. (12) Nihal Sarin

Showing unforeseen bullet chess prowess, Sam Sevian defeated Nihal Sarin 17-8. The next opponent for the American grandmaster in the Junior Speed Chess Championship is Alireza Firouzja of Iran.

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• (2) Parham Maghsoodloo vs. (15) Luca Moroni

In what was the most lopsided match in the round of 16, GM Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran was way too strong for GM Luca Moroni of Italy. The Iranian star won 20-7 in their Junior Speed Chess Championship match.

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• (7) Alexey Sarana vs. (10) Andrey Esipenko

Making the difference in the three-minute segment, Alexey Sarana defeated Andrey Esipenko 15-12. The next opponent for Sarana in the Junior Speed Chess Championship will be Parham Maghsoodloo.

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• (3) Jeffrey Xiong vs. (14) Anton Smirnov

Despite losing the five-minute portion, Jeffery Xiong defeated Anton Smirnov by a wide margin in their Junior Speed Chess Championship match. The score was 19-10 for the American GM.

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• (6) Benjamin Gledura vs. (11) Awonder Liang
  

He had lost the bullet segment, but then won three straight bullet games in overtime. GM Benjamin Gledura eliminated GM Awonder Liang on Tuesday in what was a thriller of a Junior Speed Chess Championship match.

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Quarterfinals

• (1) Wei Yi vs. (8) Jorden Van Foreest

Chinese GM Wei Yi was too much to handle for GM Jorden van Foreest, winning the match 18.5-10.5. Scoring consistently in all three segments, Wei was always in control and roughly followed the SmarterChess predictions.

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• (4) Alireza Firouzja vs. (5) Sam Sevian

GM Sam Sevian kept the match close, but GM Alireza Firouzja dominated the bullet portion of the match, 7.5-2.5. The match win means that Firouzja will face Wei Yi in the semifinal.

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• (2) Parham Maghsoodloo vs. (7) Alexey Sarana

GM Parham Maghsoodloo outfoxed GM Alexey Sarana in their quarterfinal match, with strong finishes in both the 5|1 and 3|1 segments. The Iranian grandmaster won 15-11 and advanced to the semifinals.

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• (3) Jeffery Xiong vs. (6) Benjamin Gledura

Once again, GM Benjamin Gledura's match headed to overtime, but this time GM Jeffery Xiong emerged victorious, winning all three of the added games. The American advanced to the semifinal with his 16.5-13.5 win.

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Semifinals

• (2) Parham Maghsoodloo vs. (3) Jeffery Xiong

Jeffery Xiong qualified for the Junior Speed Chess Championship Finals on Thursday as he beat Parham Maghsoodloo 14.5-10.5 in their semifinal match. Xiong will face either Wei Yi or Alireza Firouzja for the title.

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• (1) Wei Yi vs. (4) Alireza Firouzja

Wei Yi beat Alireza Firouzja 14.5-11.5 in the second semifinal in what was a close and exciting match between two of the most talented junior players on the planet: Wei (China), the youngest 2700 grandmaster in history, vs. Firouzja (Iran), who had broken 2700 earlier in the day(!) with his last-round game in the Turkish league.

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Final

Wei Yi defeated Jeffery Xiong in an armageddon tiebreak game to be crowned champion of the 2019 Junior Speed Chess Championship. The match had ended 13.5-13.5, and four more games in overtime also couldn't bring a decision.

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2019 Junior Speed Chess Championship schedule:

The following dates are tentatively scheduled for Junior Speed Chess Championship Sponsored by ChessKid events:

Seeding

• Seeding 1-16 by March FIDE rating at release of bracket

Round 1: Round of 16

• Van Foreest vs. Tari: May 16, 2019 at 10 a.m. pdt
• Firouzja vs. Martinez Alcantara: May 21, 2019 at 9 a.m. pdt
• Wei Yi vs. Praggnanandhaa: May 31, 2019 at 9 a.m. pdt
• Sevian vs. Sarin: June 3, 2019 at 9 a.m. pdt
• Sarana vs. Esipenko: June 11, 2019 at 9 a.m. pdt
• Xiong vs. Smirnov: June 14, 2019 at 5 p.m. pdt
• Maghsoodloo vs. Moroni: June 17, 2019 at 9 a.m. pdt
• Gledura vs. Liang: June 18, 2019 at 10 a.m. pdt

Round 2: Quarterfinals

• Quarterfinal 1 (Firouzja vs. Sevian): July 9, 2019
• Quarterfinal 2 (Wei Yi vs. Van Foreest): July 10, 2019
• Quarterfinal 3 (Maghsoodloo vs. Sarana): July 11, 2019
• Quarterfinal 4 (Xiong vs. Gledura): July 16, 2019

Round 3: Semifinals

• Semifinal 1 (Maghsoodloo vs. Xiong): July 18, 2019
• Semifinal 2 (Wei Yi vs. Firouzja): July 28, 2019 

Round 4: Finals

• JSCC Championship final: Late July/ Early August 2019

Event prizes: $20,000 total. 

Prizes by round:

• Round 1 -- $6,400
• Round 2 -- $4,800
• Round 3 -- $4,800
• Round 4 -- $4,000 
  

Prize breakdown:

Round 1: 16 players, 8 matches, $6,400 prize pool.

• Winner: $400 and advance to round 2
• $400 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $800

Round 2: 8 players, 4 matches, $4,800 prize pool.

• Winner: $600 and advance to round 3
• $600 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $1,200

Round 3: 4 players, 2 matches, $4,800 prize pool

• Winner: $1,200
• $1,200 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $2,400

Round 4: 2 players, 1 match, $4,000 prize pool

• Winner: $2,000 + qualification to the Speed Chess Championships
• $2,000 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $4,000
  

Detailed format:

Main bracket

• Each 2019 Junior Speed Chess Championship match will feature 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet chess.
• The bracket will feature 16 invited players
• The bracket will be seeded 1-16 by March FIDE ratings 
• The main bracket will be a single-elimination knockout.
• The winner of each match advances to the next line in the bracket.
• If match is tied after the last 1+1 bullet game, a tiebreak of 4 additional 1+1 games is played as a mini-match.
• If match is still tied after the mini-match tiebreaker, a single armageddon game will be played: White 5+0, Black 3+0, Black gets draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating at the start of the Armageddon chooses his color.

List of players:

The following chess players have confirmed their participation in the 2019 Junior Speed Chess Championship Sponsored by ChessKid main bracket:

• Wei Yi – junior world number 1 at time of invitation

• Parham Maghsoodloo – junior world number 2 at time of invitation

• Jeffrey Xiong – junior world number 3 at time of invitation

• Alireza Firouzja – junior world number 4 at time of invitation

• Sam Sevian – junior world number 5 at time of invitation

• Benjamin Gledura – junior world number 6 at time of invitation

• Alexey Sarana – junior world number 7 at time of invitation

• Jorden van Foreest – junior world number 8 at time of invitation

• Aryan Tari – junior world number 10 at time of invitation

• Andrey Esipenko – junior world number 12 at time of invitation

• Awonder Liang – junior world number 16 at time of invitation

• Nihal Sarin – junior world number 19 at time of invitation

• Jose Martinez Alcantar – junior world number 21 at time of invitation

• Anton Smirnov – junior world number 23 at time of invitation

• Luca Moroni – junior world number 25 at time of invitation

• Rameshbu Praggnanandhaa – junior world number 40 at time of invitation

2019 Speed Chess Championship Qualifier

Qualifiers and Seeding

• Event 1 (Junior Speed Chess Championships)
• Event 2 (Women's Speed Chess Championships)
• Event 3 (Titled Tuesday qualifier)
• Event 4 (Open/Invitational qualifier)

Event prizes: $3,500 prize pool

Prize breakdown:

1 Invitational Qualifier with a $3,500 prize pool

1. Qualify for SCC + $1,000
2. $1,000
3. $500
4. $400
5. $300
6. $200
7. $100

Results:

• Titled Tuesday Qualifier: GM Vlad Dobrov
• Invitational Qualifier: GM Alireza Firouzja

Detailed format: Two spots will be determined by two qualifier events. The first qualifier event will take place Tuesday, August 6 at 1 p.m. PDT and will feature a combined Titled Tuesday/Speed Chess Championship Qualifier tournament. The second qualifier will take place Wednesday, August 7 at 9 a.m. PDT and will feature the top 8 combined blitz and bullet players on Chess.com in a Knockout format with time controls of 3+1 and 1+1. The Women's Speed Chess Champion and the Junior Speed Chess Champion will automatically qualify for the Speed Chess Championships.

Qualifiers

Titled Tuesday qualifier

• Swiss tournament: 10 rounds, 3+1 blitz.
• Standard Chess.com tournament tiebreaks used only for the qualifier spot. No tiebreaks used for cash prizes; cash prizes split equally by point total.
• Must be titled and rated 2500 or more in Chess.com blitz to enter.
• Open to all who meet eligibility requirements, including those players invited to main bracket. If an invited player wins a qualifying spot, he gets the cash prize, and the qualification goes down to the next eligible finisher.

Invitiational Qualifier

• The second qualifier will take place Wednesday, August 7 at 9 a.m. PDT and will feature the top 8 combined blitz and bullet players on Chess.com in a Knockout format with time controls of 3+1 and 1+1.
• The Women's Speed Chess Champion and the Junior Speed Chess Champion will automatically qualify for the Speed Chess Championships.

Rules:

For the official rules of the 2019 Speed Chess Championship, please visit this article.

2018 Speed Chess Championships:

You can watch last year's Speed Chess Championship match between GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Wesley So here:

More information and results for the 2018 Speed Chess Championship can be found here.