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2020 Speed Chess Championship: All The Information

2020 Speed Chess Championship: All The Information

CHESScom
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The 2020 Speed Chess Championship has been expanded with a brand new, multi-event qualification system and a significantly increased total prize fund of $250,000 (a $150,000 increase over the 2019 event).

The main 16-player SCC Main Event has a prize fund of $100,000, which is double last year's total purse for what had been the richest online blitz tournament. The tournament will run November 1 - December 12, 2020 with the semifinals on December 9, 11, and the finals on December 12.

Eight players will be invited directly to the Speed Chess Championship knockout bracket, while a qualification system will determine the eight remaining spots. The entire 2020 Speed Chess Championship family of events will be broadcast live on Chess.com/TV, Twitch.tv/Chess, and Youtube.com/Chess.

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General Format

The qualification system includes the Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix (previously Titled Tuesday), the Junior Speed Chess Championship, the Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss, the Speed Chess Championship Invitational, and the Bullet Chess Championship.

Additionally, Chess.com has partnered with FIDE to expand the Women's Speed Chess Championship and has massively increased the prize fund to a total of $50,000.

Below is the full schedule of events for 2020. You can find past Speed Chess Championship events here.

2020 Speed Chess Championship Schedule

  1. Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix
  2. Junior Speed Chess Championship
  3. Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss
  4. Speed Chess Championship Invitational
  5. Speed Chess Championship Main Event

1. Speed Chess Grand Prix

The Speed Chess Grand Prix runs from June to October 2020. The top four players qualify for the Speed Chess Championship Main Event.

Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix.

Click here for all the information and the up-to-date standings for the SCC Grand Prix.

2. Junior Speed Chess Championship

The 2020 Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championship, sponsored by ChessKid, concluded October 7. GM Nihal Sarin earned a spot in the 2020 Speed Chess Championship Main Event.

Junior Speed Chess Championship bracket
2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship.

All the info on the JSCC can be found here.

3. Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss

The Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss was held on October 3-4. GM Vladimir Fedoseev became the qualifier as the runner-up behind GM Hikaru Nakamura, who is already seeded into the Main Event.

Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss
Speed Chess Championship Super Swiss.

Click here for all the information.

4. Speed Chess Championship Invitational

The Speed Chess Championship Invitational was a sixteen-player knockout tournament held Sunday, October 25, 2020 with a $8,000 prize fund. GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda defeated GM Sergey Karjakin in the final and became the last player added to the Main Event.


Click here for all the information.

6. Speed Chess Championship Main Event

Broadcast and Streaming:

All 2020 Speed Chess Championship matches will be broadcast live with full chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV, Twitch.tv/Chess and Youtube.com/Chess.

2020 Speed Chess Championship Main Event Schedule and Results:

Dates: November 1-December 12, 2020.

Round of 16

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Bracket

:

2020 Speed Chess Championship Bracket

Seeding:

  • Seeding is determined by October 2020 FIDE Blitz rating.

Qualifier Formats:

All qualifying events have their own formats and rules, listed respectively at the linked articles above. 

Main Event Format:

  • Each 2020 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 eight invited players and eight qualified players.
  • The invites in the main bracket will be seeded as listed above. 
  • The main bracket will be a single-elimination knockout.
  • The winner of each match advances to the next line in the bracket.
  • If a match is tied after the last 1+1 bullet game, a tiebreak of four additional 1+1 games will be played as a mini-match.
  • If a 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.

Rules:

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

Players:

The following chess players have confirmed their participation in the 2020 Speed Chess Championship main bracket:

  • Magnus Carlsen – reigning world chess champion and world number 2 at time of invitation

Magnus Carlsen, Speed Chess Championship

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Speed Chess Championship

  • Wesley So – world number 4 at time of invitation

Wesley So, Speed Chess Championship

Jan-Krzysztof Duda Speed Chess Championship 2020

Ian Nepomniachtchi, Speed Chess Championship

Vladislav Artemiev, Speed Chess Championship

Alireza Firouzja, Speed Chess Championship

Vladimir Fedoseev, Speed Chess Champioonship

  • Anish Giri – world number 22 at time of invitation

Anish Giri, Speed Chess Championship

Levon Aronian, Speed Chess Championship

Fabiano Caruana, Speed Chess Championship

Nodirbek Abdussatorov, Speed Chess Championship

  • Nihal Sarin – world number 67 at time of qualification

Nihal Sarin, Speed Chess Championship

Parham Maghsoodloo, Speed Chess Championship

Haik Martirosyan, Speed Chess Championship

 

Main Event Final Prizes: $100,000 in total

Prizes by Round:

  • Round 1: $32,000
  • Round 2: $24,000
  • Round 3: $24,000
  • Round 4: $20,000

Prize breakdown:

Round 1: 16 players, 8 matches, $32,000 prize pool

  • Winner: $2,000 and advance to round 2
  • $2,000 split by win percentage
  • Total prizes per match: $4,000

Round 2: 8 players, 4 matches, $24,000 prize pool

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

Round 3: 4 players, 2 matches, $24,000 prize pool

  • Winner: $6,000
  • $6,000 split by win percentage
  • Total prizes per match: $12,000

Round 4: 2 players, 1 match, $20,000 prize pool

  • Winner: $10,000
  • $10,000 split by win percentage
  • Total prizes per match: $20,000

You can read about our previous Speed Chess Championships here:

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