2022 Bullet Chess Championship: All The Information
The 2022 Bullet Chess Championship presented by DigitalOcean is an event gathering elite players competing in a series of 1+0 games. The qualifiers ran from February 21 and 25, while the main event occurred from March 3 through 17. The event has a total prize fund of $100,000, with the winner earning a spot to play in the 2022 Speed Chess Championship.
GM Hikaru Nakamura won the tournament, and with it the first-place prize of $20,000, by defeating GM Andrew Tang in the Grand Final. Tang won $15,000 for his second-place finish.
Bracket
Winners Bracket
Losers Bracket
Top 8 Bracket
Broadcast
The live broadcast aired on Chess.com/TV or on our Twitch channel with expert commentary by GMs Daniel Naroditsky, Robert Hess, Aman Hambleton, and IM Danny Rensch. You can also catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive and keep up with every detail of the event on Chess.com/Events.
Players
Below is the list of currently confirmed players for this year's Bullet Chess Championship:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura
- GM Fabiano Caruana
- GM Daniel Naroditsky
- GM Eric Hansen
- GM Andrew Tang
- GM Oleksandr Bortnyk
- GM Jorden van Foreest
- GM Ray Robson
- GM Arjun Erigaisi
- GM Sergei Zhigalko
- GM Federico Perez Ponsa
- IM Tuan Minh Le
- GM Raunak Sadhwani (Qualifier 1 winner)
- GM Brandon Jacobson (Qualifier 2 winner)
- GM Jose Martinez (Qualifier 3 winner)
- GM Alexey Sarana (Qualifier 4 winner)
Format
Qualifiers
- Qualifiers are open to all titled players not already qualified for the BCC Main Event
- Four qualifiers happen on two separate days
- The time control is 1+0
- Qualifiers consist of a 20-round Swiss tournament followed by a knockout bracket with the top 8 players
- A 10-minute countdown clock marks the match duration for the knockout stage
- Players get one point for a win, 0.5 for a draw, and 0 points for a loss
- If a match ends in a tie, play enters sudden death, with the higher seed playing White first
- The knockout winner qualifies for the Bullet Chess Championship Main Event
Main Event
- The main event is a 16-player double elimination knockout bracket
- The four qualified players join 12 invited players to play the Main Event
- Players who lose a match go to the Losers bracket
- Players who lose two matches are eliminated from the event
- The Grand Finals consists of up to two matches, where a player from the Losers bracket has to win twice to become the champion
Match Format
- The time control is 1+0
- A 30-minute countdown clock marks the match duration, with a break at the 15-minute mark
- The higher-rated player* starts with White in the first game of the match
- Players win 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss
- The player who scores the most points during the match wins
* Players' Chess.com bullet rating as of February 26, 2022.
Tiebreakers
- If the match ends in a tie, players play 1+0 games with colors alternating from the previous game until someone wins
Schedule
Qualifiers
The qualifiers happened on February 21 and February 25.
| Date | Day | Event | Time PT | Time CET |
| February 21 | Monday | Qualifier 1 | 10 a.m. | 19:00 |
| February 21 | Monday | Qualifier 2 | 12 p.m.* | 21:00* |
| February 25 | Friday | Qualifier 3 | 10 a.m. | 19:00 |
| February 25 | Friday | Qualifier 4 | 12:30 p.m.* | 21:30* |
* Approximate starting time
Main Event
The Main Event happened from March 3 through March 17.
| Date | Time PT | CET | Stage |
| March 3 | 10 a.m. | 19:00 | Round of 16 |
| March 4 | 10 a.m. | 19:00 | Round of 16 |
| March 7 | 10 a.m. | 19:00 | Losers Round 1 |
| March 9 | 10 a.m. | 19:00 | Winners Quarterfinals |
| March 10 | 10 a.m. | 19:00 | Losers Round 2 |
| March 14 | 10 a.m. | 18:00 | Losers Top-8 |
| March 14 | 11:30 a.m. | 19:30 | Winners Semifinals |
| March 16 | 10 a.m. | 18:00 | Losers Quarterfinals |
| March 16 | 11:30 a.m. | 19:30 | Winners Final |
| March 17 | 10 a.m. | 18:00 | Losers Semifinal |
| March 17 | 10:45 a.m. | 18:45 | Losers Final |
| March 17 | 11:30 a.m. | 19:30 | Grand Finals |
Upcoming Matchups
| Date | PT | CET | Player 1 | Player 2 |
| March 17 | 10:00 a.m. | 18:00 | Naroditsky | Le |
| March 17 | 10:45 a.m. | 18:45 | Tang | Losers Semifinals Winner |
| March 17 | 11:30 a.m. | 19:30 | Nakamura | Losers Final Winner |
| March 17 | 12:15 p.m. | 20:15 | Nakamura | Losers Final Winner (only if Nakamura loses the match above) |
Prizes
The 2022 Bullet Chess Championship has a $100,000 prize fund:
Qualifier Prizes ($2,500 per event, $10,000 total)
- 1st: Qualifies for Main Event
- 2nd: $800
- Semifinalists (x2): $450
- Quarterfinalists (x4): $200
Main Event Prizes ($90,000)
- 1st: $20,000 (Nakamura)
- 2nd: $15,000 (Tang)
- 3rd: $11,000 (Naroditsky)
- 4th: $8,000 (Minh Le)
- 5th-6th: $6,000 (Bortnyk, Martinez)
- 7th-8th: $4,000 (Erigaisi, Jacobson)
- 9th-12th: $2,500 (Caruana, Robson, Sadhwani, Sarana)
- 13th-16th: $1,500 (Hansen, Perez, van Foreest, Zhigalko)
Fair Play Requirements
- Chess.com fair play regulations govern all players in the qualifier stage
- Players are subject to fair play checks during and after the event is complete
- Players must have a two-camera setup with at least one camera in Zoom at all times
- If a player's camera (or cameras) disconnects and the connection cannot be re-established within a reasonable period of time, the player will be removed from the event at Chess.com's sole discretion
- Players must follow all staff requests including having the ability to share their screen(s) upon request
- All players are required to sign Chess.com's fair play requirements once they move on to the Main Event
- Players streaming the event must have their chat set to emote-only
- Players are not permitted to wear headphones while on-stream or in Zoom
- No individual(s) are allowed in the room with a player without Chess.com consent
- Violation of any of the above requirements may result in a player being kicked from the event
