Lazavik Qualifies For SCC Main Event, Goes Undefeated On Day 2

GM Denis Lazavik sailed through day two of the 2024 Speed Chess Championship Play-in, winning all three of his matches to qualify for the main event. He played 14 games total on Friday—against GMs Yuriy Kuzubov, M Pranesh, and Dmitry Andreikin—and didn't lose a single one.

Lazavik is the 16th and final player to qualify for the main event, which begins on July 25. Specific players and match times will be shared once confirmed.

Final Bracket

(See full results here.)

• Winners Bracket: Denis 'the Menace' Returns
• Losers Bracket: Andreikin Wins 13/16 Games
• Grand Final: Lazavik 3.5-0.5 Andreikin

Eight players advanced from the Swiss qualifier on the previous day to the double-elimination Knockout on Friday. The players would contest one-on-one matches, with players in the Winners Bracket having "two lives" and those in the Losers Bracket having one.

Winners Bracket: Denis 'the Menace' Returns

The tournament's top seed Lazavik won both of his matches comfortably to enter the Grand Final.

He won his first match, against Kuzubov, with a dominant 3.5-0.5 score. While better known to squeeze out small advantages like a python, in game two the teenage GM showed that he's no slouch with tactics either:

Lazavik's next victim was Pranesh, the Swiss winner of the previous day, whom he defeated 3.5-1.5. In game four, Pranesh must have missed the unusual but strong 19.f4!, after which Lazavik won a pawn and the game.

Losers Bracket: Andreikin Wins 13/16 Games

Andreikin, who finished sixth in the Swiss tournament on the previous day, was simply unstoppable in the Losers Bracket. He won nine consecutive games and scored 13 wins out of 16 games, on his way to the Grand Final.

Andreikin put up a 4-0 score against GM Andrew Hong in the first round. In game three, he found a nice tactic to win material. Can you find it?

He then beat GM Alexander Zubov with another 4-0 score. His very first win featured some nice calculations in the rook endgame, as Andreikin found the cruncher 55...Rf1! just in time.

GM Yuriy Kuzubov, after losing the first two games of their match, was the player to cut Andreikin's streak at nine straight wins. While they were evenly matched in the blitz portion, Andreikin's bullet skills prevailed in the last two games. In the first bullet game, White's timid opening play was severely punished, and his queen found itself offsides on a2, never to move again.

The Losers Final vs. Pranesh featured five decisive games, but a convincing score of 4-1 for Andreikin. The most shocking victory was the first one, where Andreikin managed to win a theoretically drawn rook endgame even with a two-minute time deficit.

Andreikin wins the first game of the Losers Final, in a 2 vs. 1 rook endgame!https://t.co/lcQEkV4GYy#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/tWQ4EFfoNd

— chess24 (@chess24com) June 28, 2024

With that, the stage was set for the Grand Final. Both Lazavik and Andreikin were clearly the best players in their respective brackets on Friday.

Grand Final: Lazavik 3.5-0.5 Andreikin

Coming from the Losers Bracket, Andreikin needed to defeat Lazavik twice in order to win the qualifier, but he wouldn't even win one game. Lazavik won the first three games before settling for a draw and match victory.

Andreikin could have won game one, but mutual blindness in the following position allowed Lazavik to survive and, later, win.

Andreikin blunders in game one, but Lazavik misses it too!https://t.co/Eh9IfB61dc#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/8AzZbYwUtC

— chess24 (@chess24com) June 28, 2024

Lazavik then outplayed his opponent in a rook and bishop endgame, before going on to win game three with a nice tactic against a demoralized Andreikin.

Seventeen-year-old Lazavik will join the likes of GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, World Champion Ding Liren, and many others of the world's best speed-chess players. Asked by the chat whom he looks forward to playing, Lazavik gave a humble and honest reply: "For sure, it's not Hikaru, Magnus, and Alireza!"

With a FIDE blitz rating of 2553, he will be the second-to-last seed—just higher than GM Tuan Minh Le, who has a FIDE blitz rating of 2494. Every other participant boasts at least a FIDE blitz rating of 2600, and most are over 2700. But if there's one thing we know about speed chess, it's that things never entirely go according to plan. Catch the action in about a month from now!

The Speed Chess Championship is Chess.com's most important speed chess event. Some of the biggest names in chess compete to determine the best speed chess player in the world. The main event started with qualifiers on June 27 and 28 and concludes with the first-ever live Final on September 8 in Paris. The games are played with time controls of 5+1, 3+1, and 1+1. The prize fund is $173,000. 

Previous coverage:

• Pranesh Tops Swiss Qualifier, 8 Players Move On To Knockout Stage
• Paris To Host Live Final Of 2024 Speed Chess Championship: Nakamura, Carlsen Confirmed