What's Next: Speed Chess Championship

This is the second article in my next installation on upcoming chess events. Here is part 2 of a preview (along with some predictions ) of chess in August and September 2019, which will focus on the Speed Chess Championship.

Speed Chess Championship Open Qualifier: August 6

On August 6th, the SCC Open Qualifier will take place. The qualifier is a 10 round Swiss at a 3+2 time control. All player must be titled. Favorites include GMs Federico Perez Ponsa (2 Titled Tuesday lifetime wins), Haik Martirosyan, Alexander Moskalenko (3 Titled Tuesday lifetime wins), Jeffery Xiong (World #44 in FIDE Classical, 2 Titled Tuesday lifetime wins), Andrew Tang (#21 in Chess.com blitz), Vasiliy Korchmar, Grigoriy Oparin (#15 in Chess.com blitz, World #86 in FIDE Classical, 2 Titled Tuesday lifetime wins) and IMs Tuan Minh Le (3 Titled Tuesday lifetime wins) and Abdulla Gadimbayli.

Speed Chess Championship Knockout Qualifier: August 7

The second qualifier on August 7th will pit 8 of the best players on Chess.com against each other in an exciting knockout qualifier. The likely pairings are as follows:

Daniel Naroditsky vs. Andrew Tang

Blitz Record: Daniel Naroditsky beat Andrew Tang 12 to 7, with 5 draws

Naroditsky, the top seed and #3 in Chess.com blitz will be the favorite in likely the biggest matchup of the tournament. Naroditsky and Tang are the only two participants in the top eight in Chess.com blitz, as Tang clocks in at #8. It's unclear whether bullet will be factored into the knockout, but if it is, that would favor Tang, although most of the games they've played were 30 second chess (a. k. a. a game where both players slowly descend into madness).

Alireza Firouzja vs. Haik Martirosyan

Blitz Record: Haik Martirosyan beat Alireza Firouzja 22 to 15, with 3 draws

This match might be the most likely upset of Round 1 as Martirosyan actually has a plus score against the beast from Iran. However, as we've seen time and time again, Firouzja is very dangerous in bullet, so if he's able to hold on until then, he may advance to the next round to face the winner of...

Shant Sargsyan vs. Nihal Sarin

Blitz Record: Shant Sargsyan beat Nihal Sarin 18 to 10, with 6 draws

This match sees another battle of the juniors as 6 out of the 8 players in the tournament are juniors, half of which were eliminated from the JSCC and half of which weren't invited. Sarin was invited to the JSCC, where he was knocked out in Round 1. Despite the fact that Sargsyan wasn't invited to the JSCC, he should be favored here, being a long time 2900+ player.

Dmitry Andreikin vs. Sam Sevian

Blitz Record: Dmitry Andreikin tied Sam Sevian 0 to 0, with 0 draws

This match will feature a timeless rivalry in Russia vs. USA as Andreikin takes on Sevian. Their only recorded game to date was in the 2019 PRO Chess League season, with Sevian winning. However, Andreikin will be looking to use his blitz experience, as he is both #10 in the world in FIDE blitz and Chess.com blitz.

Junior Speed Chess Championship Final: August 10

Top seed Wei Yi faces newly minted 2700 Jeffery Xiong in the finals of the Junior Speed Chess Championship, where the winner will advance to the main bracket. Here are my predictions, portion by portion:

5+1: Wei has been very successful thus far in 5+1, winning all three mini matches he has played, whereas Xiong is on an even score, losing to Anton Smirnov, beating Benjamin Gledura, and tying Parham Maghsoodloo. This would be where Wei would be looking to strike, as every player who won the 5+1 portion won the overall match in the quarterfinals and semifinals. So, Wei's early lead may dictate the rest of the match.

Projected Score: Wei Yi 5.5-3.5 Jeffery Xiong

3+1: This is, again, a portion where Wei has been very consistent, winning all three 3+1 portions. However, Xiong is on 2/3, losing to Gledura and beating Smirnov and Maghsoodloo. I expect this portion to be very close with Wei edging out Xiong once again.

Projected Score Wei Yi 5.5-3.5 Jeffery Xiong

1+1: This portion may be the most intriguing of the three as Xiong is 2.5/3 in bullet. However, he's never had a deficit going into 1+1, so this may get very interesting. Wei, by comparison, lost to Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in bullet and beat Jorden van Foreest and Firouzja.

Projected Score Wei Yi 4-5 Jeffery Xiong

Final Score: Wei Yi 15-12 Jeffery Xiong

Speed Chess Championship: TBD

The final pairings aren't known yet, but it was announced that the invited players will be seeded by August FIDE Blitz ratings, so here are the projected pairings:

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs. Elina Danielian/Jeffery Xiong

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FIDE Blitz: 2939, World #1) will be the top seed in this event, fresh off a win in Paris. Elina Danielian (FIDE Blitz: 2341, Women's World #34), the winner of the Women's Speed Chess Championship, will be the bottom seed if Wei Yi (FIDE Blitz: 2686, World #45) wins the Junior Speed Chess Championship, assuming the winners of the unplayed qualifiers are higher rated than 2341 FIDE blitz. However, if Jeffery Xiong (FIDE Blitz: unrated) wins, we would see a rematch from their 2017 match, which ended 19-12 in favor of the Frenchman.

Hikaru Nakamura vs. Qualifier #3

Hikaru Nakamura (FIDE Blitz: 2902, World #3) will face either Wei Yi, Elina Danielian or another qualifier if their rating is below 2686 and Wei Yi wins the JSCC. However, regardless of who he plays, the reigning champion will be a favorite in this match.

Levon Aronian vs. Qualifier #2

Levon Aronian (FIDE Blitz: 2840, World #4) will likely face the winner of the open or invitational qualifier, so there's not much to say for this match.

Ian Nepomniachtchi vs. Qualifier #1

The same can be said for Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE Blitz: 2815, World #5), who will be awaiting his final opponent.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs. Sam Shankland

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (FIDE Blitz: 2787, World #9) will be a favorite in his second ever SCC match against former US Champion Sam Shankland (FIDE Blitz: 2704, World #34). They have played one online blitz game in the PRO Chess League which Mamedyarov won. Both players represent California teams. They also played two classical games earlier this year, one of which 'Shakh' won and one of which was drawn. Mamedyarov should be the favorite, but Shankland has more online experience and will be looking to win his first SCC match.

Vladislav Artemiev vs. Alexander Grischuk

The battle of the Russians will see young underdog Vladislav Artemiev (FIDE Blitz: 2779, World #11) go up against one of the best blitz players in the world in Alexander Grischuk (FIDE Blitz: 2733, World #23). This match may be the most stacked of any in Round 1 match as both players are in the top 10 of the Chess.com blitz leaderboard. Artemiev actually has a plus score of three wins, one loss, and one draw in OTB rapid and blitz, so he will have very good chances to repeat Jan-Krzysztof Duda (FIDE Blitz: 2778, World #13)'s success and become the second young player to eliminate Grischuk from the competition and the first to eliminate him in Round 1.

Ding Liren vs. Wesley So

Ding Liren (FIDE Blitz: 2779, World #12) and Wesley So (FIDE Blitz: 2764, World #19) are #3 and #6 on the FIDE Classical rating list, making this one of the biggest matches of Round 1. So reached the finals last year, where he just came short against Nakamura. So should be favored once again, being #2 in Chess.com blitz. However, Ding will be trying to make his Speed Chess Championship debut a good one.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs. Anish Giri

Duda will be looking to start another successful season with a win against Anish Giri (FIDE Blitz: 2772, World #14). Giri narrowly lost to So and then narrowly beat Mamedyarov in the first round of the past two seasons, so expect this match to be tight. However, if Duda can beat Karjakin and Grischuk, he should be an odds on favorite to win this match as well and kick off his Speed Chess Championship with a bang.