Andrew Tang Wins Knockout, Qualifies for Junior Speed Chess Championship
The Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championship, presented by ChessKid, kicks off today with the Knockout Qualifier. Eight players will be fighting for the last available spot in the championship.
The 2020 edition of the Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championship, presented by ChessKid, begins this week. The tournament includes eight of the world's top-10 junior players and has a prize fund of $25,000.
The Knockout Qualifier will start on September 9 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time / 18:00 Central Europe with the following eight invited players: Andrew Tang (USA), Kirill Shevchenko (Ukraine), Nikolas Theodorou (Greece), Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Czech Republic), Luca Moroni (Italy), Carlos Albornoz (Cuba), and Jonas Bjerre (Denmark).
The winner earns $1,000 and is seeded directly into the championship event. Two days later, that qualifier will be put to the test straight away in the first match of the JSCC on Sept. 11, as the opponent of the top seed.
Below is the list of participants by seed number, determined by the players' blended blitz and bullet ratings with their bullet ratings counting half:
Junior Speed Chess Championship | Seeded players
| # | Fed | Name | Username | Age | Bullet | Blitz | Blended |
| 1 | Nihal Sarin | @nihalsarin | 16 | 3201 | 3033 | 2316.75 | |
| 2 | Arjun Erigaisi | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | 17 | 2910 | 3057 | 2256.00 | |
| 3 | Sam Sevian | @Konavets | 19 | 2890 | 3065 | 2255.00 | |
| 4 | Haik Martirosyan | @Micki-taryan | 19 | 2930 | 3019 | 2242.00 | |
| 5 | Parham Maghsoodloo | @Parhamov | 20 | 2913 | 3005 | 2230.75 | |
| 6 | Alexey Sarana | @mishanick | 20 | 2885 | 3001 | 2221.75 | |
| 7 | Jeffery Xiong | @jefferyx | 19 | 2938 | 2911 | 2190.00 | |
| 8 | Anton Smirnov | @AntonSmirnov | 19 | 2803 | 2971 | 2186.25 | |
| 9 | Raunak Sadhwani | @RaunakSadhwani2005 | 14 | 3003 | 2818 | 2159.75 | |
| 10 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | @ChessWarrior7197 | 15 | 2727 | 2936 | 2149.75 | |
| 11 | Andrey Esipenko | @Andreikka | 18 | 2942 | 2823 | 2147.00 | |
| 12 | Praggnanandhaa R. | @rpragchess | 15 | 2760 | 2852 | 2116.00 | |
| 13 | Vincent Keymer | @VincentKeymer | 15 | 2757 | 2815 | 2096.75 | |
| 14 | Amin Tabatabaei | @amintabatabaei | 19 | 2658 | 2852 | 2090.50 | |
| 15 | Gukesh D. | @GukeshDommaraju | 14 | 2592 | 2851 | 2073.50 | |
| 16 | Andrew Tang | @penguingm1 | 20 | 3020 | 2962 | 2236.00 |
The round of 16 will have the following matches:
- Match 1: Nihal Sarin vs Andrew Tang
Sept. 11, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST - Match 2: Arjun Erigaisi vs. Gukesh D.
Sept. 12, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST - Match 3: Sam Sevian vs. Amin Tabatabaei
Sept. 13, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST - Match 4: Haik Martirosyan vs. Vincent Keymer
Sept. 14, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST - Match 5: Parham Maghsoodloo vs. Praggnanandhaa R.
Sept. 19, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST - Match 6: Alexey Sarana vs. Andrey Esipenko
Sept. 20, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST - Match 7: Jeffery Xiong vs. Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Sept. 21, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST - Match 8: Anton Smirnov vs. Raunak Sadhwani
Sept. 23, 2020 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 CEST
The knockout tournament on Sept. 9 will see two 5+1 blitz games, four 3+1 blitz games, and eight 1+1 bullet games in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The final will consist of three 5+1 games, five 3+1 games, and 10 1+1 games.
All matches of the actual Junior SCC will see the traditional 90 minutes of 5+11 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess.
All 2020 Junior SCC matches will be broadcast live with full chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess.
After the very successful first edition last year, won by GM Wei Yi (no longer a junior), Chess.com presents the second edition, starting this week. Again, 16 of the strongest upcoming stars of the chess world will fight for a $25,000 prize fund and a much-coveted spot in the main Chess.com Speed Chess Championship (SCC). More details about that tournament will be announced soon.
ChessKid is the official sponsor of the 2020 Junior SCC. ChessKid is the world's number-one site for kids to learn and play chess.
More info about the 2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship can be found here.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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