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
• Broadcast
• Players
• Format
• Schedule
• Prizes
• Fair Play Requirements

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.

* Approximate starting time

Main Event

The Main Event happened from March 3 through March 17.

Upcoming Matchups

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