Global Championship Bracket Breakdown: Danny, Danya, And Levy Make Predictions

The Chess.com Global Championship Knockouts is almost upon us, with 64 of the strongest players in the world getting ready to compete for the title of Global Champion. Before planning how you'll spend the $100,000 prize of the CGC Knockouts bracket contest, there's one small thing you need to do: win it! With such a large field of fierce grandmasters playing, we know it's not an easy job to predict the winners. 

However, we've gathered three chess experts to talk about the players, the matchups, and their predictions for how it will all go down. Before filling out your own bracket predictions, make sure you watch what GM Daniel Naroditsky and IMs Danny Rensch and Levy Rozman have to say:

Below is a summary of what the experts had to say about each group:

Group A

While all the encounters in group A will be exciting, the experts agree that two of the matchups deserve extra attention. Naroditsky looks forward to the clash between David Navara and Michael Adams. On the other hand, Rozman and Rensch believe that the battle between Le Quang Liem and Eric Hansen will get everyone's heart pumping.

As for their picks for who'll win the group, Naroditsky is optimistic about Le Quang Liem's chances. Once more, Rozman and Rensch agreed with each other and placed their bets on GM Hikaru Nakamura.

Group B

In group B, the experts believe that the matchup between Vidit Gujrati versus Alexey Sarana will be the most exciting. 

As for who they think will win the group, Rozman and Naroditsky, this time, agreed—but only in parts. While both believe Duda could come out on top, Rozman would not be surprised to see Shakhriyar Mamedyarov winning it all. Rensch, however, thinks the winner of the Vidit-Sarana match will best everyone else.

Group C

In group C, Naroditsky and Rozman expect a great battle between Jeffery Xiong and Oleksandr Bortnyk. Despite agreeing that his colleagues picked a great matchup, Rensch believes that the match to really pay attention to will be between Ray Robson and Vasyl Ivanchuk. 

The experts then picked three different masters as their favorites to win the group. Naroditsky's surprise pick was Robson, who, according to him, is always a tough player to compete against. Levy agreed that Robson could make it but decided to put his chips on Wesley So. Rensch picked none other than "uncle Sasha," GM Alexander Grischuk, as his favorite.

Group D

In group D, Rozman is excited about the battle between Vladimir Fedoseev and Gata Kamsky. Naroditsky wants to see how Fabiano Caruana handles Martyn Kravtsiv, while Rensch reminded everyone of Jose Martinez and Dmitry Andreikin's great online performances lately.

As the picks for winners, Rozman and Naroditsky went with Andreikin, with Rensch choosing Caruana as the favorite.

Group E

In group E, Naroditsky looks forward to seeing Alexei Shirov setting fire to the board against Peter Svidler. Rozman likes the matchup between Arjun Erigaisi and David Paravyan, and Rensch went with the Teimour Radjabov-Hou Yifan clash.

Levy and Rensch think the 2022 Candidates Tournament winner, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, cannot be stopped. Naroditsky was the only one who went in a different direction and picked the young Erigaisi as his favorite.

Group F

In a group filled with former and current world champions, Rozman picked the match between Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Boris Gelfand as the most exciting. Naroditsky went with Viswanathan Anand versus Pavel Ponkratov. What about Rensch? Overwhelmed by the players in this group, he just couldn't pick.

When it came to trying to predict a winner, the task was not simple either. Naroditsky chose the reigning rapid champion Abdusattorov; Levy went with former world champion Anand; Finally, Rensch agreed that Abdusattorov might be the favorite but added that Raunak Sadhwani is a force to be reckoned with.

Group G

Among the group G matchups, Naroditsky and Rensch want to see how the Ding Liren versus Tuan Minh Le plays out. Rozman expects a great battle between Vladimir Kramnik and Hrant Melkumyan.

Predicting the winners, Naroditsky went with Nihal Sarin. Rozman opted for a "safe pick" and called out world championship challenger Ding as the favorite. Rensch once more disagreed with his colleagues and chose Andrey Esipenko as the most likely to win.

Group H

In the final group, Rozman dropped the "truth bomb" and mentioned his excitement for the match between Levon Aronian and Nikolas Theodorou. Naroditsky predicts a dynamic and exciting match in Sam Sevian versus Rasmus Svane, and Rensch once more praised the remaining two matchups of the group after agreeing with the other two experts. 

Choosing their favorites, Rozman and Naroditsky believe that either Maxime Vachier-Lagrave or Aronian should win. Eventually, Rozman went with Vachier-Lagrave, and Naroditsky chose Aronian. While Rensch also likes the prospects of the two super-grandmasters, he pointed out that Eduardo Iturrizaga might shock the world and make it to the finals.

Whether their predictions are right or wrong, we know one thing: the CGC Knockouts will be the most exciting CGC phase yet. Make sure you tune in to Chess.com/TV or to our Twitch and YouTube channels on September 14 to keep up with all the action!