Junior Speed Chess Championship 2022: All The Information

The 2022 Junior Speed Chess Championship presented by SIG is the latest edition of Chess.com's top event for young players, featuring a $35,000 prize fund. This year's edition began March 31 and lasts until the final on June 6. The previous two editions have been won by GM Nihal Sarin.

• Schedule
• Broadcast
• Format
• Prizes
• Players
• Bracket
• Contest
• Qualifier Results
• Fair Play

Schedule

The qualifiers last from March 31 to April 8, and the Main Event follows from April 11 to June 6.

Qualifiers Schedule

Main Event schedule: 

Broadcast

The 2022 Junior Speed Chess Championship will be aired live on all the usual channels: Chess.com/TV, Twitch, and YouTube. Fans can also follow the tournament on our Events page.

Chess.com lead commentator GM Daniel Naroditsky will anchor the coverage while GM Aman Hambleton, GM Robert Hess and ChessKid Chief Chess Officer FM Mike Klein also provide their expert commentary.

Format

Qualifiers

• Each qualifier tournament consists of an invite-only knockout with eight players
• Each single-elimination match lasts 14 games: two at a 5+1 time control, four games at 3+1, and eight at 1+1
• First player to score 7.5 wins the match
• In the event of a 7-7 tie in the quarterfinals or semifinals, players play 1+1 with alternating colors until someone wins
• A tie in the final is broken by a four-game 1+1 match
• If the final remains tied, then an armageddon game is played. White gets five minutes (no increment) and must win, with a bidding system to determine who plays Black with draw odds: Players communicate privately the amount of time they are willing to get to play as Black; the lower time offered wins the bid and that player starts with the amount of time bid.
• Winner advances to Main Event

Main Event

• A 16-player single-elimination knockout bracket, with 13 invitees and the three qualified players
• Matches begin with 90 minutes in the 5+1 time control, followed by 60 minutes at 3+1 time control and 30 minutes at 1+1. There are breaks midway through the first two segments.
• Games that are ongoing when time runs out in each segment will be completed and count towards the score
• The tiebreak is the same as the qualifier final: Four additional 1+1 games played as a mini-match, followed by armageddon if necessary, with the same bidding system as the qualifier (see above)
• Winner advances to 2022 Speed Chess Championship at the end of the year

Prizes

The 2022 JSCC has a total prize fund of $35,000, more than 10% of which goes to the winner of the main event.

Qualifier Prize Pool: $2,500 Per Tournament, $7,500 Total

Main Event Prize Pool: $27,500

Each match of the main event follows the typical SCC prize structure: half the prize to the winner, the other half split by winning percentage in the match.

Players

The main event's field consists of 13 invitees in addition to the three winners from the Qualifiers. Here are the players and their seeding:

1. GM Nihal Sarin (defending champion)
2. GM Raunak Sadhwani
3. GM Hans Niemann
4. GM Brandon Jacobson
5. GM Awonder Liang
6. GM Kirill Shevchenko
7. GM Arjun Erigaisi
8. GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
9. IM Christopher Yoo
10. IM Denis Lazavik
11. GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov
12. GM Andrew Hong (Qualifier 2 winner)
13. GM Arseniy Nesterov
14. GM Velimir Ivic
15. IM Mahammad Muradli (Qualifier 3 winner)
16. IM Aronyak Ghosh (Qualifier 1 winner)

The seeding was determined by averaging each player's Chess.com blitz (40%) and bullet (20%) peak ratings over the last 30 days along with their rating in the FIDE April Classical ratings list (40%). The seeding above ranked their composite rating average together.

Qualifier 1

• IM Pranav V
• IM Rahul Srivatshav
• IM Aronyak Ghosh
• GM Francesco Sonis
• GM Rithvik Raja R
• WGM Zhu Jiner
• IM Aditya Mittal

Qualifier 2

• GM Brandon Jacobson
• GM Praveen Balakrishnan
• GM Andrew Hong
• IM Anthony He
• IM David Brodsky
• FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi
• FM Lucas Cardoso
• FM Ryo Chen

Qualifier 3

• IM Mahammad Muradli
• IM Platon Galperin
• IM Ahmad Ahmadzada
• IM Gupta Sankalp
• IM Aydin Suleymanli
• GM P Iniyan
• IM Bibisara Assaubayeva
• IM Abdulla Gadimbayli

Bracket

Bracket Contest

Enter our free bracket prediction contest for your chance to win cash and memberships!

Qualifier Results

March 31: IM Aronyak Ghosh won the first qualifier on March 31 after defeating IM Pranav V 10-7.

April 7: GM Andrew Hong qualified for the main event after defeating GM Brandon Jacobson in the final match of qualifier two 9.5-8.5.

April 8: IM Mahammad Muradli won the third qualifier after defeating IM Platon Galperin 8-0.

Fair Play

All standard Chess.com Fair Play protocols apply to the event, including:

• All players are required to join a Zoom call for all events (both Swiss and Knockout)
• Players must have a two-camera setup with at least one camera in Zoom at all times
• Players must follow all staff requests including having the ability to share their screen(s) upon request
• Players are allowed to stream the event with emote-only chat
• No individual(s) are allowed in the room with a player without Chess.com consent
• Players who are streaming will also be required to delay their stream by 60 seconds. If they're unable to apply the delay then they won't be permitted to stream the event
• Players are not permitted to wear headphones while on-stream or in Zoom
• Players who disconnect and are unable to reestablish their camera feeds cannot to continue in the event
• Violation of any of the above requirements may result in a player being kicked from the event