Anand, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Topalov Among Global Chess Championship Participants

Kicking off Sept. 14, the Chess.com Global Chess Championship will see legendary chess players such as GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, GM Vladimir Kramnik, and GM Veselin Topalov compete against today's best (online) players, including GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Ding Liren, GM Levon Aronian, and GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The full bracket of 64 players reveals a mouth-watering field.

A new and exciting phase of the Global Chess.com Championship, Chess.com's first-ever event with a $1 million prize fund, is around the corner. With 32 qualifiers joined by 32 seeded players, we'll be seeing youth vs. experience, upcoming talents vs. former world champions, and online specialists vs. seasoned grandmasters in the coming weeks as the knockout phase of the championship gets underway.

Chess Legends

The field includes five world champions: Anand, Kramnik, Topalov, and GMs Hou Yifan and GM Ju Wenjun. There are also five world championship challengers: GM Boris Gelfand, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Peter Leko, GM Gata Kamsky, and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Besides Aronian, Duda, Gelfand, Kamsky, and Kramnik, there are two more FIDE World Cup winners: GM Peter Svidler and GM Teimour Radabov. And then there are also two players who made it to the final of a FIDE World Championship: GM Michael Adams and Ivanchuk.

New Power Generation

A large contention in the field is still a teenager, or (just over) 20 years old. The first mention should go to 19-year-old GM Arjun Erigaisi, currently the world's number 18 player in the live ratings, in case you missed it! Olympic silver winner GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov is there as well, and also e.g. GM Jeffery Xiong, GM Nihal Sarin, GM Andrey Esipenko, GM Kirill Shevchenko, and GM Raunak Sadhwani. 

Online Specialists

Some participants might be lesser known in the world of classical chess, but have made a name in the past few years here on Chess.com. For example, there is GM-elect Denis Lazavik, who won Titled Tuesday a few days ago and topped the fourth Play-in of this Global Chess Championship. Other regulars are GM Oleksandr Bortnyk (who e.g. reached the 2019 Bullet Chess Championship final), GM Jose Martinez (a three-time victor in Winner Stays and the winner of the seventh season of Arena Kings), and GM-elect Tuan Minh Le (multiple Titled Tuesday winner and the winner of the final Play-in).

The Strength Throughout

The field of 64 players has many more big names that have frequented top tournaments in recent years. To name just a few: GM Anish Giri, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, GM Wesley So, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Leinier Dominguez, GM Le Quang Liem, GM Wang Hao, GM Dmitry Andreikin, and GM Vladimir Fedoseev. Pick your favorite!

Chess.com Global Chess Championship 2022 | Knockout, Round 1 Pairings

This knockout phase runs between September 14 and October 9, 2022. On September 14, the knockout kicks off with Le Quan Liem-Hansen, Alekseenko-Martinez, Ding-Tuan Minh Le, Esipenko-Amin, Kramnik-Melkumyan, and Nihal-Mamedov. Full dates, times, and pairings will be published soon.

Armageddon Bidding

Each match is played over four 15+2 rapid games. If the match ends in a tie, a single rapid armageddon game determines the winner. White gets 15 minutes 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. If the bid is tied, the higher-seeded player chooses the color.

$1 million Prize Fund

From this knockout phase, eight players will qualify for the Global Chess Championship Finals, to be held November 2-7, on site in Toronto, Canada, where a $200,000 first prize will be at stake. Meanwhile, the 32 players who get knocked out in the first round still go home with $5,000. The Global Chess Championship is Chess.com's first-ever event with a $1 million total prize fund.

Who do you think will win the inaugural  Global Chess Championship? Leave your choice in the comments!