2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship

The 2020 Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championships sponsored by ChessKid was a 16-player knockout tournament among the top junior players in the world. In this second edition, there was a total prize fund of $25,000 on the line.

• Bracket
• Schedule
• Prizes
• Detailed format
• List of players
• Sponsor
• Broadcast and streaming

Bracket

Matchups and pairings were based on the blended average of the players' blitz and bullet ratings on Chess.com per September 6, 2020.

Schedule

The games of the Junior Speed Chess Championship events were as follows:

Knockout

• 8-player knockout: September 9, 2020 won by GM Andrew Tang.

Round 1: Round of 16

• Nihal Sarin vs Andrew Tang September 11, 2020, won by Nihal.
• Arjun Erigaisi vs. Gukesh D. September 12, 2020, won by Erigaisi.
• Sam Sevian vs. Amin Tabatabaei September 13, 2020, won by Sevian.
• Haik Martirosyan vs. Vincent Keymer September 14, won by Martirosyan.
• Parham Maghsoodloo vs. Praggnanandhaa R. September 19, 2020, won by Maghsoodloo.
• Alexey Sarana vs. Andrey Esipenko September 20, 2020, won by Sarana.
• Jeffery Xiong vs. Nodirbek Abdusattorov September 21, 2020, won by Xiong.
• Anton Smirnov vs. Raunak Sadhwani September 23, 2020, won by Smirnov.

Round 2: Quarterfinals

• Haik Martirosyan vs. Parham Maghsoodloo September 28, 2020, won by Martirosyan.
• Arjun Erigaisi vs. Jeffery Xiong September 30, 2020, won by Xiong.
• Nihal Sarin vs. Anton Smirnov October 1, 2020, won by Sarin.
• Sam Sevian vs. Alexey Sarana October 2, 2020, won by Sarana.

Round 3: Semifinals

• Nihal Sarin vs. Haik Martirosyan, October 4, 2020, won by Nihal.
• Jeffery Xiong vs. Aleksey Sarana, October 5, 2020, won by Sarana.

Round 4: Final

• Nihal Sarin vs. Aleksey Sarana, October 7, 2020, won by Nihal.

Prizes

Event prizes: $25,000 total. 

Prizes by round:

• Qualifier -- $2,500
• Round 1 -- $8,000
• Round 2 -- $6,000
• Round 3 -- $6,000
• Round 4 -- $5,000
  

Prize breakdown:

Qualifier:

1. $1,000 + qualification to JSCC
2. $500
3. $300
4. $300
5. $100
6. $100
7. $100
8. $100

Round 1: 16 players, 8 matches, $8,000 prize pool

• Winner: $500 and advance to round 2
• $500 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $1,000

Round 2: 8 players, 4 matches, $6,000 prize pool

• Winner: $750 and advance to round 3
• $750 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $1,500

Round 3: 4 players, 2 matches, $6,000 prize pool

• Winner: $1,500
• $1,500 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $3,000

Round 4: 2 players, 1 match, $5,000 prize pool

• Winner final: $2,500 + qualification to the Speed Chess Championships
• $2,500 split by win percentage
• Total prizes per match: $5,000
  

Detailed format

Knockout qualifier

• Quaterfinals and semifinals: 2 games of 5+1, 4 games of 3+1, 8 games of 1+1.
• Final: 3 games of 5+1, 5 games of 3+1, 10 games of 1+1.
• If the match is tied after the last 1+1 bullet game, a tiebreak of four additional 1+1 games is played as a mini-match.
• If the match is still tied after the mini-match tiebreaker, a single armageddon game will be played: White 5+0, Black 3+0, Black gets draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating at the start of the armageddon chooses their color.
• The winner qualifies for the main bracket of the Junior Speed Chess Championship.
• Prize fund for the knockout: $2,500

Main bracket

• Each 2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship match will feature 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet chess.
• The bracket will feature 15 invited players and 1 player from the knockout qualifier.
• The bracket will be seeded 1-16 by the blended average of the players' blitz and bullet ratings on Chess.com per September 6, 2020.
• The main bracket will be a single-elimination knockout.
• The winner of each match advances to the next line in the bracket.
• If the match is tied after the last 1+1 bullet game, a tiebreak of four additional 1+1 games is played as a mini-match.
• If the match is still tied after the mini-match tiebreaker, a single armageddon game will be played: White 5+0, Black 3+0, Black gets draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating at the start of the armageddon chooses their color.

List of players

The following chess players have confirmed their participation in the 2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship Sponsored by ChessKid main bracket:

• GM Jeffery Xiong, world number-two Junior player
  
  
• GM Andrey Esipenko, world number-three Junior player
  
  
• GM Parham Maghsoodloo, world number-four Junior player
  
  
• GM Sam Sevian, world number-five Junior player
  
  
• GM Alexey Sarana, world number-six Junior player
  
  
• GM Amin Tabatabaei, world number-seven Junior player
  
  
• GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, world number-eight Junior player
  
  
• GM Haik Martirosyan, world number-10 Junior player
  
  
  
  
• GM Nihal Sarin, world number-11 Junior player
  
  
• GM Praggnanandhaa R., world number-12 Junior player
  
  
• GM Anton Smirnov, world number-13 Junior player
  
  
• GM Gukesh D., world number-25 Junior player
  
  
• GM Vincent Keymer,, world number-24 Junior player
  
  
• GM Arjun Erigaisi, world number-26 Junior player
  
  
• GM Raunak Sadhwani, world number-32 Junior player
  
  
• Qualifier
  
  

Sponsor

ChessKid is the official sponsor of the 2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship. ChessKid is the world's number one site for kids to learn and play chess!

Broadcast and streaming

All 2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship matches will be broadcast live with full chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess.