2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG
GM Alireza Firouzja won the main event of the 2021 Bullet Chess Championship after defeating GMs Vladislav Artemiev, Hikaru Nakamura, and Andrew Tang. Firouzja's exceptional performance has put the 17-year-old supergrandmaster back in the spotlight.
WGM Nemo Qiyu Zhou won the All-Star event after beating WFM Anna Cramling, Bartosz Rudecki, and NM Sean Senft.
Chess.com teams up with Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG) to present the 2021 Bullet Chess Championship. The event's qualifiers were held on March 31 and April 1, while the main event will run from April 5-April 7. The All-Star event will be held on April 8. During the championship, top players will face each other in 1|0 matches to compete for their piece of a $32,000 total prize fund.
Brackets
Main event
All-Star event
Players
Main event players:
- Seed 1: GM Hikaru Nakamura (defending champion)
- Seed 2: GM Daniel Naroditsky
- Seed 3: GM Andrew Tang
- Seed 4: GM Alireza Firouzja
- Seed 5: GM Vladislav Artemiev
- Seed 6: GM Nihal Sarin
- Seed 7: IM Le Tuan Minh
- Seed 8: GM Arjun Erigaisi
- Seed 9: GM Levon Aronian
- Seed 10: GM Eric Hansen
- Seed 11: GM Oleksandr Bortnyk
- Seed 12: GM Raunak Sadhwani
All-Star players:
- GM Maurice Ashley
- WGM Nemo Qiyu Zhou
- WFM Alexandra Botez
- WFM Alessia Santeramo
- WFM Anna Cramling
- IM Tania Sachdev
- NM Sean Senft
- Bartosz Rudecki
Seeding
Defending champion Nakamura gets the highest seed. Seedings for the remaining players will be determined by their ratings after the qualifier stage.
Schedule
Below is the schedule for the 2021 Bullet Chess Championship presented by SIG:
Qualifiers:
- Wednesday, March 31 - Qualifier 1 started at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, Qualifier 2 started at 11 a.m. Pacific Time
- Thursday, April 1 - Qualifier 3 started at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, Qualifier 4 started at 11 a.m. Pacific Time
Main Event:
- Monday, April 5, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time (Wild Card: four matches played between Seed 5 and Seed 12; the winners of these matches qualify for the quarterfinals where they meet Seed 1 and 4)
- Tuesday, April 6, from 12.30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time (Quarterfinals)
- Wednesday, April 7, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time (Semifinals and Finals)
All-Star:
- Thursday, April 8, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time
Prizes
The championship has a total prize fund of $32,000 that will be divided as described below:
Main event: total prize fund of $25,000
- 1st: $10,000
- 2nd: $6,000
- 3rd: $2,500
- 4th: $2,500
- 5th-8th (Quarterfinalists): $500
- Qualifier 1-4 Winners: $500
All-star event: total prize fund of $7,000
- 1st: $3,000
- 2nd: $1,500
- 3rd: $1000
- 4th: $500
- 5th - 8th: $250
Format
Qualifiers:
- Open all to titled players
- The qualifiers will consist of four separate events, happening on two different days:
- Players will participate in a 20-round swiss event, with the top four players advancing to the knockout bracket.
- Matches will consist of a 10-minute countdown clock.
- In case there's a tie, players will enter sudden death, with the higher seed getting White first. Players alternate colors until someone wins.
- The winner advances to the Bullet Chess Championship presented by SIG.
Main event:
- Brackets will consist of 12 players seeded according to their ratings after the qualifiers.
- Matches will consist of a 30-minute countdown clock, with half-time happening at the 15-minute mark.
- In the event of a tie, players enter sudden death. The higher seed gets White first, and players alternate colors until someone wins.
All-star event:
- Brackets will consist of eight celebrity players.
- Matches will consist of a 15-minute countdown clock.
Broadcast
Chess.com will broadcast the event and provide live expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess.
