2021 Junior Speed Chess Championship: All The Information

The 2021 Junior Speed Chess Championship presented by ChessKid was an online competition for top junior chess players. The event ran from June 7 through October 19 and featured a total prize fund of $35,000 for the competition.

For the second straight year, GM Nihal Sarin won the Junior Speed Chess Championship, defeating GM Raunak Sadhwani in the final. As a result Nihal will participate in the 2021 Speed Chess Championship Main Event beginning in November.

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

Broadcast

All matches of the 2021 Junior Speed Chess Championship were broadcast live on Chess.com/TV and our Twitch channel, with expert commentary by GMs Robert Hess, Daniel Naroditsky, Aman Hambleton, FM Mike Klein, and other guests. Fans can also keep up with the event by going to our Events page.

Players

Below you can see a list of the confirmed players so far:

Europe Qualifier

• GM Vincent Keymer
• GM Velimir Ivic
• IM Denis Lazavik
• GM Jonas Bjerre
• GM Paulius Pultinevicius
• GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen
• GM Marc Andria Maurizzi
• WGM Polina Shuvalova

Asia Qualifier

• GM Gukesh D
• GM Arjun Erigaisi
• GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov
• GM Aryan Chopra
• GM Nguyen Anh Khoi
• WGM Jiner Zhu
• GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov
• IM Daniel Quizon

Americas Qualifier

• GM Hans Niemann
• GM Brandon Jacobson
• IM Christopher Yoo
• FM Jose Gabriel Cardoso Cardoso
• GM Awonder Liang
• FM Lucas Cardoso
• NM Ryo Chen (ChessKid Wildcard)
• NM Tani Adewumi (ChessKid Wildcard)

Global Qualifier

• GM Raunak Sadhwani
• GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov
• IM Denis Lazavik
• IM Aydin Suleymanli
• GM Gukesh D.
• GM Paulius Pultinevicius
• IM Volodar Murzin
• GM Lance Henderson de La Fuente

Main Event

• GM Nihal Sarin
• GM Raunak Sadhwani
• GM Jeffery Xiong
• GM Haik Martirosyan
• GM Arjun Erigaisi
• GM Parham Maghsoodloo
• GM Hans Niemann
• GM Amin Tabatabaei
• GM Anton Smirnov
• IM Christopher Yoo
• GM Praggnanandhaa R.
• GM Kirill Shevchenko
• GM Vincent Keymer
• IM Denis Lazavik
• GM Paulius Pultinevicius
• GM Nicolas Checa

Bracket

Schedule

The qualifiers for the event ran from June 7 through June 21, while the main event ran from July 1 to October 19, as detailed below:

Qualifiers

• Monday, June 7 - Europe Qualifier: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific/19:00 to 00:00 (June 8) Central Europe
• Monday, June 14 - Asia Qualifier: 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pacific/14:00 to 19:00 Central Europe
• Monday, June 21- Global and Americas Qualifiers: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific/17:00 to 03:00 (June 22) Central Europe

• Round of 16, GM Raunak Sadhwani vs. GM Paulius Pultinevicius: Thursday, July 1: 23-5
• Round of 16, GM Arjun Erigaisi vs. GM Kirill Shevchenko: Sunday, July 4: 17.5-10.5
• Round of 16, GM Parham Maghsoodloo vs. GM Praggnanandhaa R.: Monday, July 5: 15.5-11.5
• Round of 16, GM Amin Tabatabaei vs. GM Anton Smirnov: Tuesday, July 6: 14-12
• Round of 16, GM Haik Martirosyan vs. GM Vincent Keymer: Wednesday, July 7: 20.5-5.5
• Round of 16, GM Hans Niemann vs. IM Christopher Yoo: Thursday, July 8: 9-23
• Round of 16, GM Nihal Sarin vs. GM Nicolas Checa: Saturday, July 10: 20.5-7.5 
• Round of 16, GM Jeffery Xiong vs. IM Denis Lazavik: Sunday, July 11: 15.5-9.5
• Quarterfinals, GM Raunak Sadhwani vs. IM Christopher Yoo: Saturday, July 31: 17-14
• Quarterfinals, GM Jeffery Xiong vs. GM Parham Maghsoodloo: Monday, August 2: 13.5-14.5
• Quarterfinals, GM Haik Martirosyan vs. GM Arjun Erigaisi: Tuesday, August 3: 15.5-13.5
• Quarterfinals, GM Nihal Sarin vs. GM Amin Tabatabaei: Monday, August 30: 23.5-4.5
• Semifinals, GM Haik Martirosyan vs. GM Nihal Sarin: Monday, October 4 - 6 a.m. PT/15:00 CEST: 9.5-20.5
• Semifinals, Match 2: GM Raunak Sadhwani vs. GM Parham Maghsoodloo: Thursday, October 7: 15-14
• Final: GM Nihal Sarin vs. GM Raunak Sadhwani: Tuesday, October 19 - 6 a.m. PT/15:00 CEST: 17.5-10.5

Prizes

The event had a total prize fund of $35,000, distributed as follows:

Qualifiers: $10,000 prize pool

• 1st: $1,000 (and qualification for the main event)
• 2nd: $500
• 3rd-4th: $300
• 5th-8th: $100

Main Event: $25,000 prize pool

In each match of the main event, half the corresponding prize pool for each round will go to the winner, while the other half will be divided between the two players based on their winning percentages in that round.

• Round 1: $1,000 per match, totaling $8,000
• Round 2: $1,500 per match, totaling $6,000
  
• Round 3: $3,000 per match, totaling $6,000
• Round 4: $5,000 for the match. The winner also qualifies for the 2021 Speed Chess Championship.

Format

Qualifier

• Knockout bracket consisting of eight players.
• Each match will feature 14 games, two of which in the 5|1 time control, four in the 3|1, and eight in the 1|1.
• In the event of a tie after the first 14 games of the quarterfinals and semifinals, players will keep playing 1|1 games until a decisive result occurs. The colors will alternate from the last game played.
• In the event of a tie after the first 14 games of the finals, players will compete in a tiebreak of four additional 1|1 games played as a mini-match.
• If the final match is still tied after the tiebreak above, players will proceed to play one armageddon game: White will have 5 minutes on the clock and Black will have 4, with no increment, and Black will have draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating will choose their color.

Main Event

• Knockout bracket consisting of 16 players, with 12 invited players and four others from each knockout qualifier.
• Matches will consist of three different segments: 90 minutes in the 5|1 time control, 60 minutes in the 3|1 time control, and 30 minutes in the 1|1 time control.
• In the event of a tie, players will compete in a tiebreak of four additional 1|1 games played as a mini-match.
• If the final match is still tied after the tiebreak above, players will proceed to play one armageddon game: White will have 5 minutes on the clock and Black will have 4, with no increment, and Black will have draw odds. The player with the highest Chess.com blitz rating will choose their color.

Qualifier Results

Monday, June 7: GM Vincent Keymer wins Europe Qualifier

GM Vincent Keymer won the European qualifier after defeating IM Denis Lazavik.

All Games: Keymer-Lazavik

Full broadcast of the Europe Qualifier.

Monday, June 14: GM Arjun Erigaisi wins Asia Qualifier

GM Arjun Erigaisi was the second player to qualify to the main event of the 2021 Junior Speed Chess Championship after defeating GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov.

All Games: Erigaisi-Vokhidov

Full broadcast of the Asia Qualifier.

Monday, June 21: GM Raunak Sadhwani wins Global Qualifier, GM Hans Niemann wins Americas Qualifier

GM Raunak Sadhwani won the Global Qualifier and moved on to the main event of the 2021 Junior Speed Chess Championship after defeating GM Paulius Pultinevicius.

All Games: Sadhwani-Pultinevicius

GM Hans Niemann qualified for the main event after winning his match against IM Christopher Yoo in the final match of the Americas Qualifier.

All Games: Niemann-Yoo

Full broadcast of Global and Americas qualifiers.

Fair Play

• Standard Chess.com Fair Play rules apply.
• Participants who play in the event must set up two cameras and share their screen with Chess.com for Fair Play enforcement.