2022 Puzzle Battle World Championship: All The Information

The 2022 Puzzle Battle World Championship is a competition for top puzzle experts. A special Chess Played Quick: Puzzle Battle World Championship Qualifier occurred on January 5, which determined the final four players in the field. The main event began on January 6 and ended January 9 with matches starting at 9 a.m. PST/18:00 CET. Players competed for their piece of the $25,000 prize fund and the title of fastest puzzle-solver in the world. 

For the third straight year, GM Ray Robson won the event, defeating FM Dimitrios Ladopoulos in the final.

• Broadcast
• Players And Seeding
• Bracket
• Groups
• Format
• Schedule
• Prizes

Broadcast

All the puzzle-solving action will be broadcast live on Chess.com/TV and our Twitch and YouTube channels. 

Players And Seeding

Below you can see a list of the confirmed players by their seeding. Seeding was determined using the players' high scores in three and five-minute puzzle rushes.

• #1 GM Ray Robson (defending champion)
• #2 FM Dimitrios Ladopoulos
• #3 GM Jeffery Xiong
• #4 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
• #5 FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi
• #6 IM Le Tuan Minh
• #7 GM Hikaru Nakamura
• #8 IM Christopher Yoo
• #9 GM Daniel Naroditsky
• #10 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
• #11 GM Krikor Mekhitarian
• #12 IM Christopher Noe (Chess Played Quick Qualifier #1)
• #13 CM David Zhurbinsky (Chess Played Quick Qualifier #2)
• #14 GM Andrew Tang (Chess Played Quick Qualifier #3)
• #15 GM Raunak Sadhwani (Chess Played Quick Qualifier #4)
• #16 FM Sravan Renjith (Community Wildcard)

Bracket

Groups

Group A

• GM Ray Robson
• FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi
• GM Daniel Naroditsky
• IM Christopher Noe

Group B

• FM Dimitrios Ladopoulos
• IM Le Tuan Minh
• GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
• CM David Zhurbinsky 

Group C

• GM Jeffery Xiong
• GM Hikaru Nakamura
• GM Krikor Mekhitarian
• GM Andrew Tang

Group D

• GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
• IM Christopher Yoo
• GM Raunak Sadhwani
• FM Sravan Renjith

Format

Top players compete in a series of puzzle challenges for the title of best puzzle-solver in the world.

Field And Seeding

The field featured 16 players comprised of:

• 11 invited players, seeded by their Chess.com puzzle rating
• Four players who qualified through the next Chess Played Quick: Puzzles Edition seeded 12th through 15th.
• One player who qualified through a community contest, seeded 16th.*

* Player must submit proof of their top three-minute Puzzle Rush score. A minimum score of 45 is required, and our staff will select a winner from the submissions. Submissions open on January 1 and end on January 4.

Chess Played Quick: Puzzles Edition (Qualification Event)

• A special edition of the streamer event Chess Played Quick occurred on January 5
• The top four players of the open section qualified for the 2022 Puzzle Battle World Championship.

2022 Puzzle Battle World Championship

Two days of Puzzle Rush Royale (group stage) and two days of Puzzle Battles (quarterfinals through final) comprised the 2022 Puzzle Battle World Championship:

Puzzle Rush Royale (Group Stage)

• Eight players divided into two sections of four players each begin the round
• Players compete in three-minute Puzzle Rushes to get their highest score
• Each section lasts for 60 minutes
• The player with the highest score moves on to the top-eight Puzzle Battle section
• The players with the second and third highest scores compete in a five-puzzle-battle match to determine who qualifies for the quarterfinals
• The lowest scoring player from each section is eliminated.

Puzzle Rush Royale Tiebreaks

• In case there's a tie, the players sharing the same score will do three additional Puzzle Rushes. The player who reaches the highest score in any of their runs wins
• If players are still tied after the first three Puzzle Rushes tiebreak, they will play one additional Puzzle Rush. The player with the highest score on that single run wins.

Puzzle Battle

• Eight-player bracket based on players' initial event seeding, with four quarterfinal playoff matches lasting one hour each
• Players will play 15 rounds of head-to-head Puzzle Battles
• The average puzzles won per round will determine the winner
• The four quarterfinal winners move on to play two semifinals playoff matches following the same format
• The two semifinal winners compete in a final playoff match following the same format to determine the event's champion.

Schedule

The event starts on January 5 and ends on January 9, with each day detailed below:

Overall Schedule

Knockout Schedule

Prizes

The 2022 Puzzle Battle World Championship featured a $25,000 prize fund, distributed as described below.

Puzzle Rush Royale

The total prize fund for the group stage is $12,000, with each group being awarded the same prize.

• 1st: $1,000
• 2nd: $800
• 3rd: $700
• 4th: $500

Puzzle Battle

• 1st: $3,500
• 2nd: $2,500
• 3rd-4th: $1,500
• 5th-8th: $1,000