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2022 Bullet Chess Championship: All The Information

2022 Bullet Chess Championship: All The Information

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The 2022 Bullet Chess Championship presented by DigitalOcean is an event gathering elite players competing in a series of 1+0 games. The qualifiers ran from February 21 and 25, while the main event occurred from March 3 through 17. The event has a total prize fund of $100,000, with the winner earning a spot to play in the 2022 Speed Chess Championship.  

GM Hikaru Nakamura won the tournament, and with it the first-place prize of $20,000, by defeating GM Andrew Tang in the Grand Final. Tang won $15,000 for his second-place finish.


Bracket

Winners Bracket

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Winners Bracket

Losers Bracket

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Losers Bracket

Top 8 Bracket

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Top 8 Bracket

Broadcast

The live broadcast aired on Chess.com/TV or on our Twitch channel with expert commentary by GMs Daniel Naroditsky, Robert Hess, Aman Hambleton, and IM Danny Rensch. You can also catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive and keep up with every detail of the event on Chess.com/Events.

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Hosts

Players

Below is the list of currently confirmed players for this year's Bullet Chess Championship:

Format

Qualifiers

  • Qualifiers are open to all titled players not already qualified for the BCC Main Event
  • Four qualifiers happen on two separate days
  • The time control is 1+0
  • Qualifiers consist of a 20-round Swiss tournament followed by a knockout bracket with the top 8 players
  • A 10-minute countdown clock marks the match duration for the knockout stage
  • Players get one point for a win, 0.5 for a draw, and 0 points for a loss
  • If a match ends in a tie, play enters sudden death, with the higher seed playing White first
  • The knockout winner qualifies for the Bullet Chess Championship Main Event

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Qualifier Format

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Qualifier Knockout Format

Main Event

  • The main event is a 16-player double elimination knockout bracket
  • The four qualified players join 12 invited players to play the Main Event
  • Players who lose a match go to the Losers bracket
  • Players who lose two matches are eliminated from the event
  • The Grand Finals consists of up to two matches, where a player from the Losers bracket has to win twice to become the champion

Match Format

  • The time control is 1+0
  • A 30-minute countdown clock marks the match duration, with a break at the 15-minute mark
  • The higher-rated player* starts with White in the first game of the match
  • Players win 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss
  • The player who scores the most points during the match wins

* Players' Chess.com bullet rating as of February 26, 2022.

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Format

Tiebreakers

  • If the match ends in a tie, players play 1+0 games with colors alternating from the previous game until someone wins

Schedule

Qualifiers

The qualifiers happened on February 21 and February 25.

Date Day Event Time PT Time CET
February 21 Monday Qualifier 1 10 a.m. 19:00
February 21 Monday Qualifier 2 12 p.m.* 21:00*
February 25 Friday Qualifier 3 10 a.m. 19:00
February 25 Friday Qualifier 4 12:30 p.m.* 21:30*

* Approximate starting time

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Qualifier Schedule

Main Event

The Main Event happened from March 3 through March 17.

Date Time PT CET Stage
March 3 10 a.m. 19:00 Round of 16
March 4 10 a.m. 19:00 Round of 16
March 7 10 a.m. 19:00 Losers Round 1
March 9 10 a.m. 19:00 Winners Quarterfinals
March 10 10 a.m. 19:00 Losers Round 2
March 14 10 a.m. 18:00 Losers Top-8
March 14 11:30 a.m. 19:30 Winners Semifinals
March 16 10 a.m. 18:00 Losers Quarterfinals
March 16 11:30 a.m. 19:30 Winners Final
March 17 10 a.m. 18:00 Losers Semifinal
March 17 10:45 a.m. 18:45 Losers Final
March 17 11:30 a.m. 19:30 Grand Finals

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Schedule Main Event

Upcoming Matchups

Date PT CET Player 1 Player 2
March 17 10:00 a.m. 18:00 Naroditsky Le
March 17 10:45 a.m. 18:45 Tang Losers Semifinals Winner
March 17 11:30 a.m. 19:30 Nakamura Losers Final Winner
March 17 12:15 p.m. 20:15 Nakamura Losers Final Winner (only if Nakamura loses the match above)

Prizes

The 2022 Bullet Chess Championship has a $100,000 prize fund:

Qualifier Prizes ($2,500 per event, $10,000 total)

  • 1st: Qualifies for Main Event
  • 2nd: $800
  • Semifinalists (x2): $450
  • Quarterfinalists (x4): $200

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Qualifier Prizes

Main Event Prizes ($90,000)

  • 1st: $20,000 (Nakamura)
  • 2nd: $15,000 (Tang)
  • 3rd: $11,000 (Naroditsky)
  • 4th: $8,000 (Minh Le)
  • 5th-6th: $6,000 (Bortnyk, Martinez)
  • 7th-8th: $4,000 (Erigaisi, Jacobson)
  • 9th-12th: $2,500 (Caruana, Robson, Sadhwani, Sarana)
  • 13th-16th: $1,500 (Hansen, Perez, van Foreest, Zhigalko)

Bullet Chess Championship 2022 Main Event Prizes

Fair Play Requirements

  • Chess.com fair play regulations govern all players in the qualifier stage
  • Players are subject to fair play checks during and after the event is complete
  • Players must have a two-camera setup with at least one camera in Zoom at all times
  • If a player's camera (or cameras) disconnects and the connection cannot be re-established within a reasonable period of time, the player will be removed from the event at Chess.com's sole discretion
  • Players must follow all staff requests including having the ability to share their screen(s) upon request
  • All players are required to sign Chess.com's fair play requirements once they move on to the Main Event
  • Players streaming the event must have their chat set to emote-only
  • Players are not permitted to wear headphones while on-stream or in Zoom
  • No individual(s) are allowed in the room with a player without Chess.com consent
  • Violation of any of the above requirements may result in a player being kicked from the event
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