Speed Chess Championship Invitational Qualifier
Speed Chess Championship qualifier action resumes today with an invitational Speed Chess qualifier, a tournament featuring the top eight blitz and bullet players on Chess.com who have not already qualified for the main bracket. Among the players participating are online chess heavyweights like Alireza Firouzja, Daniel Naroditsky, Andrew Tang and Dmitry Andreikin.
Players have been seeded into a bracket based on their combined Blitz and Bullet ratings as of July 31, 2019 and have been paired accordingly.
The invitees will play in a knockout bracket, with each of the quarterfinal and semifinal matches consisting of two 3+1 blitz games and four 1+1 bullet games. Wins in the blitz portion will be worth two points with draws worth one point. Wins in the bullet portion will be worth one point with draws worth half a point. The final will feature four 3+1 blitz games and eight 1+1 bullet games with similar point values to the previous two rounds.
You can watch both qualifiers live with chess master commentary on Twitch.tv/Chess and Chess.com/TV
Once the qualifier is determined, the top chess grandmasters in the world will come together again this year to battle in the Speed Chess Championship bracket on Chess.com.
The tournament is the premier live online chess event of the year on Chess.com, and is the culmination of a growing series of innovative esports chess gaming events. The main event championship has a prize pool of $50,000, putting the full Speed Chess series prizes above $100,000 for the year.
The 2019 Speed Chess Championship main bracket will feature 16 of the world's best chess players competing in heads-up matches held at blitz and bullet chess time controls.
The main event kicked off this year on Tuesday, August 6 with a Titled Tuesday qualifier. The winner of the that Titled Tuesday tournament, GM Vlad Dobrov, earned a spot in the lucrative Speed Chess Championship main bracket.
One bracket slot will go to GM Elina Danielian, who won the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship to qualify for a spot in the main event.
Another coveted bracket berth will be awarded to the winner of the 2019 Junior Speed Chess Championship. The final match of that event will be contested by grandmasters Wei Yi and Jeffery Xiong on August 10.
The remaining 12 spots in the bracket are held by invited grandmasters world-famous for their strong blitz and bullet play. The field will be seeded 1-12 by FIDE blitz rating into the championship bracket, with the qualifiers seeded separately and matched with one of the 12 invites.
The 2019 Speed Chess field is headlined by Hikaru Nakamura, who won last year's Speed Chess Championship over fellow U.S. grandmaster Wesley So. So is back to challenge for the title this year, along with a strong field of grandmasters to round out the bracket.
Each 2019 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 player with the most points when the final timer runs out will advance in the bracket. For tiebreak format, see the main Speed Chess article. The official rules of the event are also available.
All Speed Chess Championship coverage will air live with chess master commentary on Twitch.tv/Chess.
For more information, including the full schedule, participants and bracket when available, visit www.SpeedChessChampionship.com.
Official match dates for the 2019 Speed Chess Championship main bracket will be announced at www.SpeedChessChampionship.com after the final field is set, including all qualifiers.
