Tang Scores 71/80 In 6th Qualifier With Mysterious New Bughouse Partner

GM Andrew Tang became the latest GM to book his spot in the 2024 Chess.com Bughouse Championship knockouts after he and his partner "BughouseKnight" won the sixth qualifier on Wednesday. Scoring an unassailable 255 points, the pair will look to topple the tournament favorites, GMs Awonder Liang and Jeffery Xiong.

The fifth qualifier was won by the Polish duo featuring Bartlomiej Zdybowicz and FM Wojciech Reza, who won despite playing in a field featuring GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin.

The final two qualifiers will take place on Thursday, August 22, at 11.00 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8.30 p.m. IST and 5.00 p.m. ET / 23:00 CEST / 2.30 a.m. IST (August 22).

Qualifier 5 - Standings

(Full final standings here)

Qualifier 6 - Standings

(Full final standings here)

Format

• Qualifier 5 - Polish Duo Win Tight Race
• Qualifier 6 - Tang Qualifies With New Partner

Qualifier 5 - Polish Duo Win Tight Race

Qualifier five proved to be one of the toughest fields yet as Arjun, Nihal, as well as several other GMs and IMs showed up to contest for a spot in the knockouts.

The eventual winners, Zdybowicz and Reza were unpertubed by the illustrious lineup and after losing to Tang and BughouseKnight in the first game, they surged into the lead, courtesy of a 22-game winning streak.

Unlike previous winners, many of the Polish pair's games stretched beyond the 25-move mark and their tenacity in defense came to the fore. Playing against U.S. NM Linxi Zhu, Zdybowicz weathered a nasty discovered attack and soon found himself staring down three queens.

With a few pieces left in his pocket, Zdybowicz was able to flip the initiative and lock Black's king on the f8-square before checkmating him in style.

One of the concepts that is common in bughouse chess is that Black is generally forced into a defensive role while White attacks. In a video from 2021, GM Hikaru Nakamura gave insight into how top players tend to play the variant.

Bucking the idea that Black has to defend, Reza came up with several dynamic counterattacks as the second-mover, one of which you can see below.

In the position above, Black, who doesn't want to spend the game defending, offers up a knight on d4 in exchange for some initiative. White gladly accepts the piece but soon finds their queen stranded in the middle of the board. Notice how Black looks to counterattack higher-value pieces rather than defend his own attacked ones...

The result, which came a few moves later, speaks volumes about the importance of dropping pieces as quickly as possible.

According to their Chess.com bughouse ratings Zdybowicz and Reza are not among the top seeds for this Friday's knockout and they did score negatively against Tang and BughouseKnight (1.5/2) however, a perfect 2/2 against Arjun and Nihal means they have the tactical know-how required to make a deep run.

Qualifier 6 - Tang Qualifies With New Partner

Tang has been prolific in recent Chess.com events and the 24-year-old has now booked a Finals spot in the 2024 Chess.com Bughouse Championship alongside his new partner, BughouseKnight.

Aside from Tang and the Indian superstars, GMs Luka Budisavljevic, Vasif Durarbayli, and Axel Bachmann were the most notable entrants.

The 6th Qualifiers just started! We've got GMs Andrew Tang, Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi, Luka Budisavljevic, and Vasif Durarbayli participating 🔥

If you want to take a shot at beating them, join the Bughouse fun!

— Chess.com Community (@GreenPawns) August 21, 2024

The pedigree of Tang's new teammate was obvious after the pair dispatched Arjun and Nihal in just nine moves in the fifth qualifier. Despite Nihal's attempt to send the game into unknown territory with 1.a4 BughouseKnight was able to sacrifice a knight on f2 early.

Armed with two knights in his pocket, BughouseKnight kicked Nihal's king back to g1 before delivering a final blow.

A brutal pawn-checkmate by BughouseKnight on move nine against his 2668 FIDE-rated opponent sent the message that bughouse chess is a totally different battleground to classical chess.

Given their 71/80 score in qualifier six and similarly dominant 62/70 score in the fifth, Tang and BughouseKnight will be a force to be reckoned with in Friday's knockouts. With only two spots left, they will enter as one of the favorites to win the $2,000 first prize.

For those wanting to knock over a GM you needn't look further than bughouse chess. While streaming on Twitch, Azerbaijan's Durarbayli managed only 25 wins out of 45 games but had plenty of fun along the way!

Seize your last chance to beat a GM and qualify for the 2024 Chess.com Bughouse Championship knockout finals on Thursday. Check the schedule below to join the final two qualifiers.

Qualifiers Schedule

The 2024 Chess.com Bughouse Championship is the latest event in the Chess.com Community Championship series and anyone can battle for a piece of this month's increased $7,500 prize fund. The tournament will be decided with an eight-team double-elimination bracket. Each team must qualify via one of eight, two-hour arenas with a 3+0 time control.

Previous Coverage

• Helmsknight, Vasquez Overcome Team Tang To Qualify On 3rd Attempt
• Xiong, Liang Win 50 Consecutive Games In Bughouse Championship Qualifier
• Moroni Claims Spell Chess Crown In Grand Final Reset
• Spell Chess Specialists Qualify For Knockout Ahead of Bok, Bortnyk, Hambleton
• Younger Brother Triumphs In Atomic Rivalry
• National Master Halts GM Martinez's Reign In Crazyhouse Championship
• Martinez Defends Variant Crown In 3 Check Chess
• Martinez Is King of The Hill In Variants Final
• Variants Community Series Results
• Variants Community Series: All The Information