Andreikin, Le Tuan Minh Qualify For 2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG
GM Dmitry Andreikin and IM Le Tuan Minh qualified for the Main Event of the 2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG. Both players did so by coming in second behind GM Hikaru Nakamura, who decided to play both qualifiers but was already seeded directly into the championship as the reigning champion.
Like the day before, Thursday saw two qualifiers for the 2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG. Again, these were 20-round Swiss tournaments followed by a four-player knockout with a 1|0 time control. The big difference: Nakamura played!
The live broadcast of the last two qualifiers.
Qualifier 3: Dmitry Andreikin
The Swiss part of Thursday's early qualifier was won by Nakamura, despite suffering an early loss. It was GM Sanan Sjugirov who defeated him in round four; the Russian grandmaster was the only player to reach 6/6 before he lost his first.
By round 11, Nakamura was back sharing the lead with 9/11, and that was still the case after round 15 when a surprising name was on 12/15 as well: FM @German_Bazeev from St. Petersburg. While his rivals continued to beat each other, Nakamura finished with four more wins to end 2.5 points ahead of the pack.
Qualifier 3 | Swiss, Top 10
| # | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3416 | 17 | 211.75 | |
| 2 | 16 | FM | @ram1zan | Ramazan Zhalmakhanov | 3040 | 14.5 | 163.75 | |
| 3 | 25 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3066 | 14.5 | 160.25 | |
| 4 | 18 | GM | @DrVelja | Velimir Ivic | 3003 | 14.5 | 152.25 | |
| 5 | 5 | IM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3149 | 14 | 171.75 | |
| 6 | 9 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 3033 | 14 | 163.75 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | @Genghis_K | Federico Perez Ponsa | 3145 | 14 | 162 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 3111 | 14 | 158.5 | |
| 9 | 29 | IM | @renatoterrylujan | Renato Terry | 2975 | 14 | 156.75 | |
| 10 | 11 | GM | @amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 3023 | 14 | 156.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
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— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 1, 2021
Nakamura continued showing his prowess as he went 5-0 before GM Velimir Ivic (@DrVelja) got one consolation win. By eliminating FM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov (@ram1zan) also 5-1, Andreikin secured his place in the Main Event next week.
The final was a "for the love of the game matchup" (as commentator IM Danny Rensch put it). Nakamura won, but it was very close. In fact, after a 3-3 score it was the first match that needed overtime, when Nakamura won the first sudden-death game.
Andreikin-Nakamura final | All games
Qualifier 4: Le Tuan Minh
By the time that the Andreikin-Nakamura match finished, the fourth qualifier was already underway. Nakamura hadn't seen enough yet and joined as a late entry, missing only the first round.
Commentator GM Aman Hambleton still considered him the favorite to win the tournament, and that wasn't far from the truth. Nakamura managed to finish among the top four, placing second behind Argentinian GM Federico Perez Ponsa (@Genghis_K).
With a final-round win, Le (@wonderfultime) leaped into the final four as well, kicking out world championship candidate GM Alexander Grischuk (@Grischuk) on tiebreak.
Qualifier 4 | Swiss, Top 10
| # | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 5 | GM | @Genghis_K | Federico Perez Ponsa | 3145 | 15.5 | 170.25 | |
| 2 | 48 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3416 | 15 | 176.5 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 3095 | 14.5 | 178 | |
| 4 | 3 | IM | @wonderfultime | Le Tuan Minh | 3149 | 14.5 | 168.25 | |
| 5 | 12 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3082 | 14.5 | 165.25 | |
| 6 | 22 | GM | @BrandonJacobson | Brandon Jacobson | 2992 | 14.5 | 158.25 | |
| 7 | 4 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 3111 | 14 | 157.5 | |
| 8 | 13 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 3054 | 13.5 | 155 | |
| 9 | 1 | GM | @erichansen | Eric Hansen | 3161 | 13.5 | 150.25 | |
| 10 | 48 | GM | @youngKID | Karthikeyan Murali | 2948 | 13.5 | 137.75 |
(Full final standings here.)
♔ @amanhambleton has been doing his Puzzle Rush. He spots the sick tactic before it's played on the board! #BulletChessChampionship presented by SIG pic.twitter.com/ieatP2RWGt
— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 1, 2021
Le defeated Perez 4-2 in the first match but not without stressful moments. Being 3-1 down, Perez continued playing a rook vs. rook endgame and actually managed to win to keep his chances, but then Le won the final game convincingly.
When Nakamura defeated GM Jose Martinez (@Jospem) 5-1, it meant that Le had qualified. On this Thursday, Nakamura was clearly in the mood to show who's the boss:
Le-Nakamura final | All games
The 2021 Bullet Chess Championship is presented by Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG). SIG is a global quantitative trading firm founded with a growth mindset and an analytical approach to decision-making. As one of the largest proprietary trading firms in the world, SIG benefits the financial markets by providing liquidity and ensuring competitive prices for buyers and sellers. SIG brings together the brightest minds, the best technology, and an expansive library of industry data to design and implement qualitative trading strategies that make it leaders in the financial markets. Beyond trading, SIG is active in global private equity, structured capital, and institutional brokerage.
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