Hakobyan, Muradli Win Chess.com Global Play-Ins
GMs Aram Hakobyan and Mahammad Muradli were the winners of the fifth and sixth Play-ins of the Chess.com Global Championship.
Hakobyan and Muradli advance to the main event along with GMs Hrant Melkumyan and Sam Sevian, victors of the two-game matches between second and third places in each Play-in.
The next rounds of the Play-in Phase continue on Friday, July 22, starting at 5 a.m. PT/14:00 CEST and 10 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST. For titled players who would like to join in and play against legendary GMs such as Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand, be sure to get verified so you can play in the next event.
You can watch the live broadcast of the Chess.com Global Championship Play-ins on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on our Twitch channel and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive. The games can also be followed from our Events Page.
Live broadcast of Monday's tournament, hosted by GMs Daniel Naroditsky, Jeffery Xiong, Jon Hammer, and IM Lawrence Trent.
Play-in 1
Hakobyan won first with the best tiebreak of players scoring 7.5. One of his critical victories was against Sevian in a tense battle where Hakobyan ultimately prevailed in the rook and bishop ending.
GM Gadir Guseinov and Melkumyan finished second and third, also with 7.5 points. In the first game of their match to qualify, Guseinov offered a quick draw in the opening. In the second game, Guseinov sacrificed a pawn and then a knight to open up lines on the queenside to Melkumyan's king. Meanwhile, Melkumyan's pieces broke through to attack too, leading to a double-edged game, ultimately ending in a perpetual check draw.
This meant an armageddon playoff game, where both players bid the amount of time deficit they'd be willing to accept to have Black and draw odds. Melkumyan had the lowest bid of 7:30 minutes. Despite having draw odds, Melkumyan went on to win with an excellent combination of attacking and defensive play.
Play-in #1 Swiss | Final Standings (Top 10)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating |
| 1 | 9 | GM | Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 2622 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | GGuseinov | Gadir Guseinov | 2673 | |
| 3 | 16 | GM | Hrant_ChessMood | Hrant Melkumyan | 2589 | |
| 4 | 11 | GM | Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2603 | |
| 5 | 8 | GM | Baku_Boulevard | Rauf Mamedov | 2649 | |
| 6 | 1 | GM | Konavets | Sam Sevian | 2772 | |
| 7 | 53 | IM | Coachpoker | Alexey Averjanov | 2400 | |
| 8 | 90 | FM | bipe137 | Jakub Suder | 2290 | |
| 9 | 54 | IM | GianmarcoVaR | Gianmarco Leiva | 2418 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | tptagain | David Anton Guijarro | 2593 |
*Note a playoff occurs between second and third place for qualification into the Knockout Phase.
(full final standings here.)
Play-in 2
Muradli finished first with 7.5 points, kicking off the tournament with a 6-0 winning streak! Muradli capped off his winning streak with a victory over GM Vladimir Fedoseev with fierce attacking play.
Sevian finished second with 7.5 points, and GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan finished third with seven. In their playoff match, Sevian won the first game by flagging Ter-Sahakyan in an equal rook and pawn ending.
Sevian drew comfortably in the next game in a queen and pawn ending, clinching his qualification spot.
In the post-tournament interview, Sevian shared about his experience: "I played both tournaments today, so I'm pretty much exhausted right now. The first one, I was pretty close as well. I finished with seven, but there were three players with 7.5. This one was like that too. I had some narrow escapes in this tournament ... Besides those games, I'm really happy with my play."
Besides those games, I'm really happy with my play.
-GM Sam Sevian
Play-in #2 Swiss | Final Standings (Top 10)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 8 | GM | ChessLover0108 | Mahammad Muradli | 2671 | 7.5 | 41.25 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Konavets | Sam Sevian | 2772 | 7.5 | 37.5 | |
| 3 | 13 | GM | Sam_ChessMood | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | 2582 | 7 | 42.25 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | GGuseinov | Gadir Guseinov | 2673 | 7 | 38.25 | |
| 5 | 21 | GM | Infernal_XaM | Pavel Ponkratov | 2540 | 7 | 37 | |
| 6 | 15 | GM | TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2567 | 7 | 36 | |
| 7 | 14 | GM | GeorgMeier | Georg Meier | 2591 | 7 | 29.5 | |
| 8 | 12 | GM | OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2589 | 6.5 | 35.5 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2603 | 6.5 | 31.75 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | Baku_Boulevard | Rauf Mamedov | 2649 | 6.5 | 30.75 |
*Note a playoff occurs between second and third place for qualification into the Knockout Phase.
(full final standings here.)
The Chess.com Global Championship is a worldwide prize event cycle open to all Chess.com verified players. The event has a $1,000,000 prize fund and brings together players from all around the world with chess legends like GMs Alexei Shirov, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Hou Yifan, and many more. The Play-in phase consists of 16 Swiss tournaments which will award the top-two players from each event with a share of the $60,000 prize fund and a spot in the CGC Knockouts.
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Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.
You can follow them on X: Vanessa__West
