Paravyan, Theodorou Win Chess.com Global Play-Ins
GMs David Paravyan and Nikolas Theodorou were the winners of the seventh and eighth Play-ins of the Chess.com Global Championship.
Paravyan and Theodorou advance to the main event along with GMs Gata Kamsky and Jose Martinez, 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 Monday, July 25, 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 Friday's tournament, hosted by GM Irina Krush, Robert Hess, and IM Lawrence Trent.
Play-in 7
Paravyan won first with the best tiebreaks of players with 7.5. Paravyan defeated GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov in the penultimate round, gaining a slight edge from the opening and pressing it into the endgame.
GM David Anton and Kamsky finished in second and third places. Amazingly, Kamsky actually scored 7.5 out of eight games, as he didn't play in the first round due to a scheduling conflict with the Biel Chess Festival.
In their first playoff game, Anton sacrificed a pawn, but Kamsky defended actively, making threats of his own and eventually gaining four extra pawns.
In the second playoff game, Kamsky crashed through in the center to win in 30 moves.
This meant Kamsky earned his qualification spot by scoring 9.5 points out of the ten games he played!
The commentator duo of GM Irina Krush and IM Lawrence Trent took part in an entertaining duel of their own when Krush predicted an astonishing king walk by 17-year-old GM Aydin Suleymanli:
Not too long after... pic.twitter.com/YySFgVZwgh
— ChesscomLive (@ChesscomLive) July 22, 2022
Play-in #7 Swiss | Final Standings (Top 10)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 7 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2658 | 7.5 | 39 | |
| 2 | 10 | GM | tptagain | David Anton Guijarro | 2614 | 7.5 | 37.25 | |
| 3 | 8 | GM | TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2596 | 7.5 | 35.25 | |
| 4 | 17 | GM | RaunakSadhwani2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 2616 | 7.5 | 33.25 | |
| 5 | 24 | GM | NikoTheodorou | Nikolas Theodorou | 2571 | 7 | 35.75 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2645 | 7 | 32.75 | |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Baku_Boulevard | Rauf Mamedov | 2681 | 7 | 32.5 | |
| 8 | 3 | GM | GGuseinov | Gadir Guseinov | 2676 | 7 | 31.5 | |
| 9 | 8 | IM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2641 | 6.5 | 35.75 | |
| 10 | 20 | GM | SantoBlue | Vahap Sanal | 2552 | 6.5 | 34.75 |
*Note a playoff occurs between second and third place for qualification into the Knockout Phase.
(full final standings here.)
Play-in 8
Theodorou won clear first with eight points out of nine. He clinched his qualification spot in the last round by seizing the initiative and creating a nearly unstoppable checkmate against GM Vladimir Fedoseev.
One of the most shocking games was Fedoseev's 14-move victory over Suleymanli with an overworked defender tactic.
Martinez and GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan finished in second and third places with 7.5 points. Martinez went undefeated while Ter-Sahakyan began the event with a five-game winning streak.
Martinez won the first playoff game by hunting down his opponent's weak pawns with his harmoniously-placed pieces.
The second playoff game was a must-win for Ter-Sahakyan, but he was unable to gain any advantage with the black pieces and the players agreed to a draw in an opposite-color bishop ending with just three kingside pawns left each.
In the post-match interview, Martinez shared what this qualification means to him: "Last rapid chess, I got ninth, tied for eighth. I think I played my best rapid chess in a long time, but it was not enough [to qualify]. I was really sad for that... And then I qualified, and I'm very happy for this. I was training not too much but quite often."
Play-in #8 Swiss | Final Standings (Top 10)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | 13 | GM | NikoTheodorou | Nikolas Theodorou | 2626 | 8 | |
| 2 | 11 | GM | Sam_ChessMood | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | 2610 | 7.5 | |
| 3 | 6 | GM | Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2670 | 7.5 | |
| 4 | 9 | GM | Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2632 | 7.5 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | Baku_Boulevard | Rauf Mamedov | 2703 | 7.5 | |
| 6 | 33 | NM | MlYAGl | Gnel Melikyan | 2473 | 7 | |
| 7 | 46 | FM | peonrojo150 | Gonzalo Navarrete | 2432 | 7 | |
| 8 | 35 | GM | Cayse | Martyn Kravtsiv | 2502 | 6.5 | |
| 9 | 12 | GM | GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 2575 | 6.5 | |
| 10 | 10 | GM | daro94 | Dariusz Swiercz | 2593 | 6.5 | |
*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.
Previous reports:
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
