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Paravyan, Theodorou Win Chess.com Global Play-Ins

Paravyan, Theodorou Win Chess.com Global Play-Ins

NM_Vanessa
| 4 | Chess Event Coverage

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.

Get verified and play in the Chess.com Global Championship

How to watch?
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:

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.


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NM_Vanessa
NM Vanessa West

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

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