Erigaisi, Sadhwani Qualify For 2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG

The first two qualifier tournaments for the 2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG were played on Wednesday. The winners were two teenagers from India: GM Raunak Sadhwani and GM Arjun Erigaisi.

The 2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG began on Wednesday with two exciting qualifiers, both consisting of a 20-round Swiss followed by a four-player knockout. All games were played with the pure bullet time control of one minute for the whole game without increment.

Two more qualifiers for the Main Event (April 5-7) will be played on Thursday. You can watch the last two qualifiers on April 1, 2021, starting at 9 a.m. Pacific (18:00 Central Europe) on Chess.com/tv.

The live broadcast of the first two qualifiers.

Qualifier 1: Arjun Erigaisi

Wednesday's early qualifier tournament started at 9 a.m. Pacific (18:00 Central Europe). After about an hour, all 20 rounds were over. Yes, this is fast chess!

Among the participants were bullet specialists such as GMs Eric Hansen, Federico Perez, Andrew Tang, Ray Robson, and Oleksandr Bortnyk but also top grandmasters such as GM Alexander Grischuk and GM Daniil Dubov.

Of these players, it was Robson who finished first. The American GM advanced to the knockout stage together with GMs Jose Martinez (Peru), Erigaisi (India), and Alan Pichot (Argentina).

Qualifier 1 | Swiss, Top 10

(Full final standings here.)

Bullet? What's that? Well... ⬇️#BulletChessChampionship pic.twitter.com/hYTzaxlIcE

— Chess.com (@chesscom) March 31, 2021

The knockout matches have a simple formula: games are played while a 10-minute countdown clock runs. When time is over, the one in the lead (after the current game ends) wins. In case of a tie, each following game is sudden death with the higher seed getting white first.

The first matchup saw Robson running away to reach a devastating 6-0 score before eventually beating Pichot 7-1. Erigaisi then defeated Martinez 4-2 to get his place in the final.

"There is time for Pichot to mount a comeback."

Queen gets blundered .001 seconds later.
That's bullet chess for you! pic.twitter.com/JzCxRUaVh2

— Chess.com (@chesscom) March 31, 2021

In the final, it was Robson who took the lead in the first game, but then Erigaisi took over and won four decisive games in a row, taking the match 4-2. Thus, the 17-year-old grandmaster from Telangana became the first qualifier for the main event.

Erigaisi-Robson final | All games

Qualifier 2: Raunak Sadhwani

Most players who had tried their luck in the first Swiss also entered the second edition. It was Pichot who impressed the most as the only player to finish among the top four again! He came in fourth place once more, this time behind IM Le Tuan Minh, Sadhwani, and GM Sergei Zhigalko.

Qualifier 2 | Swiss, Top 10

(Full final standings here.)

What. Just. HAPPENED??? 🤯

The most insane bullet game of the day so far. #BulletChessChampionship pic.twitter.com/24CItGvXKS

— Chess.com (@chesscom) March 31, 2021

Pichot was again eliminated in the semis, this time losing 2.5-3.5 to Le. The 15-year-old Sadhwani then beat Zhigalko 4-1 and scored a narrow 3-2 win in the final vs. Le, winning the fifth game as Black. That made it two Indian teenagers in the main event!

Sadhwani-Erigaisi 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.