Qualifier List for Death Match 21 Finalized
All Chess.com members were invited to the Third Death Match Qualifier, the first of many in 2014. February's Death Match 21 qualification period is now over, and the list of invitations goes out today. Below you'll see who finished on top in the ratings list (of those who played the minimum 100 games in bullet or blitz). The match is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, February 15.
Note that Death Match 20 will take place before this match. If you didn't see the announcement, read about GM Yury Shulman and GM Daniel Fridman facing off here. That match will be Saturday January 18 at noon Eastern (New York time), just after our live commentary of the Tata Steel Tournament, so go ahead and cancel all of your plans that day!
Here are the highest-rated players that played 100 blitz games or 100 bullet games in the month of December. The first player gets the invitation. If he declines, Chess.com reserves the right to invite another player from the list. Ratings listed are as of January 1, 2014 at midnight Pacific time.
Blitz
1. GM Imre Balog (Imre91), 2526 (played 117 games)
Balog's Chess.com photo. His play was "Amazing."
The real GM Balog!
2. FM Evan Ju (Eilyisum), 2513 (201 games)
3. GM Robert Hess* (RLH2), 2490 (288 games)
4. IM Dejan Stojanowski (ChessTrener), 2461 (268 games)
5. Daniel Paras (abyss25), 2413 (122 games)
Bullet
1. GM ???** (Phoenix), 2826 (115 games)
Phoenix might be a man and could be a legend. Right now he's just myth.
2. GM GeorgMeier (GeorgMeier), 2753 (133 games)
3. unidentified member** (Nouki), 2675 (148 games)
4. FM Kazim Gulamali (Gulamali-BOS), 2631 (406 games)
5. GM Imre Balog (Imre91), 2583 (188 games)
Chess.com will announce the player's officially, and confirm the date and time once both players accept!
*Hess is eligible to play in a second Death Match since he would not get the first invitation, as Balog would have to decline for him to have a chance (as per the posted rules).
**Both GM "Phoenix" un-titled/unconfirmed account and "Nouki" would have to verify their identities in order to be eligible, also as per the rules.
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to 99 countries.
