Fighting Spirit Prevails: Andreikin Wins Third Knockout
GM Dmitry Andreikin won week 18 of the 2022 Rapid Chess Championship presented by Coinbase. He defeated GM Jeffery Xiong in the final blitz tiebreaker.
GMs Levon Aronian and Olexandr Bortnyk made it to the semifinals. GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Alexey Sarana, Klementy Sychev, and Subramaniyam Bharath finished in the quarterfinals.
Participating in the event were 56 competitors—now open to all GMs as well as the top-10 women, top-10 juniors, as well as 10 wildcards. The event continues on July 2-3, starting at 9 a.m. PT / 18:00 CEST.
You can watch the 2022 Rapid Chess Championship presented by Coinbase on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on the Twitch channel and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive.
Swiss
Nakamura won first with 6.5 points, edging out Sarana, Andreikin, Xiong, and Sychev by tiebreaks. He started the tournament with a 4-0 winning streak, including victories over fellow qualifiers, Sarana and Xiong. Nakamura trapped Sarana’s wayward dark-squared bishop by cutting it off from his other pieces with 27…f4.
In his game against Xiong, Nakamura found a trading combination to land two pawns ahead.
Sarana fought his way to second place, winning a 100+ move critical last-round game against GM Sanan Sjugirov as both sides scrambled their pieces around the board with only seconds left on their clocks.
Andreikin's key victory was in the penultimate round against rapid chess regular GM David Paravyan. He gained a significant time edge and pressed his positional and material advantage for 80+ moves.
In round four, Xiong defeated GM Daniil Dubov, fifth in the rapid chess overall standings, and fought back as Dubov attempted to hunt down his king.
Saturday Swiss | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 2836 | 6.5 | 36 | |
| 2 | 7 | GM | mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2703 | 6.5 | 35.75 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 2791 | 6.5 | 32.25 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2735 | 6.5 | 30.5 | |
| 5 | 42 | GM | Sychev_Klementy | Klementy Sychev | 2516 | 6.5 | 23.25 | |
| 6 | 30 | GM | FGHSMN | Bharath Subramaniyam.H Harishankkar | 2579 | 6 | 28 | |
| 7 | 15 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2639 | 6 | 27.25 | |
| 7 | 2 | GM | LevonAronian | Levon Aronian | 2811 | 6 | 27.25 | |
| 9 | 8 | GM | champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 2684 | 6 | 23.25 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 2734 | 6 | 21.75 | |
| 11 | 11 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2660 | 5.5 | 28.25 | |
| 12 | 24 | GM | daro94 | Dariusz Swiercz | 2589 | 5.5 | 25.5 | |
| 13 | 13 | GM | ChessLover0108 | Mahammad Muradli | 2635 | 5.5 | 19.75 | |
| 14 | 28 | GM | Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2566 | 5.5 | 19 | |
| 15 | 39 | GM | BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2488 | 5.5 | 17.75 | |
| 16 | 21 | GM | Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2589 | 5.5 | 16.75 | |
| 17 | 12 | GM | BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 2637 | 5 | 23.25 | |
| 18 | 32 | GM | attack2mateU | Razvan Preotu | 2529 | 5 | 16 | |
| 19 | 23 | GM | Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2576 | 5 | 13.75 | |
| 20 | 9 | GM | Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2568 | 4.5 | 17.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Knockout
Kicking off the quarterfinals with a bang, Aronian pressed in a pawn-up, double-rook ending, eventually trapping Nakamura’s king in a mating net.
In the next matchup, Xiong defeated Sychev by creating pressure on f7 and gaining a powerful passer.
Sarana pressed Bortnyk with the white pieces, but Bornyk defended actively to hold the draw.
In their blitz playoff, Sarana blundered when defending a tough ending.
Andreikin and Subramaniyam drew their first game as they maintained an equal position throughout. In the blitz tiebreak, Andreikin pressured his opponent's uncastled king and gained a massive time advantage. He kept his clock above the original three minutes while Subramaniyam's clock ticked under 10 seconds.
In the semifinals, Xiong pulled off an upset and defeated Aronian by activating the queen to hunt down his opponent's loose pieces.
The ever-resourceful Andreikin fought back from a worse position to gain a mating attack against Bortnyk.
In the final, Andreikin and Xiong drew a closely-fought game, leading to a blitz tiebreaker to decide the match. Andreikin, responding tactically to an inaccurate piece sacrifice by Xiong, ultimately won with pressure on Xiong's back rank.
This is Andreikin's third knockout victory, a feat that only Nakamura had accomplished before. The key to Andreikin's success seems to be his fighting spirit every game, whether he's converting an advantage to victory or fighting back from a tough position.
In his interview, Andreikin shared his thoughts on his results: "This tournament I play blitz better than I play rapid."
This tournament I play blitz better than I play rapid.
-GM Dmitry Andreikin
Standings, Results, Prizes
The winner of the Swiss tournament is Nakamura, and the winner of the knockout tournament is Andreikin. Below are the full standings and prizes of the knockout:
Sunday Knockout | Final Standings
| # | Fed | Player | Place | Prize |
| 1 | Dmitry Andreikin | Winner | $7,500 | |
| 2 | Jeffery Xiong | Finalist | $3,500 | |
| 3-4 | Levon Aronian | Semifinalist | $2,500 | |
| 3-4 | Oleksandr Bortnyk | Semifinalist | $2,500 | |
| 5-8 | Hikaru Nakamura | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 | |
| 5-8 | Alexey Sarana | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 | |
| 5-8 | Bharath Subramaniyam | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 | |
| 5-8 | Klementy Sychev | Quarterfinalist | $1,000 |
The Rapid Chess Championship is a weekly tournament held by Chess.com. It is a nine-round Swiss event with a 10+0 time control held every Saturday, followed by a knockout event on Sunday between the top-eight finishers and a 10+2 time control. If players draw, they play a 3+2 game; if drawn, they play a 1+1 game; and if that is drawn, a single armageddon game is played.
The Rapid Chess Championship is brought to you by Coinbase. Whether you’re looking to make your first crypto purchase or you’re an experienced trader, Coinbase has you covered. Earn crypto by learning about crypto with Coinbase Earn, explore DeFi and web3 with Coinbase Wallet, get exclusive rewards when you spend with Coinbase Card, and much more. Learn more at coinbase.com/chess and get $10 in bitcoin when you sign up and verify your account.
Previous coverage
- Nakamura Wins Week 18 Swiss Heading into Knockout: Summary Report
- Battle Of Escape Artists: Andreikin Wins 2nd Knockout
- Fedoseev Wins Week 17 Swiss Heading into Knockout: Summary Report
- Grischuk Wins Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 16
- Nakamura Wins 5th Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 15
- Nakamura Wins 4th Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 14
- Nakamura Wins Third Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 13
- Nepomniachtchi Wins Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 12
- Sarana's First Knockout Victory: Rapid Chess Championship Week 11
- Aronian Clinches Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 10
- Nakamura Wins Knockout: Rapid Chess Championship Week 9
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 8: Maghsoodloo Wins Swiss and Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 7: Andreikin Wins Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 6: Matlakov Wins Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 5: Nakamura Bests Aronian
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 4: Aronian Wins Knockout
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 3: Caruana Wins Second Consecutive Week
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 2: Caruana Wins
- Rapid Chess Championship Week 1: Nepo Strikes Back And Wins
- 2022 Rapid Chess Championship: All The Information
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.
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