The 2022 Junior Speed Chess Championship that kicked off on 31st March is all set to showcase the brilliance of the radiant stars under 20 in the world of chess. The qualifier rounds took off on March 31 as the prime event and the finals are scheduled for April 11 and May 13 respectively.
The winner will claim a spot in the Speed Chess Championship 2022 as well as prize money of $35,000. India’s young GM Nihal Sarin has been enjoying a cakewalk for the past two years, winning the title in 2020 and 2021. Will he hit a hat-trick in 2022 or will we see the emergence of a new junior champion? The chess world and its ardent fans are eagerly looking forward to the results that will seal the destiny of a champion by the second half of May.
Junior Speed Chess Championship 2022
Speed chess or Blitz chess is not considered an official tournament, so the rules are somewhat flexible. But the games tend to be exciting and competitive nonetheless because there's more on the line than normal chess games in blitz chess contests, where time matters more than points or material gains, and each player must make his best move within a few seconds to win or lose the game.
To play Blitz chess, the players should have at least one minute for their opening moves, then five minutes for their middle-game moves, followed by 10 minutes for their endgame, which may include checkmate, stalemate, a draw, or loss of material.
The schedule for the 2022 Junior Speed Chess Championship features sixteen rounds with two players per round playing four games in each (a total of 64 games). The final game will be played on Saturday 13th May and will feature the winner of Round 8 against one of the three finalists of Round 7 who have been drawn into the match for this last game.
The championship will run from 31st March – to April 11, 2022, before concluding on 13th May, and will take place in three parts. An age group qualification stage will lead to a single-elimination final event on May 13, 2022, where each player will fight it out to decide who is crowned the junior champion!
The Event Schedules
The Qualifiers
Qualifier #1
March 31st
4a-8a PT
Qualifier #2
April 1st
8a-12p PT
Qualifier #3
April 7th
10a-2p PT
Qualifier #4
April 8th
8a-12p PT
Main Event Schedule
Round of 16 (Match 1)
April 11th
TBD
Round of 16 (Match 2)
April 14th
TBD
Round of 16 (Match 3)
April 15th
TBD
Round of 16 (Match 4)
April 18th
TBD
Round of 16 (Match 5)
April 21st
TBD
Round of 16 (Match 6)
April 22nd
TBD
Round of 16 (Match 7)
April 25th
TBD
Round of 16 (Match 8)
April 28th
TBD
Quarterfinals (QF1)
April 29th
TBD
Quarterfinals (QF2)
May 2nd
TBD
Quarterfinals (QF3)
May 5th
TBD
Quarterfinals (QF4)
May 6th
TBD
Semifinals (SF1)
May 9th
TBD
Semifinals (SF2)
May 12th
TBD
Finals
May 13th
TBD
Qualifiers
Each tournament will consist of an Invite-only knockout in which eight players will be there.
The single-elimination matches comprise 14 games: two games at a 5+1 time control, four at 3+1, and eight games at 1+1.
The player who will score 7.5 will win the match.
On the other hand, in the quarterfinal or semi-final the event will be a 7-7 tie. Players will play with 1+1 alternate colours until one of them wins.
In case of a tie, the final will be divided into four games 1+1 match.
If the final remains tied after that game, the next tiebreaker is the time each player has spent at the table over the day (if one has more than the other, then the one with less spent will be given the extra time). This process continues until someone has spent their entire allotted time, at which point the next tiebreak is the order in which the players have been playing (if one has played first since the start, he or she will play last). The losing bidder plays for his or her remaining time on the clock.
The winner in the previous course will proceed to the main event.
The Main Event
It will have a 16-player single-elimination (In which four will be qualified players and 12 will be invitees).
The match will begin with a time of 90 minutes with 5+1 control. It will be concluded with 60 minutes at 3+1 time control and the last 30 minutes with 1+1.
When the time runs out and the game is ongoing, the winner will be decided based on the score.
The tiebreak will be similar to the qualifier final.
In the end, the winners will proceed to the 2022 speed chess championship trophy.
The young talents who have confirmed their participation (including invitees and four winners from the qualifiers) include the Defending Indian Champion GM Nihal Sarin, along with compatriots Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour 2021 Champion GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, National Senior Chess 2022 Champion GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM Raunak Sadhwani and chess masters GM Velimar Ivic from Serbia, German GM Vincent Keymer, GM from Ukraine - Kirill Shevchenko, and GM Hans Niemann and IM Christopher Yoo from the U.S.
All eyes on Nihal Sarin
This year, hopes are again high on Nihal Sarin as the 17 year old has been winning the tournament for the last two years. Nihal is one of the youngest grandmasters, claiming the title at the age of 14. Today he ranks among the top ten chess prodigies of India along with Praggnanandhaa. In the year 2013, Nihal won the under 10 Blitz World Cup. The next year he earned the U-10 youth championship. He had scored on 9/11 in that event, which makes him one of the youngest chess world champions ever to be crowned as such at the tender age of 14 years and 6 months old (as of January 2015).
Meanwhile, Raunak Sadhwani and Arjun Erigaisi are also representing the Indian team in the event. Raunak, who is from Delhi, has been a key part of India’s success in the Commonwealth Games as well as the World Cup qualifiers, and recently became India’s highest-ranked player. On the other hand, Arjun has his crowning glory as he has clinched the title at the National Speed Chess Championship recently.
The world no. 92, Sarin currently holds a FIDE rating of 2652 and is presently ranked 5th in India. Last year Nihal’s performance in the FIDE Chess Olympics was outstanding.
Conclusion
At Mind Mentorz we are looking forward to the Junior Chess Championship and its exciting unveiling of young stars and their performances. Mind Mentorz has always believed in pruning young talents to their true potential, bringing them up with the right training to face the challenging battlefields of the board game as well as life. We believe in a cognitive skill development approach to chess that equips our students with the right skills, knowledge and practical exposure to nurture their innate talents and character.