2nd Annual ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championships Begins

This year's second annual 2021 ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship starts this weekend, July 17th and 18th, with the opening round matches!

The championship will feature eight of the top young chess prodigies in the world in a series of blitz matches. Players had to be aged 10 or under as of January 1, 2021. The single-elimination tournament will take place over multiple weekends and each match will be two hours long and will be split up between 5+1 and 3+1 time controls.

All of our matches will be featured on Chess.com/TV with special commentators for each match! You can also watch on twitch.tv/chesskid or youtube.com/chesskidofficial.

Here are the eight confirmed players. Ages are as of January 1, 2021 and ratings are based on the March FIDE and US Chess ratings lists. For international players, only the FIDE rating is used for seeding. For U.S. players, an average of FIDE and US Chess ratings is used.

• NM Ryo Chen, USA (10 years old, 2223) **returning champion
• CM Ilan Schnaider, Argentina (9 years old, 2080)
• CM Lev Zverev, Russia (10 years old, 2023)
• Peter Balint, Austria (10 years old, 1978)
• NM Tani Adewumi, USA (10 years old, 1972)
• Jaime Rey Martinez, Spain (10 years old, 1910)
• CM Wiktoria Smietanska, Poland (10 years old, 1855)
• WCM Omya Vidyarthi, USA (10 years old, 1850)

For the first round, players will be seeded based on their ratings. Here is the opening round bracket:

Each match will be broadcast on Chess.com/TV with hosts FunMasterMike and other special guests! Here's the schedule for the first round matches:

With Commentary from FunMasterMike and NM James Canty

With Commentary from FunMasterMike and NM James Canty

With commentary from IM David Pruess and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili

With commentary from BlazingBishop (Coach Liam) and IM David Pruess

The winners of the first round matches will earn $300 and advance to the next round. Those that lose in the opening round will take $200.

The total prize fund up for grabs is $5,000 and the winner will be crowned the champion of the 2nd Annual ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championships. In addition to the cash prize, the top player will also receive lessons with a top-20 player. Full rules and prizes can be found here.

Tune in to see who will be the winner of the most prestigious ChessKid event of the year!