SundayChessTV
Chess.com is excited to announce this year’s second annual ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship, kicking off on July 17 and 18!
Eight of the best young chess prodigies in the world (age 10 or under as of January 1, 2021) will go toe-to-toe in a series of blitz matches. The event will be in the single-elimination format and will take place over multiple weekends, with each match lasting for two hours and split up between the 5|1 and 3|1 time controls.
Fans will be able to watch the live broadcast on Chess.com/TV, with special commentators for each match. The tournament will also be broadcast on ChessKid.com’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
Below you can see the eight confirmed players. Player ages are as of January 1, 2021. USA players’ ratings are based on an average of the March FIDE and US Chess ratings lists. Only the FIDE rating is used for players from other countries.
| Seed | Player | Federation | Age | Rating |
| 1 | NM Ryo Chen (returning champion) | 10 | 2223 | |
| 2 | CM Ilan Schnaider | 9 | 2080 | |
| 3 | CM Lev Zverev | 10 | 2023 | |
| 4 | Peter Balint | 10 | 1978 | |
| 5 | NM Tani Adewumi | 10 | 1972 | |
| 6 | Jaime Rey Martinez | 10 | 1910 | |
| 7 | CM Wiktoria Smietanska | 10 | 1855 | |
| 8 | WCM Omya Vidyarthi | 10 | 1850 |
Players will be seeded based on their ratings for the first round. Below you can see the opening round bracket:
FunMasterMike will be joined by other hosts during the broadcast. Below you can see each matchup and its hosts:
Players will battle for their piece of a $5,000 prize fund. In addition to the cash prize, the winner of the event will receive lessons with one of the 20 best players in the world. You can read the full rules and prizes of the event here.
Who do you think will win the most prestigious ChessKid.com event of the year? Leave a comment below!
