Announcing The 2022 Speed Chess Championship

Chess.com is excited to announce the 2022 Speed Chess Championship, beginning in late November. World #1 GM Magnus Carlsen returns to an absolutely star-studded 16-player field that also includes four-time Speed Chess Champion GM Hikaru Nakamura.

As the Speed Chess Championship enters its sixth year, we see the strongest and most exciting lineup yet. 15 of the players will be looking to break Nakamura’s ongoing run of dominance. Since Carlsen won the inaugural 2017 edition, Nakamura has claimed the last four from 2018-21. The field will play for a total prize fund of $100,000 and the world’s most prestigious online speed chess title.

The other confirmed players in the brilliant field are: both upcoming world championship contenders, GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren; reigning world blitz champion GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and reigning world rapid champion GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov; reigning U.S. champion GM Fabiano Caruana; 2022 Junior Speed Chess Champion GM Arjun Erigaisi and two more of India’s brightest young stars, GMs Nihal Sarin and Gukesh D; and GMs Anish Giri, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, and Dmitry Andreikin.

The final two players will be determined via qualifying events on November 10-13. The first qualifier will be held on November 10-11 and the second qualifier on November 12-13. All titled players are eligible to join and the winner of each event will qualify for one of the final two spots. The top eight finishers also win cash prizes totaling $10,000.

In 2020, Carlsen’s only attempted defense after winning the 2017 edition, he was upset by Vachier-Lagrave in the semifinals. Nakamura went on to win. Then, in 2021, Nakamura faced possibly his toughest run yet, after his semifinal match with Ding went all the way to armageddon. It won’t get any easier for Nakamura with the return of Carlsen headlining this year’s stacked field of opposition.