GM Hikaru Nakamura won the main event of the Blitz Championship 2021 on December 19—winning his fourth consecutive title. Nakamura defeated GM Wesley So in the final with a dominant score of 23-8.
The event ran from November 8 – December 19, 2021 and had a $100,000 prize money.
All the information you need to know about this lightning fast event can be found below.
players
* Report replaced the original number two seed GM Alireza Firouzja.
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Scheme
The 2021 Speed Chess Championship Main Event kicked off on November 8. With the start of the 2021 FIDE World Chess Championship, the Speed Chess Championship schedule was built around World Championship off-days.
| Date | Time | Round | Player 1 | Player 2 |
| Nov 8 | 9am PST / 6pm CET | Round of 16 | Anish Giri | Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| Nov 9 | 4am PST/1pm CET | Round of 16 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Thing Liren |
| November 10 | 9am PST / 6pm CET | Round of 16 | Richard Report | Alexey Saranan |
| Nov 11 | 7:30 AM PST / 4:30 PM CET | Round of 16 | Alexander Grischuk | Nihal Sarin |
| Nov 11 | 11:30am PST / 8:30pm CET | Round of 16 | Levon Aronian | Daniil Dubov |
| Nov 12 | 9am PST / 6pm CET | Round of 16 | Hikaru Nakamura | Peter Svidler |
| Nov 15 | 9am PST / 6pm CET | Round of 16 | Wesley So | Jeffery Xion |
| Nov 29 | 10:00 a.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. CET | Round of 16 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Fabiano Caruna |
| Dec 2 | 7am PST / 4pm CET | Quarter-finals | Richard Report | Nihal Sarin |
| Dec 6 | 06:00 PST / 15:00 CET | Quarter-finals | Thing Liren | Levon Aronian |
| Dec 6 | 10:00 a.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. CET | Quarter-finals | Hikaru Nakamura | Anish Giri |
| Dec 9 | 10:00 a.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. CET | Quarter-finals | Wesley So | Fabiano Caruna |
| Dec 13 | 13:00 PST/22:00 CET | Semi-finals | Wesley So | Nihal Sarin |
| December 16 | 14:30 PST/23:30 CET | Semi-finals | Hikaru Nakamura | Thing Liren |
| Dec 19 | 10:00 a.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. CET | Last | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So |
The 2021 Main Event Speed Chess Championship final was on December 19.
Format
The Main Event was a single-elimination knockout tournament.
The time checks were:
- 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz
- 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz
- 30 minutes 1+1 bullet
If a match was tied after the 30 minute round, four additional games were played with the same 1+1 time control. If the score was tied there was a single armageddon tiebreaker game, with white given five minutes and black four minutes with draw odds (ie black promoted if the game was a tie). There was no increase in armageddon game, and the player with the higher Chess.com blitz rating chooses which suit is played in it.
prize fund
Each match winner in any given stage earned:
- Round of 16: $2,000
- Quarter-finals: $3,000
- Semifinals: $6,000
- Grand Final: $10,000
In addition, the following amounts were allocated based on the players’ win percentage at the end of the round.
- Round of 16: $2,000
- Quarter-finals: $3,000
- Semifinals: $6,000
- Grand Final: $10,000
For example, if a player won in the semifinals with a score of 15-10 (60%), he would receive $6,000 for winning the semifinal and an additional $3,600 (60% of $6,000) based on the win percentage. The loser received the remaining $2,400.
Total prize money per round
- Round of 16: $32,000
- Quarter-finals: $24,000
- Semifinals: $24,000
- Grand Final: $20,000
- BIG TOTAL: $100,000
Broadcast
Chess.com broadcast the 2021 Speed Chess Championship Main Event on all of its platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, ChessTV and Chess.com/Events. Chess.com’s chief commentator, GM Daniel Naroditsky, commented, along with GM Robert Hess and GM Aman Hableton.
Past winners
2017: GM Magnus Carlsen
2018: GM Hikaru Nakamura
2019: GM Hikaru Nakamura
2020: GM Hikaru Nakamura
