4th Annual ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship Returns In July

ChessKid.com is excited to announce the fourth annual ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship, coming soon in July 2023! Similar to the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship and Junior Speed Chess Championship, the YSCC will host a series of one-on-one matches featuring top youth players from around the world.

Eight players, all aged 10 and under (as of the beginning of this year), will compete for a total prize fund of $5,000! In addition, the winner of the event will receive private lessons with a top-rated GM! 

Quarterfinals for the event will take place starting in July 2023, with the semi-finals and finals taking place shortly after. Exact times will be determined based on the schedules of the participating players.

ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship: Players

This event will host eight of the top youth chess players from around the world. Similar to the Chess.com events, participants will play a series of blitz chess matches against each other. 

Here are the eight confirmed players competing in the event. Ages are as of January 1, 2023, 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 their FIDE and US Chess ratings is used.

CM Fausti Oro, 2288 (Argentina)

Fausti is the 2022 Panamerican U10 Champion, and the youngest ever player to reach a 2200 FIDE rating!

NM Patrick Liu, 2126 (USA)

Patrick is a talented young chess player who recently finished third in the 2022 FIDE World Cadet U10 Chess Championship.

Alvaro Torres, 2105 (Spain)

Alvaro has played against the mysterious chess sensation Rey Enigma, who was amazed by his skill!

Timur Dushatov, 2104 (Kazakhstan)

This strong young chess player from Kazakhstan is considered an up-and-coming prodigy.

 

CM Aaron Mendes, 2043 (Canada)

Aaron is a FIDE Candidate Master and won second place in the North American Youth Chess Championship at only seven years old.

Megan Paragua, 2010 (USA)

Megan is a young chess superstar whose skills have led her to the cover of Chess Life magazine; she's also known for representing Team ChessKid in the Streamers vs. ChessKids event!

Antoni Radzimski, 1966 (Poland)

Antoni's dad suggested chess as an alternative to football... that soon turned out to be a good decision, as the young Polish star quickly started winning awards and competitions including the U10 Polish Youth Blitz Chess Championship.

Andrei Negrean, 1924 (Romania)

Andrei has received praise from GM Xie Jun, a two-time Women’s World Champion, and was a dominant winner of the 2022 FIDE World Cadet U10 Blitz Championship and the 2021 European Union Youth U10 Championship.

 
All matches will be broadcast on Chess.com/TV with ChessKid's FunMasterMike commentating!

FunMasterMike and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili commentate last year's YSCC event!

ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship: Format

Each match will follow the rules and format below:

• Matches will be two hours long and will be decided by 5+1 and 3+1 time controls.
• Each player must maintain his/her own connection to the ChessKid.com live site and webcam for the broadcast. There are also no 'takebacks' for any kind of mouseslip.
• All usual Chess.com/ChessKid.com fair play measures will be in place. 
• The winner of each match will move forward to the next round.
• The first 75 minutes will be 5+1 and the final 45 minutes will be 3+1.
• If a match is tied after the last 3+1 game, players will keep playing 3+1 until there is a winner.
• There is no color equalization requirement (the match could end after the first tiebreak game); whichever player did not pick the color in the first game of the match gets to pick their starting color in game one of the tiebreak.

ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship: Prizes

The ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship offers the following prizes:

Round 1 (Quarterfinals): 8 players, 4 matches, $2,000 prize pool

• Winner: $300 and advances to round 2
• Other player: $200
• Total prizes per match: $500

Round 2 (Semifinals): 4 players, 3 matches, $1,500 prize pool

• Winner: $500 and advances to round 3
• Other player: $250
• Total prizes per match: $750

Round 3 (Finals): 2 players, 1 match, $1,500 prize pool

• Winner: $1,000 plus lessons with a top-20 GM
• Runner-up: $500
• Total Prize: $1,500

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Keep an eye out for more details as July approaches! The 2023 ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship is shaping up to be one of the best yet, and we're looking forward to covering all the action for you.