The world number-four Arjun (pictured) and his partner Nihal booked their knockout spot on their fourth attempt. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Arjun, Nihal Take Aim At Two-Time Bughouse World Champions Liang, Xiong

FM JackRodgers

Updated: Aug 23, 2024, 5:08 AM | 11 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin finally booked their spot in the 2024 Chess.com Bughouse Championship knockouts on their fourth attempt after scoring 68/78 on Thursday. The Indian superstars, alongside FM Richard Zheng and NM Vincent Baker, secured the last two qualifying spots and will fight for their share of the $2,000 first prize.

Commiserations must also go to FMs Marten Aronsson and Daniel Yeager, the former of whom finished qualifier eight in first by a single point, but four of his points do not count toward qualification as they were played with an alternate partner.

The field for the knockout finals is full of bughouse experts including the two-time bughouse world champions GMs Awonder Liang and Jeffery Xiong, the 2024 Chess.com Crazyhouse champion NM Jalen Wang, and "Helmsknight" (aka Grace Ferguson). This will commence on Friday, August 23, at 12 p.m. ET / 18:00 CEST / 9.30 p.m. IST.

Qualifier 7 - Standings

Rank	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score

1 Q*		GM	GHANDEEVAM2003	Arjun Erigaisi	2483	245
1 Q*		GM	nihalsarin	Nihal Sarin	2349	245
2		IM	schoolmeester	Vincent Rothuis	2492	222
2		FM	Crazy_Eight	Roee Aroesti	2493	222
3		IM	Wormpaca	Daniel Gurevich	2331	195
3			ClocKingswitcher		2664	195
4			tjarkvos	Tjark Vos	2505	185
4			pknm	Patrik Nystrom	2249	185
5		NM	ybothg	Tobias Rizzo	2257	179
5			SoccerBoy6		2323	179
6		IM	papapizza	Ben Li	2370	147
6			ChikaKyo	Chika Kyoko	2047	147
7			JarlCarlander	Jarl Carlander	2220	136
7			chuckmoulton	Chuck Moulton	2077	136
8			Parthichess1	Vignesh Kannan P	1625	122
8		IM	DragonB70	Nhat Minh To	2173	122

(Full final standings here)

Qualifier 8 - Standings

Rank	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score

1		FM	Zyxon	Marten Aronsson	2507	226
2 Q*		FM	TheDuck	Richard Zheng	2598	225
2 Q*		NM	vjbaker	Vincent Baker	2548	225
3		FM	chickencrossroad	Daniel Yeager	2650	222
4		GM	CaspiIsrael	Israel Caspi	2433	195
4		FM	Crazy_Eight	Roee Aroesti	2482	195
5			pknm	Patrik Nystrom	2250	193
5			tjarkvos	Tjark Vos	2506	193
6		IM	Wormpaca	Daniel Gurevich	2240	160
6			ClocKingswitcher		2589	160
7			Rapid		2065	132
7		FM	JunjiCol	Julian Colville	1940	132
8			ChikaKyo	Chika Kyoko	2109	120

(Full final standings here)

Qualifier 7 - Arjun, Nihal Qualify On Final Day
Qualifier 8 - North American Duo Posts 28-Game Winning Streak

Qualifier 7 - Arjun, Nihal Qualify On Final Day

Defeating two-time bughouse world champions Liang and Xiong will be a difficult task for any of the teams who have qualified for the knockouts; however, as some of the best tacticians in the world, Arjun and Nihal could prove to be a significant, albeit unorthodox threat to the top seeds.

They did it! GMs Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi win the 7th Bughouse Championship Qualifiers and guarantee a spot in tomorrow's big finals! ✨ pic.twitter.com/9SCT3P5zxf
— Chess.com Community (@GreenPawns) August 22, 2024

Though their bughouse pedigree is limited, Arjun and Nihal managed to brute-force their way to the top of the seventh qualifier, focusing on sacrificial attacks with White and trusting in a classic, French Defense-inspired setup with Black.

Bughouse specialist Georg von Zimmermann claimed in 2006 that 2.Nc6 gives Black "more flexibility than the immediate 2...d5 or 2...Nf6."

While dueling with the eventual second-place finalists IM Vincent Rothuis and FM Roee Aroesti, Arjun and Nihal showed that against specialists, longer and anti-theoretical positions are their forte.

Speed is the ally of the eighth highest-rated bullet chess player on Chess.com.

In the position below, Arjun launched a scintillating attack on Black's king after dropping a pawn on a7.

There are no good counterattacking moves for Black, and now he has to buy time for his teammate. Time is ticking, though, and White doesn't hesitate to promote a pawn.

Black then starts reinforcing the squares around his king as White promotes another pawn (below). Humorously, if given a chance, Arjun can drop another queen, and there would be four white queens on the board at once! Time begins to become a problem for Arjun, though, as his teammate's king has come under threat.

A few moves later, Arjun put the game to bed with a combination that shows why knights are more powerful than bishops or rooks in bughouse chess.

Knight checks are the only type that cannot be blocked, making the stallions a powerful commodity.

Eventually, Arjun found a way to checkmate on move 31. Longer games like this are a taste of what's to come in Friday's knockouts.

That's a bughouse checkmate if I've ever seen one!

In the end, Arjun and Nihal's ability to play at lightning speed helped them to establish a 23-point lead over the second-placed team. Despite losing fewer games, Rothuis and Aroesti couldn't complete the same amount as the Indians.

Arjun and Nihal completed 78 games.

Rothuis and Aroesti completed 12 fewer.

Qualifier 8 - North American Duo Posts 28-Game Winning Streak

An unusual situation arose in the eighth and final qualifier after a sole player, Aronsson, leapfrogged Zheng and Baker and topped the leaderboard following a 57-move showdown with the leaders. This would not be enough to qualify, though, as his partner finished four points lower.

A 57-move showdown between the first- and second-placed teams is a testament to their defensive capabilities.

When the dust had settled, it became evident that Aronsson had initially joined the qualifier as an individual and won one game before linking up with Yeager. According to the tournament regulations: "Only games played with the same partner will count towards Bughouse Championship Main Event qualification," meaning that for qualification purposes his score was 222.

Zheng (TheDuck) and Baker (vjbaker) benefitted from Aronsson and Yeager not playing all of their games as partners.

To reach their score of 225, Zheng and Baker won 60/66 of their games and notched a 28-game win streak in the process. GM Denis Lazavik and FM Artiom Strybuk, as well as bughouse streamer Chuck Moulton and his partner Jarl Carlander, were notable casualties of this streak.

Lazavik is a consistent high achiever in online chess events and has reached a FIDE-rating high of 2578.

Zheng and Baker also played some instructive miniatures which demonstrate why normal chess openings are not always viable in bughouse chess. Below, Black is punished for playing the Giuoco Piano with a thematic bishop sacrifice.

5.Bxf7!, a motif seen time and time again in bughouse.

After taking the bishop, Black faces another check.

Given Baker's partner has already fashioned a queen trade on the other board, Baker is ready to deliver checkmate if the king goes back to the eighth rank.

Even if Black had played 6...Kg6, they would have been swiftly checkmated, courtesy of five pieces in White's pocket.

As Zheng and Baker were the last qualifiers, they are relatively untested against the teams who qualified early in the week. Thus, gauging how they will fare in the finals is tricky. For those looking to improve their understanding of bughouse chess ahead of the knockouts, be sure to check out Moulton's stream of the event where he and his partner Carlander gave a play-by-play.

With all eight teams now locked in for Friday's final, it's prediction time! Comment who you think will take the $2,000 first prize and the title of 2024 Chess.com Bughouse Champions.

Knockouts Format

The 2024 Chess.com Bughouse Championship is the latest event in the Chess.com Community Championship series, and anyone can battle for a piece of this month's increased $7,500 prize fund. The tournament will be decided with an eight-team double-elimination bracket. Each team must qualify via one of eight, two-hour arenas with a 3+0 time control.

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