The Julius Baer Challenge was the first event of the Challengers Chess Tour 2022 and it was a 16-player blitz round-robin taking place on chess24 from September 3-4. The event gathered 16 of the world’s top Under 12, 14 and 16 age group players, alongside Under 18 and 20 stars such as Raunak Sadhwani, Jonas Buhl Bjerre, Leon Mendonca and Andrey Esipenko.
The Russian grandmaster Andrey Esipenko dominated the event, scoring 41/45 points. With 13 victories, 2 draws, and without a single loss, Esipenko was 10 points ahead of the second-placed Raunak Sadhwani. Frederik Svane, Mittal Aditya, Leon Luke Mendonca, Jonas Buhl Bjerre, and Vuppala Prraneeth tied for the third place scoring 27/45 points, each. Scroll down for the final standings
The Challengers Chess Tour 2022 continues in October with the Magnus Academy Challenge which will be played from October 8-9, and the overall winner of the tour will be crowned at the Challengers Final Four on October 29 and 30.
Final rankings – Julius Bear Challenge | Challengers Chess Tour 2022:
| 1 | Esipenko, Andrey | 41/45 | 2734 |
| 2 | Sadhwani, Raunak | 31/45 | 2672 |
| 3 | Svane, Frederik | 27/45 | 2566 |
| 4 | Aditya Mittal | 27/45 | 2485 |
| 5 | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 27/45 | 2596 |
| 6 | Bjerre, Jonas Buhl | 27/45 | 2598 |
| 7 | Prraneeth Vuppala | 27/45 | 2458 |
| 8 | Maurizzi, Marc`Andria | 26/45 | 2521 |
| 9 | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 21/45 | 2443 |
| 10 | Garifullina, Leya | 21/45 | 2375 |
| 11 | Vantika Agrawal | 19/45 | 2338 |
| 12 | Salimova, Nurgyul | 14/45 | 2414 |
| 13 | Savitha Shri B | 13/45 | 2435 |
| 14 | Gaal, Zsoka | 12/45 | 2330 |
| 15 | Malicka, Maria | 4/45 | 2350 |
| 16 | Yip, Carissa | 0/45 | 2385 |
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