Awatramani Wins 2024 Crazyhouse Championship

NM Janak Awatramani won the 2024 Crazyhouse Championship after defeating GM Lars Oskar Hauge 4.5-2.5 in the Grand Final, earning $2,000 in the last event of the 2024 Community Chess Championships. The tournament series occurred once a month with a different variant each time. 

If you enjoyed playing and watching the events, stay tuned for our 2025 Community Chess Championship series announcement, coming soon!

Championship Bracket

Eight players qualified on Monday through Thursday to reach the double-elimination Knockout Final of the Crazyhouse Championship. In addition to the two grand finalists, they were Bartlomiej Zdybowicz, NM Jalen Wang, IM Mark Plotkin, NM Janak Awatramani, GM Jeffery Xiong, FM Roee Aroesti, and GM Andrew Tang. 

Each qualifier was a two-hour arena played at a 3+0 time control. This was the last event of the 2024 Chess.com Community Chess Championships series, with $2,000 going to the winner.

The matches weren't a fixed set of games. Instead, the contestants played as many games as they could in the allotted time, and the player with the most points won the match. Matches in the Winners Bracket received 30 minutes, while Losers Bracket matches lasted 20.

Zdybowicz, Awatramani Take Down GMs Tang, Xiong In 1st Round

If judging by the players' regular chess ratings, there were two notable "upsets" in the very first round. Two grandmasters lost their first match: Zdybowicz, who joined as a replacement after NM Isaac Chiu dropped out, defeated Tang, and Awatramani knocked Xiong into the Losers Bracket.

Zdybowicz, the only untitled player in the field, won his first three games against Tang and ultimately won the match 5-2. Game two was one of the nicest wins, where Black was unperturbed by the fork on his queen and rook and, instead, focused his efforts on checkmating the white king. 

Awatramani vs. Plotkin Winners Final Is A 7.5-1.5 Blowout

As a result, Xiong and Tang played each other in the Losers Bracket, and Xiong eliminated him 3-1. Meanwhile, Hauge was the one grandmaster who survived to the Winners Semifinals, but Plotkin beat him 6-4. 

In the Winners semifinal match of grandmaster-slayers, Awatramani defeated Zdybowicz with dominant 7-1 score. In his fourth win in a row, he chased the king all the way from e8 to h6 and won the game with a pawn check.

So it was down to Awatramani vs. Plotkin in the Winners Final. Awatramani won with a remarkable 7.5-1.5 score. A knight and queen combo is deadly in regular chess, so two knights can be overkill. In the first game of their match, Awatramani illustrated just how well these pieces complement each other when attacking:

Awatramani explained after the match that he considers bishops to be stronger than knights because they are great defenders, unlike knights. His three bishops in the following game showed that they can also attack. The third bishop announced checkmate upon its arrival to the board.

GM Hauge Ascends Through Losers Bracket

After his loss to Plotkin, Hauge climbed through the Losers Bracket. He beat Xiong 5-0 in the Quarterfinals and then Zdybowicz 6-0 in the Semifinals. His nicest checkmate in the latter match was in the following game, where he sacrificed his queen and finished the attack with a checkmate by two pawns.

He then defeated Plotkin 4-1 in their rematch in the Losers Final. So it was Awatramani vs. Hauge in the Grand Final.

Awatramani Takes Title After Close Grand Final Vs. Hauge

After a draw in the first game, Hauge scored the first point, but the players traded blow for blow, each winning a game immediately after losing. It was only in the final two games that Awatramani took the lead.

In the penultimate game, the clock mattered much more than position as Hauge ran out of time while Awatramani still had a minute and 23 seconds. Note that, in the final position, Awatramani's king is impenetrable behind a wall of pieces, and he has a queen ready to be dropped on the next move, perhaps to c2—so he's also winning on the board.

The last game was a rollercoaster because, if Hauge managed to win, he would have tied and thus continued the match. He actually achieved a winning position, after sacrificing two queens, but wasn't able to find an accurate follow-up. When the checks ran out, it was Awatramni who turned the tables.

Awatramani admitted as much, commenting after the match, "The last game he was completely winning. I got lucky with a trick in the end." Although he won by dramatic margins in most of his matches, he commented that luck played a role, from his very first match against Xiong.

I think there's a little more momentum involved than in chess. You win one or two lucky games, and the rest of the match is yours. I feel like the quality wasn't the best, but I got lucky quite a few [times], so that carried me to some scorelines that didn't really reflect how close they were.

I think there's a little more momentum involved than in chess.

—Janak Awatramani

We will likely see many more encounters between Hauge and Awatramani. Just on Chess.com, they've played over 2,000 games. Awatramani had won 1,416, drawn 19, and lost 1,043 of them by this tournament's conclusion.

Will he defend his title, along with the other community chess champions? We'll find out next year!

The Chess.com Crazyhouse Championship is the last event of the Chess.com Community Championships series. The tournament was decided with an eight-player double-elimination bracket. Each competitor qualified via one of eight, 75-minute arenas with a 3+0 time control. The prize fund is $7,500. 

Previous coverage:

• GMs Hauge, Tang Claim Final 2 Spots In Crazyhouse Championship
• Xiong, Aroesti Top Crazyhouse Qualifiers 5 & 6
• Canadian Masters Plotkin, Awatramani Win Crazyhouse Qualifiers 3 & 4
• National Masters Chiu, Wang Take Crazyhouse Qualifiers 1 & 2
• Insanity Awaits! Get Ready For The Chess.com Crazyhouse Chess Championship