With a whopping $1.5 million prize pool, chess will become a part of the upcoming Esports World Cup with Magnus Carlsen being its ambassador.
Chess Becomes Part of the Esports World Cup
When you mention esports, most people’s first thought would be something like League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike, and so on. However, it seems that next year, chess will be joining their ranks.
The ancient strategy game, played by kings and common folk alike in the past, and still extremely popular today, is further entrenching itself in the modern digital age. Chess will be a part of the 2025 Esports World Cup and will feature a whopping $1.5 million prize pool. None other than modern chess legend Magnus Carlsen will serve as the game’s ambassador.
“This partnership is an incredible opportunity to grow the game, by introducing chess to new audiences and inspiring the next generation of players,” the Grand Master said. “Being part of the esports family is an amazing opportunity for chess to broaden its reach to a massive group of esports fans.”
Esports World Cup Foundation CEO Ralf Reichert added to Carlesn’s words by saying that this is a perfect example of how games evolve from boards to computers. “Chess’s rich history, global appeal, and thriving competitive scene make it a perfect fit for our mission to unite the world’s most popular games,” he stated.
How Chess Became So Popular in the Digital Age?
Perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising that chess eventually found itself as part of the Esports World Cup. The game has long been one of the first digitized games in the history of computing when IBM engineers made the first fully automated chess engine back in the 1950s. For decades, it was the goal of many software and computer engineers to make a program that could beat the current top Grand Master. This happened in 1996 when Deep Blue defeated reigning chess champion Gary Kasparov, becoming the first computer to win against the top chess player in the world.
Fast forward a couple of decades and chess was already commonly played online. The popularity of online chess platforms only grew stronger during the early 2020s during the Covid-19 pandemic. As many people were stuck inside their homes, a lot of them decided to spend their time playing chess online or watching streamers do so. In fact, Magnus Carlsen himself used to stream chess on Twitch quite a lot. It should not be a surprise that he is the ambassador for chess at the Esports World Cup, considering he’s helped the community and popularity of the game grow so much.
How Will Chess Work at the Esports World Cup?
The Esports World Cup event is part of a partnership with the Champions Chess Tour (CCT). The esports tournament will determine who will qualify for the finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
When it comes to format, games will be played in the 10+0 chess format, which seems to have become quite popular in online games over the past few years. This means that games will be ten minutes long with no time increments. According to the creators of the tournament, this format is a balance between providing a quick and exciting pace for viewers, but also allowing for the players’ skills to shine through.
If there is a need, an Armageddon game will serve as a tie-breaker if needed. Under its rules, Black can win a game by drawing. However, White starts with more time on the clock. “You will see in faster games, there will be a lot of swings, fast-paced actions,” Carlsen said.
Players for the Esports World Cup chess tournament will be determined thanks to two online events with a combined $300K prize pool, which will run in February and May. The top 12 players in the CCT will then go to the EWC chess tournament. The four remaining spots will be decided in a Last Chance Qualifier in Riyadh which will be open to both amateur and professional players.
The pinnacle event will see a total of 16 players duke it out for the crown and share of the $1.5 million prize pool between July 31 and August 3, 2025. With such high stakes, chess esports will be an interesting field to follow in the upcoming months.
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