As the e-sports world grows in popularity, how can chess be made more accessible to this wider audience? Even at faster time controls, plenty of games still end in a draw. And once the time control gets too fast, the same two or three players seem to always end up on top. Where is the suspense? The drama? The confusion over the format?
Enter the new season of the Champions Chess Tour (CCT). Each event will now feature three (or six, or nine, depending on how you count them) finals, emerging from three separate brackets. The bracket with the highest prize fund also has the smallest number of players, making it doubly desirable.
The CCT brings chess fully into the sporting world first by showing off the fast-paced commentary from the crack team of IM Tania Sachdev, GM Robert Hess and GM David Howell.
Back in the studio! Today we'll see Magnus Carlsen versus Hikaru Nakamura in the #AirthingsMasters 🔥 There's also an all-Indian clash between Erigaisi and Gukesh 🇮🇳 Who are you rooting for? Commentary starts at 4.45pm CET. #ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/Yhuysyxrki
— David Howell (@DavidHowellGM) February 8, 2023
Not only did each game feel more like a sporting event, but the overall format introduced a league relegation system reminiscent of European soccer and the double-elimination playoff format of the NCAA College World Series of baseball and softball (and backgammon, I am told).
What this format lacks in simplicity, it makes up for in suspense and thousands of high-quality rapid games. Moreover, while the Division I Grand Final was (you guessed it!) between GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Magnus Carlsen, the two other finals featured players who don’t have as many chances to show off on a main stage.
Are you ready for the most competitive chess tournament yet?
— Champions Chess Tour (@ChampChessTour) January 24, 2023
Introducing the new and improved format for the Champions Chess Tour 2023! With this new format, more players will have the opportunity to compete and showcase their skills on the global stage. pic.twitter.com/ktZRrbD129
Additionally, the entire makeup of the top division was a bit unexpected, with current top ten players and former world champions relegated to lower divisions in the process.
Today, we will dive into the format of this event and celebrate American GM Sam Sevian, the Division III champion. Then, tomorrow, we will pick up with results from the top divisions.
Many will enter. Few will win.
While previous events were primarily invitation-only, with a few wild cards up for grabs, this tournament — the first since Chess.com acquired Chess24, who previously hosted the tour — is a whole new ballgame. This time, only two players were given automatic invitations: Magnus Carlsen for winning the previous CCT playoff and Wesley So for winning the Chess.com Global Championship. It is worth noting that Carlsen’s standing as World Chess Champion was not used for consideration, but So’s title of ‘Global Champion’ was.
Congratulations to Wesley So for winning the https://t.co/EufIHuV7ha Global Championship and the grand prize of
— Chess.com (@chesscom) November 7, 2022
$200,000! 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/HXSDMjlwM6
The other 54 (yes, fifty-four) spots were determined by a nine-round Swiss System play-in open to all grandmasters. After the play-in, the top group of finishers were seeded into mini-matches based on their score. Then, from there, winners of the six mini-matches between the top finishers got to join So and Carlsen in Division I. Losers of those matches, along with winners of the next tier of matches, made up the 16 players in Division II. Finally, the losers of the previous tier of matches, plus the winners of the lowest tier of matches, made up the 32 players in Division III. What about those who lose their Division III match? Unfortunately for those players, including some serious legends, they’ll have to hope they have better luck next event!
Hm, Division 3(!) has the match Aronian-Svidler… not exactly a lightweight duel. Crazy strong event. #airthingsmasters
— Christof Sielecki (@ChessExplained) February 3, 2023
Got all that? Good. Well, the main thing to understand is that, from there, players only compete against others within their division. Winning a lower division can earn invitation into a higher division in the next CCT event. Additionally, all players, regardless of division, earn tour points. After the six events of the tour complete, the six individual Division I winners will be joined by the two players who have accumulated the most points to compete for additional prizes in the Tour’s playoffs. There will also be bonus prizes for top finishers based on total points.
As for this tournament, once the players are sorted into divisions, the format should be easy to follow, right? Well, rather than follow a typical Round Robin or knock-out format, each tournament proceeded by the rules of double elimination. The short version means players are eliminated once they lose their second match and keep playing until only one player has lost fewer than two matches.
This is the full path to deciding the #AirthingsMasters Champion on Friday, with all players having the chance to lose once but still win the event! #ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/xTY5o8QxX6
— chess24.com (@chess24com) February 6, 2023
To take Division I as an example, the eight players would play four head-to-head matches. The four losers would then play each other in the ‘losers’ bracket’. The two losers of those matches would be eliminated. The two winners of the losers’ bracket, however, would play the two losers of the matches in the second round of the winners’ bracket. Again, the two losers would be eliminated, and the two winners would play a match to determine the losers’ bracket’s first finalist. The second finalist would be the loser of the match of the two remaining undefeated players. Finally, the losers' bracket’s winner would play the Grand Final against the winners' bracket’s winner. If the winner wins, that’s the tournament. If the loser wins, a second match follows. If you’re finding this hard to follow, imagine how the players in Division II (twice as many players) or III (four times as many players) feel.
Sevian brings it home!
While Sevian is no newcomer to prestigious online events, his Tour victory is particularly impressive considering his final opponent’s pedigree. Sevian remained in the winners’ bracket until the “winners’ final” against Indian GM Praggnanandhaa, who was coming off a successful performance in the Tata Steel Masters’. Despite Pragg’s strong showing alongside many of the competitors in Division I and II, Sevian managed to win their head-to-head showdown.

Now is a good time to mention that every match in every division, whether two-game or four-game, consisted of an even number of games. In case of ties, the match comes down to Armageddon game. As usual, Black will play with less time but a draw would count as a win. Additionally, players would “bid” on time, with whomever selected a smaller amount of time would have to play with that amount of time as Black. And while the main match games involved three-second increments, keeping the players mostly honest, the Armageddons offered no such comfort. Which would explain why this was how Sevian won the winners’ final:
From there, he had to defeat “Pragg,” who won his “losers’ final” match, a second time. What ensued was a series of truly chaotic chess, starting from the first game.
Immediately, Sevian leveled the score the second Pragg underestimated Black’s activity in a Nimzo-turned-Carlsbad.
After a peaceful third game, things looked headed to tiebreaks again until Pragg unleashed a furious attack on Sevian’s king. From a completely hopeless position, however, Sevian found multiple necessary only moves to hold the draw. And then…
Overall, this match produced highly original, suspenseful chess between two players who don’t often get to play for the finals of a major event (yet). This alone shows that the new CCT format is worth the hour it took to write the paragraphs explaining the format.

With 32 players in Division III, each match (before the Grand Final) consisted of only two games. The pressure to play fighting chess, rather than hand one’s fate over to Armageddon, was great. Here are a few highlights from Sevian’s earlier matches against players who were willing to “go for broke”.
Another American who made a nice run in Division III was GM Aleksandr Lenderman. In the quarterfinals against Russian GM Aleksey Dreev, he only needed a draw to advance. Instead, he put Dreev’s king on a long-distance flight.
From there, his run was cut short by Pragg’s flexible hedgehog. He managed to defeat Dreev again in the losers’ quarterfinals, but Ukrainian GM Olexandr Bortnyk had something to say.
The other American in Division III was GM Christopher Yoo, who is no stranger to online action. He managed to win two matches in the losers’ bracket (after an initial loss to Bortnyk) before being knocked out by Russian GM Grigoriy Oparin.
What’s notable about Yoo, though, was not so much his performance as how he qualified in the first place. In order to get seeded into the main bracket, he first had to win a match against a player who typically spends more time getting automatic invitations into these sorts of events. Showing no fear, Yoo opened the match by dispatching his legendary opponent in 18 moves. Perhaps Black mixed up his preparation?
Needing only a draw to clinch the match, he showed no mercy in notching a second victory.
Radjabov was not the only legend unable to earn a spot in Division III. Lenderman earned his spot with a tiebreaker victory over former US Champion GM Gata Kamsky.
Another “legends” match came when Svidler knocked out Aronian. It’s no secret that the younger generation excels in faster time control, but it was a testament to the top-to-bottom strength of the competition that this was an elimination match for the next-to-last spot in the event.
Come back later this week to find out who won the Grand Final in Divisions I and II and, more importantly, how they got there.
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Comments
Fabulous snap crackle and…
Fabulous snap crackle and pop chess coverage by red hot chess journalist /huge chess talent JJ Lang...he has made up his mind that even children and beginner level chessplayers will absolutely know what time it is in a hurry ...SEE IT NOW...what the two million dollar chess event- pro chess career online really looks like...
with JJ LANGcoverage of the entire chess world ....with young no nonsense young Turks like JJ Lang you realize a huge valley of coverage is making the relatively poor little US chess federation THE NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL OF CHESS COVERAGE right now.
The greatest chess editor of all time just sits there smiling and welcomes nifty coverage plus fierce UNCENSORED chess news/color commentary...a magnet for the new chess world hot shots which will absolutely be willing to hold any tourney as long as the ENTIRE WORLD gets to play online...at very least in a no money 'play in FIRST qualifier ..with the big 2 MILLION MONSTER cash massively monitored FINAL live and in person showdown taking place in a cow pasture if necessary. No problemo. Problems are but trees to be chopped down .JUST DO IT!!-(thanks NIKE!)
All universe chess format absolutely does not matter as long as the ENTIRE world is allowed to play in 190 fide chess nations...in the no nonsense right now Daddy-o cash play in qualifers .......with a losers bracket second chance tourney guaranteed also...all problems will be solved and obstacles are simply big trees to be mercilessly chopped..and there are plenty of fabulous merciless pro chess people who will prevent internet cheating in he big money live in person 3-5 days only big "money honey" finals.
Speaking for myself I greatly appreciate the promo opportunities spotlighting American chess shadows
'a star that is what you are" ...glowing people in 5 days flat...mention of US chess world class working class heroes Lenderman and Sevian...anything that allows ferocious players like this to shine is welcome indeed.
Kindly remember please immortal American players who never dreamed of two million dollars FOR PLAYERS ONLY... in terrible days of chess poverty, (long gone but never forgotten) horrendous bureaucratic incompetence which long ago wasted more than a million dollars on ONE insane frivolous thrown out of court lawsuit(??) while American chess grand masters were absolutely destitute,ignored ) .... paired with the collapse of all prominent newspaper chess columns in the nation... living always as grim forgotten shadows ..Benjamin, Fedorowitz, Alburt, Christiansen, Henley, Kavalek, olympiad gold medalist Dake, Defirmian, ADDISON, Wolfe, 6 time US chess champion Walter S. Browne (working for peanuts in a gambling casino and almost dying of throat cancer)
.Every chance to promote our great players must be taken.This is a mighty golden opportunity and a grandmaster gold mine........... I am fearful we will lose Sam Shankland , terrific US grandmaster as he too is lost in the numbers unless we really start cranking up the cash register via the internet to support every single grandmaster we have.
"Chess careers are getting shorter, about 4 years"-V.Anand
Also here is a final warning ..any promo chess event without women and chldren is promo death on arrival. Mega sponsors will laugh out loud at the chess world.... assuming large sponsors even speak with the chess world at all. Everyone plays, every person of color , all women ,all kids, all indigenous people ..sailors on ships, lawyers, zoo keepers, taxi drivers, working mothers of four childen...... or what you have it is a silly elitist chicken little we- cannot -get anything done joke. Problems are to be chopped/crushed.
One player from all fifty US states and the top 50 world ranked players in the United states MUST BE IMMEDIATELY INVITED TO A US CHAMPIONSHIP CLOSELY SUPERVISED PLAY IN INTERNET " PLAY IN" AUGUST 15-20 each year..NO MORE PRIVILIGES FOR ANYONE...PLAY IN OR DIE...for the next 100 years simply hold the US NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONBSHIP ONLINE "play in "qualifier exactly on those dates August 15-20 (all US Chess cash support, huge mechandsie sales /promo problems for all time now solved instantly, period end of case by yours truly!... that is all folks)......mega million dollar sponsorship is coming to US chess because it is the fabulous tiny choo choo train promo engine that has been coming to school children ,rated chess player tourneys in your tiny town for 90 years... Go ahead and laugh...only the US chess office is going to matter in the future...in the richest nation /tech center in the entire world. Chess .com /worlds largest (600 +million dollars }chess web site...will soon link closely with all US CHESS national chess championships /state chess championship..but the boots on the ground will always be US chess organizers..schoolteachers /librarians /community colleges and recreation departments ,Mom and pop chess clubs with absoute access to three NAKAMURA SECURITY PROTOCOL FORMULA cameras
....closely supervised chess internet facilities via triple zoom monitors RIGHT NOW.
It is happening and chess IS...with global soccer by far the worlds largest sport. PERIOD. One million people played a game of chess in one minute flat on CHESS.COM and shut it temporairly down in major sections . Chess is not a joke. It is huge business,mushrooming, and EIGHTY TWO MILLION DOLLARS ( that is $82,000,000 friends neighbors and countrymen!) .....................................................................was just paid Magnus Carlsen for his 'Play Magnus "chess web site properties. Get ready.The future is now and the future is totally the late comer to the modern chess world..the the little choo choo train that could ..... now pulling into the St. Louis train station .......Yup I kid you not.. US CHESS . is right there ........................... LITERALLY in a train station! Oh man..this is gonna be great,
Jude Acers/ New Orleans
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