8/1/2025 – The Esports World Cup began on Tuesday, 29 July. Sixteen of the world's best players competed in blitz chess (10+0) for prestige and a prize fund of $1.5 million. Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen will face each other in the final, while Hikaru Nakamura will take on Arjun Erigaisi in the match for third place. Follow the games live with commentary. | The final starts at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 8.30 IST).
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Final
The Esports World Cup is a tournament series for online and esports games, first held in 2022 under the name Gamers8. The tournaments take place in July and August in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This year, chess is included in the tournament programme for the first time. The partner platform is chess.com.
The Chess Esports World Cup now serves as the final tournament of the Champions Chess Tour. The prize fund amounts to USD 1.5 million, with USD 250,000 reserved for the winner. The remaining participants receive at least USD 50,000 (places 13–16).
In addition to the individual competition, the results also contribute to a team ranking across all esports disciplines.
Final and Match for third place
Live games
Chess.com live commentary
Commentary by the ChessBase India team
Format
Phase 1
4 groups of 4 players – GSL format Time control: 10 minutes, no increments Armageddon as tiebreak 2 games per match
Phase 2
Knockout stage Time control: 10 minutes, no increments Armageddon as tiebreak
Round of 8: 4 games per match Semifinals: 6 games per match Grand Final: Best of 3 sets
The first two sets consist of 4 games. If necessary, the final set consists of 2 games.
Players and teams
2025 CCT Points Qualification (11)
Alireza Firouzja [Team Falcons] Arjun Erigaisi [Gen.G Esports] Fabiano Caruana [Team Liquid] Hikaru Nakamura [Team Falcons] Ian Nepomniachtchi [Aurora Gaming] Jan-Krzysztof Duda [Twisted Minds] Magnus Carlsen [Team Liquid] Maxime Vachier-Lagrave [Team Vitality] Nodirbek Abdusattorov [Natus Vincere] Vladimir Fedoseev (unable to participate, replaced by Andrey Esipenko) Vladislav Artemiev [Team Spirit] Wei Yi [Weibo Gaming]
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In this course, Dutch Grandmaster Jan Werle presents a modern and practical repertoire in the French Advance Variation, focusing on the critical line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3.
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In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike to not giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game.
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