Three Divisions

The Airthings Masters is the first event of the Champions Chess Tour. Following a play-in phase, a total of 56 players are participating in the knockout stage on February 6-10.

• Division I: 8 players
• Division II: 16 players
• Division III: 32 players

Each division has separate prize funds, with players also winning Tour Points according to the division they played in and their placement. By the end of the tour’s sixth event, the players with the most Tour Points get a spot in the CCT Playoff.

• Gukesh shines in super strong Airthings Masters Play-In...

Follow the commentary webcast provided by the official organizers. Find the knockout brackets and more info about the format below the video feed.

All available games

Division I

Division II

Video webcast

Improve your Tactics

The aim of this course is to help you understand how to make tactical opportunities arise as well as to sharpen your tactical vision - these selected lectures will help to foster your overall tactical understanding.

Commentary by David Howell, Tania Sachdev, Robert Hess, Kaja Snare & Jovanka Houska

Brackets

Division I

Division II

Division III

Format

The Airthings Masters has a Play-in stage, open to all grandmasters, and a Knockout stage featuring three divisions. Each division has separate prize funds, with players also winning Tour Points according to the division they played in and their placement. By the end of the tour’s sixth event, the players with the most Tour Points get a spot in the CCT Playoff.

Opening package: 1.b3 and Black Secrets in the Modern Italian

Wesley So published two new opening DVDs: 1.b3, the so called Nimzo-Larsen-Attack, for White and his black secrets in the modern Italian. Get them in a package and save money!

Knockout

The Knockout stage features 56 players playing across three different divisions based on their Match Play results:

Division I: 8 players.

• Two invited players (Carlsen and So).
• The six winners of the matches between the top-12 players from the Play-in Swiss.

Division II: 16 players.

• The six losers of the matches between the top-12 players from the Play-in Swiss.
• The ten winners of the matches between players placed 13th to 32nd in the Play-in Swiss.

Division III: 32 players.

• The 10 losers of the matches between players placed 13th to 32nd in the Play-in Swiss.
• The 22 winners of the matches between players placed 33rd to 76th in the Play-in Swiss.

Each division has prize money and Tour Points on the line.

The Knockout stage has the following format:

• Each division features a double-elimination knockout bracket.
• The time control is 15+3.
• Divisions I and II feature four-game matches in the Winners Bracket and two-game matches in the Losers Bracket.
• Division III features two-game matches in both the Winners and Losers Brackets and a four-game match in the Grand Finals. 
• If there’s a Grand Finals reset (player coming out of the Losers Bracket wins the first set), the second set features a two-game match.
• A bidding armageddon game with a 15-minute base time breaks ties. 

Links

• Official site
• Revamped Champions Chess Tour to kick off in February