2/3/2023 – The play-in phase of the Airthings Masters is taking place on February 3 and is open to all grandmasters. A total of 54 players will qualify to the knockout stage set to start on Monday. A 9-round Swiss tournament will be followed by 2-game matches to decide who qualifies and to which division of the knockout. | Follow the live commentary, starting at 17.00 CET (11.00 ET, 21.30 IST)
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Tata Steel 2026 with analyses by Bluebaum, Giri, L'Ami, Woodward and many more. Opening videos by Kasimdzhanov, Marin and Zwirs. 10 exciting opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
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A Swiss and a knockout
Hundreds of professional players worldwide will take part in the flagship Champions Chess Tour, played on Chess.com, before an overall winner is crowned Tour Champion for 2023. Norway’s GM Magnus Carlsen, two-time Tour winner, the world number-one, and arguably the greatest player in chess history, will defend his title.
The competition includes open qualifiers and a division system to include more players in the Tour, as well as many innovative format changes designed to maximize excitement and make every match count.
The Airthings Masters is the first event of the Tour. In the play-in phase, a total of 54 players will qualify to the knockout stage set to start on Monday, February 6.
Follow the commentary webcast provided by the official organizers. Find more info about the format below the video feed.
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
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.
Play-In
Open to all grandmasters.
Play-in consists of a nine-round Swiss and a “Match Play” stage.
The time control is 10+2.
The top-ranked players from the Swiss advance to the Match Play stage.
The top six players from the Swiss pick, one by one, their opponents for their Match Play among players placed between seventh and 12th.
The remaining Match Play pairings are based on players' Swiss final placement.
Each match in Match Play consists of two games.
A bidding Armageddon game breaks Match Play ties: there is a 10-minute base time for the armageddon game. The bid winner has the choice of color and starts the game with the amount of time they bid. Black has draw odds. If the bid is tied, players bid again. There is no increment.
Following Match Play, players advance to the Knockout stage and enter one of three divisions based on their results.
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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.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
The Benko Gambit is back at the very highest level - and it's easy to see why. Black sacrifices a pawn to seize the initiative on the queenside, obtaining long-lasting pressure, active pieces and open files that make life difficult for White.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
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