The Play-In stage of the Chess.com Classic took place on Monday. This online event is part of the 2025 Champions Chess Tour and is the second and final leg of the series, following the Chessable Masters. The format was a nine-round Swiss tournament followed by a match.play section. In both sections, a 10-minute time control with no increments was in place. A total of 118 players competed.
Vladimir Fedoseev finished the Swiss in clear first place. As a result, he qualified directly for the Playoffs and did not have to take part in the match-play portion of the event. Fedoseev is in strong form, having also won the 2025 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament earlier this month, despite being a wildcard entry.
The players who placed 2nd to 15th in the Swiss moved on to the next stage, where they played two-game matches. The winners of these matches are set to join Fedoseev and eight invited players in the Playoffs. Out of seven matches, five were decided in regular play, while two required Armageddon tiebreaks.
The seven players who advanced through the matches were Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladislav Artemiev, and Denis Lazavik.
Because of their results in earlier events in the tour, both Duda and Arjun have now secured enough points to qualify for the 2025 Esports World Cup, which will be held from 31 July to 3 August in Riyadh. The top 12 players on the CCT leaderboard will take part in that event.
The Playoffs begin on Tuesday and run until 23 May. They will feature the eight qualifiers from the Play-In and the following invited players: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh Dommaraju, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ding Liren, and Wei Yi.
Play starts at 17.00 CEST. The total prize fund is $150,000.
Carlsen, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi already secured their spots in the Esports World Cup.
Champions Chess Tour standings
| Advertising |
.jpeg)
