EWC chess
Esports World Cup Chess
How chess works at the Esports World Cup, the 2026 and 2025 results, the prize pool, the clubs, the Indian players and how players qualify for 2027.
EWC chess is the chess event of the Esports World Cup, where top players meet in person and play 10-minute games on computers for a $1.5 million prize pool. Magnus Carlsen won the 2026 edition in Paris on 15 August without losing a game, his second title in two editions. The next edition is planned for Riyadh in July and August 2027, and the top 12 players of the Champions Chess Tour leaderboard qualify for it.
EWC chess 2027: dates and venue
- Next edition
- Riyadh, July to August 2027; exact dates not announced by 24 September 2026
- Organiser
- Esports Foundation, with Chess.com
- Qualification
- Top 12 of the Champions Chess Tour 2026-27 leaderboard
- Time control
- 10+0: 10 minutes per player, no increment
- 2026 winner
- Magnus Carlsen (Team Liquid)
- Prize pool
- $1.5 million in 2025 and in 2026
The Esports World Cup is a yearly festival of video game tournaments with a shared ranking for esports clubs. Chess joined it in 2025, through a multi-year deal between the Esports World Cup organiser and Chess.com, announced on 17 December 2024. The 2025 event was played in Riyadh. The 2026 edition was planned for Riyadh from 6 July to 23 August, but on 20 May 2026 the organiser moved the whole event to Paris "in light of the current regional situation".
The Esports World Cup website says the event returns to Riyadh in July and August 2027. No chess dates, format or prize pool for 2027 were public on 24 September 2026. Chess is already part of the plan: the Champions Chess Tour 2026-27 plays for 12 places at the 2027 event. For 2026, the organiser announced the dates on 24 August 2025, confirmed chess among the games on 8 October 2025 and published the full schedule on 20 January 2026. This page will add the 2027 dates when they are announced.
Chess is also part of the Esports Nations Cup, a national-team event from the same organiser. The organiser planned a 128-player chess tournament in Riyadh for November 2026, but the whole Nations Cup was postponed to November 2027, and how players will qualify for its chess event was still unclear on 24 September 2026.
EWC chess format
All games are played on computers at the venue, in front of a live audience that the players cannot hear. The time control is 10+0: each player has 10 minutes for the whole game, and no time is added after a move.
In 2026, 22 players took part. Eight of them started in the Play-In, where the top 2 went through to the Group Stage and joined the other 14. A match in the first two stages is two games. If it ends 1-1, one bidding armageddon game decides it: each player bids how little time they would accept to play Black, the lower bid gets Black, and a draw counts as a win for Black. The full rules are in the 2026 chess rulebook.
| Stage | Dates | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Last Chance Qualifier | 4 to 6 August | Qualifier in Paris; 5 players win places in the Play-In |
| Play-In | 11 August | 8 players, double elimination; the top 2 reach the Group Stage |
| Group Stage | 12 to 13 August | 2 groups of 8, double elimination; 4 from each group reach the playoffs |
| Quarterfinals and semifinals | 14 August | Single elimination: 4-game quarterfinals, 6-game semifinals |
| Final and third-place match | 15 August | Final: best of 3 sets; third place: 6 games |
The playoffs are single elimination. The final is best of three sets: 4 games in each of the first two sets, a third set of 2 games if the players win one set each, and an armageddon game if a set ends level. The first edition in 2025 was smaller: 16 players in four groups of four, then an 8-player playoff with the same final format.
EWC chess 2026 results
Magnus Carlsen won EWC chess 2026, and Denis Lazavik, 19, finished second. Hikaru Nakamura took third place and Alireza Firouzja fourth. The event ran at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles from 11 to 15 August 2026, according to the Esports World Cup guide.
| Stage | Winner | Score | Loser |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinal | Denis Lazavik | 3-2 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov |
| Quarterfinal | Hikaru Nakamura | 3-2 | Arjun Erigaisi |
| Quarterfinal | Alireza Firouzja | 2.5-1.5 | Hans Niemann |
| Quarterfinal | Magnus Carlsen | 2.5-0.5 | Nihal Sarin |
| Semifinal | Denis Lazavik | 3.5-1.5 | Hikaru Nakamura |
| Semifinal | Magnus Carlsen | 4-1 | Alireza Firouzja |
| Third place | Hikaru Nakamura | 4-1 | Alireza Firouzja |
| Final | Magnus Carlsen | 3-1 and 3-1 in sets | Denis Lazavik |
Carlsen won all five of his matches and lost none of his 20 games: 11 wins and 9 draws. He beat Nihal Sarin 2.5-0.5 in the quarterfinal and Firouzja 4-1 in the semifinal. In the final he beat Lazavik 3-1 in both sets, and the last game ended with a queen sacrifice against Lazavik's Caro-Kann, which Chess.com called "a fitting end to the tournament". Lazavik had not lost a playoff game before the final.
Nakamura beat Firouzja 4-1 in the match for third place. Internet problems at the venue interrupted the match, and Firouzja did not play the fifth game, which he lost by forfeit. Chess.com called the forfeit the only sour note of the event. It named 16-year-old Sina Movahed, who tied for ninth, as perhaps the event's breakout star.
The dates clashed with the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, part of the Grand Chess Tour. In February 2026, seven top players had published an open letter asking both organisers to avoid the clash. Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, R Praggnanandhaa, Wesley So and Anish Giri were among the players who missed Paris.
| Place | Player | Club | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | Team Liquid | $250,000 |
| 2 | Denis Lazavik | AG.AL | $190,000 |
| 3 | Hikaru Nakamura | Team Falcons | $145,000 |
| 4 | Alireza Firouzja | Team Falcons | $100,000 |
| 5-8 | Nihal Sarin | S8UL Esports | $72,500 |
| 5-8 | Hans Niemann | GodLike | $72,500 |
| 5-8 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | NAVI | $72,500 |
| 5-8 | Arjun Erigaisi | Gen.G | $72,500 |
| 9-12 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Weibo Gaming | $52,500 |
| 9-12 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Aurora | $52,500 |
| 9-12 | Sina Movahed | Team Stallions | $52,500 |
| 9-12 | Pranesh M | S8UL Esports | $52,500 |
| 13-16 | Alexey Sarana | Fnatic | $40,000 |
| 13-16 | Andrey Esipenko | Virtus.pro | $40,000 |
| 13-16 | Benjamin Bok | Team MGD1 | $40,000 |
| 13-16 | Wei Yi | Team Nemesis | $40,000 |
| 17 | Vladislav Artemiev | Team Spirit | $32,000 |
| 18 | Parham Maghsoodloo | No club listed | $27,000 |
| 19-20 | Alexander Grischuk | No club listed | $25,000 |
| 19-20 | Oleksandr Bortnyk | No club listed | $25,000 |
| 21-22 | Aravindh Chithambaram | S8UL Esports | $23,000 |
| 21-22 | Liem Le | Team Flash | $23,000 |
EWC chess prize pool
The chess prize pool was $1.5 million in both editions. First, second and third place paid the same both years: $250,000, $190,000 and $145,000. With 22 players in 2026 instead of 16, the money went further down the table: fourth place fell from $115,000 to $100,000, and every player won at least $23,000.
| Place | 2026 prize | 2025 prize | Club points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | $250,000 | $250,000 | 1,000 |
| 2nd | $190,000 | $190,000 | 750 |
| 3rd | $145,000 | $145,000 | 500 |
| 4th | $100,000 | $115,000 | 300 |
| 5th-8th | $72,500 each | $85,000 each | 200 each |
| 9th-12th | $52,500 each | $65,000 each | None |
| 13th-16th | $40,000 each | $50,000 each | None |
| 17th | $32,000 | 16 players only | None |
| 18th | $27,000 | 16 players only | None |
| 19th-20th | $25,000 each | 16 players only | None |
| 21st-22nd | $23,000 each | 16 players only | None |
| Total | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 |
Chess is one of many games at the event. The whole Esports World Cup 2026 had a $75 million prize pool, and $30 million of it went to the Club Championship.
EWC chess clubs and the Club Championship
Players at the Esports World Cup can play for esports clubs, and chess results count toward the Club Championship, the ranking of clubs across all the games. In chess, first place gives 1,000 points, second 750, third 500, fourth 300 and each place from fifth to eighth 200. A club can enter up to four players in a solo event such as chess, but only its best-placed player scores, according to the Esports World Cup rules.
To be ranked, a club needs top-8 finishes in at least two events, and to win the Club Championship it needs at least one event win. The club prize pool was $27 million in 2025 and $30 million in 2026, with $7 million for the winning club each year. Team Falcons, the club of Nakamura and Firouzja, won the Club Championship in 2025. AG.AL won it in 2026, helped by 750 points from Lazavik's second place in chess.
By May 2025 the clubs had signed most of the top players. Carlsen and Caruana joined Team Liquid, Nakamura and Firouzja joined Team Falcons, and Arjun Erigaisi joined Gen.G. In April 2025, Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram signed for S8UL Esports, a Mumbai club and the first Indian esports organisation in competitive chess.
EWC chess qualifiers for 2027
The road to EWC chess 2027 is the Champions Chess Tour 2026-27 of Chess.com. It runs from 1 September 2026 to 25 May 2027 and has three parts: the weekly Titled Tuesday from September to May, the Speed Chess Championship from November to February, and the Chess.com Open in April and May. The top 12 of the final tour leaderboard qualify.
The rules changed for this cycle: the Speed Chess Championship and the Chess.com Open no longer give places of their own, so all 12 come from the leaderboard. Hans Niemann, Liem Le, Sina Movahed and Alireza Firouzja won the Titled Tuesdays of 1, 8, 15 and 22 September 2026. The live standings are on the Chess.com tour page. No other path to 2027 had been announced by 24 September 2026.
In 2026, 12 of the 22 places came from the Champions Chess Tour. Three leaderboard places passed down to Arjun Erigaisi, Alexey Sarana and Pranesh M after Caruana, So and Vachier-Lagrave declined or withdrew. The other 10 places went to Carlsen as the defending champion and to players from three qualifiers: DreamHack Atlanta, India Rising and a Last Chance Qualifier in Paris.
| Path | Places | Players |
|---|---|---|
| Defending champion | 1 | Magnus Carlsen |
| Champions Chess Tour: Speed Chess Championship | 2 | Alireza Firouzja, Denis Lazavik |
| Champions Chess Tour: Chess.com Open | 1 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| Champions Chess Tour: leaderboard | 9 | Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nihal Sarin, Hans Niemann, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Sina Movahed, Arjun Erigaisi, Alexey Sarana, Pranesh M |
| India Rising, Mumbai | 1 | Benjamin Bok |
| DreamHack Atlanta (to the Play-In) | 3 | Aravindh Chithambaram, Andrey Esipenko, Liem Le |
| Last Chance Qualifier, Paris (to the Play-In) | 5 | Vladislav Artemiev, Parham Maghsoodloo, Wei Yi, Oleksandr Bortnyk, Alexander Grischuk |
In 2025, 12 of the 16 places came from the Champions Chess Tour 2025. A Last Chance Qualifier in Riyadh from 24 to 26 July filled the last 4, and they went to Anish Giri, Levon Aronian, Nihal Sarin and Javokhir Sindarov.
Indian players at EWC chess
Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin have played both editions. In 2025 Arjun finished fourth for Gen.G and won $115,000, the best Indian result so far; he lost the match for third place to Nakamura 2.5-3.5. Nihal, playing for S8UL, tied for fifth and won $85,000 after a 0.5-2.5 quarterfinal loss to Carlsen.
In 2026 four Indian players were among the 22 in Paris. Arjun and Nihal tied for fifth again and won $72,500 each: Arjun lost his quarterfinal to Nakamura 2-3, and Nihal lost to Carlsen 0.5-2.5 for the second year in a row. Pranesh M tied for ninth and won $52,500. Aravindh Chithambaram, who qualified at DreamHack Atlanta, tied for 21st and won $23,000. Nihal, Pranesh and Aravindh all played for S8UL.
India also got its own qualifier in 2026. India Rising: Road to EWC, launched by the Esports Foundation and JioBLAST on 11 May 2026, invited all titled Indian players to a closed qualifier and ran open qualifiers for amateurs and professionals from any country. Its final in Mumbai on 4 July offered one EWC place and $30,000 in prize money: Benjamin Bok beat Vidit Gujrathi 2-1 in sets, then played in Paris for the Pune club Team MGD1. The organiser calls India Rising a long-term event, but no 2027 edition had been announced by 24 September 2026.
R Praggnanandhaa played the 2025 Last Chance Qualifier but did not qualify, and world champion D Gukesh has not played either edition. For viewers in India, the 2026 playoffs and final started at 4:30 PM IST.
EWC chess 2025 results
The first EWC chess event ran from 29 July to 1 August 2025 at Boulevard Riyadh City. Carlsen won it for Team Liquid, beating Firouzja 3-1 in both sets of the final, and took $250,000. Firouzja's only win of the final came in the second set: Carlsen gave away a rook after 50 moves.
| Stage | Winner | Score | Loser |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinal | Arjun Erigaisi | 2.5-1.5 | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
| Quarterfinal | Alireza Firouzja | 3-1 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov |
| Quarterfinal | Magnus Carlsen | 2.5-0.5 | Nihal Sarin |
| Quarterfinal | Hikaru Nakamura | 2.5-1.5 | Levon Aronian |
| Semifinal | Alireza Firouzja | 4-1 | Arjun Erigaisi |
| Semifinal | Magnus Carlsen | 4-3, after armageddon | Hikaru Nakamura |
| Third place | Hikaru Nakamura | 3.5-2.5 | Arjun Erigaisi |
| Final | Magnus Carlsen | 3-1 and 3-1 in sets | Alireza Firouzja |
The four groups sent Levon Aronian and Ian Nepomniachtchi, Arjun and Nihal, Firouzja and Nakamura, and Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov to the playoffs. Carlsen's semifinal against Nakamura went to armageddon, which Carlsen won to take the match 4-3. His 1,000 points put Team Liquid top of the Club Championship at the time, as Chess.com reported; Team Falcons won it when the whole event ended on 24 August 2025.
EWC chess winners list
| Year | Dates | Venue | Winner | Runner-up | Final | Prize pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 29 July to 1 August | Boulevard Riyadh City, Riyadh | Magnus Carlsen (Team Liquid) | Alireza Firouzja (Team Falcons) | 3-1 and 3-1 in sets | $1.5 million |
| 2026 | 11 to 15 August | Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Paris | Magnus Carlsen (Team Liquid) | Denis Lazavik (AG.AL) | 3-1 and 3-1 in sets | $1.5 million |
Carlsen has won both editions, each time by 3-1 in both sets of the final. For Chess.com's one-minute event, see the Bullet Chess Championship, which India's Nihal Sarin won in June 2026, and for its tournament for streamers and celebrities, see PogChamps.
EWC chess FAQ
What is EWC chess?
EWC chess is the chess event of the Esports World Cup, a yearly festival of video game tournaments. Top players meet in person but play 10-minute games on computers, for a $1.5 million prize pool and points for their esports clubs.
Who won EWC chess 2026?
Magnus Carlsen of Team Liquid won in Paris on 15 August 2026. He beat Denis Lazavik 3-1 in both sets of the final, did not lose a game in the whole event and took the $250,000 first prize.
Who won EWC chess 2025?
Magnus Carlsen won the first edition in Riyadh on 1 August 2025, beating Alireza Firouzja 3-1 in both sets of the final. Hikaru Nakamura took third place and India's Arjun Erigaisi finished fourth.
When is EWC chess 2027?
The organisers say the next Esports World Cup will be in Riyadh in July and August 2027, but no exact dates were public on 24 September 2026. The chess event started on 29 July in 2025 and on 11 August in 2026.
How do players qualify for EWC chess 2027?
Through the Champions Chess Tour 2026-27 of Chess.com, which runs from 1 September 2026 to 25 May 2027. The top 12 of its final leaderboard qualify. No other path, such as a last chance qualifier, had been announced by 24 September 2026.
What is the EWC chess prize pool?
$1.5 million in both 2025 and 2026. In 2026 the winner got $250,000, second place $190,000 and third place $145,000, and each of the 22 players won at least $23,000.
What time control does EWC chess use?
10 minutes per player with no increment. Matches in the Play-In and the Group Stage are two games. A tied match goes to one bidding armageddon game: the player who bids less time gets Black, and a draw counts as a win for Black.
Is chess an esport?
At the Esports World Cup it is. The players sit at computers, the games last 10 minutes a side, and the results score points for esports clubs next to games such as Counter-Strike 2 and Apex Legends.
Has an Indian player won EWC chess?
No. The best Indian result is Arjun Erigaisi's fourth place in 2025, worth $115,000. In 2026 Arjun and Nihal Sarin tied for fifth and won $72,500 each. Nihal lost to Carlsen in the quarterfinals in both years.
What is India Rising?
India Rising: Road to EWC is a qualifier in India run by the Esports Foundation and JioBLAST. Its 2026 final in Mumbai on 4 July offered one EWC place and $30,000 in prize money; Benjamin Bok beat Vidit Gujrathi 2-1 in sets to win it.
Where can I watch EWC chess?
Chess.com streams the event live with commentary on its YouTube and Twitch channels, and the Esports World Cup keeps recordings of its official streams on its competition page. In 2026 the playoffs and the final started at 4:30 PM IST.
Is chess part of the Esports Nations Cup?
Yes. The Esports Nations Cup, a national-team event from the same organiser, planned a 128-player chess tournament for November 2026. It was postponed to November 2027, and its chess qualification was unclear on 24 September 2026.
For the dates and venues of other chess events, see the chess events calendar.
Facts on this page were checked on 24 September 2026 against the Esports World Cup chess page, its rules and press releases, Chess.com news reports from 2024 to 2026, ChessBase India, and the Liquipedia pages of the 2025 and 2026 events, which also give the group results.
