Chess.com online championship
Speed Chess Championship
How the event works, the 2026 edition, the 2025 results and prize money, the Indian players, and every winner since 2016.
The Speed Chess Championship (SCC) is the yearly Chess.com knockout of blitz and bullet matches for 16 top grandmasters. Magnus Carlsen won the last edition, beating Alireza Firouzja 15-12 in the final in London on 8 February 2026. The 2026 edition is part of the Champions Chess Tour, and Chess.com had not announced its dates by 25 September 2026.
Speed Chess Championship 2026: dates and qualification
- Next edition
- Speed Chess Championship 2026, which Chess.com calls SCC XI
- Dates
- Not announced by 25 September 2026
- Organiser
- Chess.com, online, with a live final four in 2024 and 2025
- Qualification
- Top 8 of the Champions Chess Tour leaderboard on 3 November 2026
- 2025 champion
- Magnus Carlsen
- 2025 prize fund
- $250,000
Chess.com calls the next edition Speed Chess Championship XI, the 11th since the first event in 2016. It is one of the three events of the Champions Chess Tour 2026-27, which runs from 1 September 2026 to 25 May 2027 with Titled Tuesday and the Chess.com Open. The Chess.com rulebook says that the 8 highest-ranked players on the tour leaderboard on 3 November 2026 qualify. Players collect those points mainly in the weekly Titled Tuesday, where a win is worth 10 points.
The dates, the other 8 players, the format and the prize fund were not announced by 25 September 2026. The esports wiki Liquipedia lists the event from November 2026 to February 2027. The rulebook points table has 16 places, so the field stays at 16 players: 150 points for the winner, 120, 90 and 60 for places 2 to 4, 30 for each losing quarterfinalist and none for the round of 16.
Chess.com announced the 2025 edition on 29 September 2025, two weeks before its first match on 13 October. It announced the 2021 edition on 2 September 2021, ten weeks before the main event. This page will add the 2026 dates when Chess.com publishes them.
The road to the Esports World Cup has also changed. In 2025 the top three of the SCC won places at the 2026 Esports World Cup. The 2026 edition gives only tour points, and the 12 players at the top of the final tour leaderboard qualify for the Esports World Cup 2027.
How the Speed Chess Championship works
The Speed Chess Championship is a knockout of long matches between two players. Chess.com started it in 2016 as the GM Blitz Battle Championship, with 8 players, and renamed it the Speed Chess Championship in 2017. Every edition since then has had 16 players in a single-elimination bracket: the loser of a match is out.
Each match has three parts against the same opponent, played one after the other: 5+1 blitz, then 3+1 blitz, then 1+1 bullet. In 5+1, each player has 5 minutes for the game and gets 1 more second after each move. Each part is a block of time, and the two players play as many games as fit in it. In 2025 the round of 16 and the quarterfinals had 75 minutes of 5+1, 50 minutes of 3+1 and 25 minutes of 1+1. The semifinals and the final had 90, 60 and 30 minutes. You can try these time controls over the board with our chess clock.
A win scores 1 point and a draw half a point, and the player with more points at the end wins the match. When the score is level, the players play four 1+1 games without a match clock, and then one armageddon game if they are still tied.
In 2025, five players qualified through the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix, a points race in the weekly Titled Tuesday tournaments of Chess.com: Arjun Erigaisi, Le Quang Liem, Denis Lazavik, Jose Martinez and Le Tuan Minh. Chess.com named Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Hans Niemann as the headliners and invited eight more players, among them Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana and R Praggnanandhaa.
The early rounds are played online. In 2024 the final four met in person for the first time, in Paris. In 2025 they met at 180 Studios in London on 7 and 8 February 2026, and played on computers on a stage in front of an audience. Since 2025 the winner lifts the Naroditsky Cup, named after the late GM Daniel Naroditsky. The name of every winner, past and future, is etched on it.
The SCC is a Chess.com event, not a FIDE title. FIDE crowns its world champions at fast time controls at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships every December. Chess.com also runs a separate Bullet Chess Championship, where every game is 1+0.
Speed Chess Championship 2025 results
Magnus Carlsen won the 2025 Speed Chess Championship. He beat Alireza Firouzja 15-12 in the final in London on 8 February 2026, for his third title in a row and his fifth in all. Denis Lazavik, who qualified through Titled Tuesday, beat Hikaru Nakamura 13.5-12.5 for third place.
| Stage | Winner | Score | Loser |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round of 16 | Magnus Carlsen | 14.5-8.5 | Jose Martinez |
| Round of 16 | Fabiano Caruana | 11-10 | R Praggnanandhaa |
| Round of 16 | Denis Lazavik | 12-9 | Arjun Erigaisi |
| Round of 16 | Hans Niemann | 18-6 | Ding Liren |
| Round of 16 | Alireza Firouzja | 16-8 | Le Tuan Minh |
| Round of 16 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 17.5-10.5 | Anish Giri |
| Round of 16 | Hikaru Nakamura | 13.5-11.5 | Le Quang Liem |
| Round of 16 | Wesley So | 14-11 | Vincent Keymer |
| Quarterfinal | Magnus Carlsen | 14.5-7.5 | Fabiano Caruana |
| Quarterfinal | Hikaru Nakamura | 11-10 | Wesley So |
| Quarterfinal | Alireza Firouzja | 19-9 | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
| Quarterfinal | Denis Lazavik | 15.5-9.5 | Hans Niemann |
| Semifinal | Magnus Carlsen | 17-9 | Denis Lazavik |
| Semifinal | Alireza Firouzja | 15-13, after a tiebreak | Hikaru Nakamura |
| Third-place match | Denis Lazavik | 13.5-12.5 | Hikaru Nakamura |
| Final | Magnus Carlsen | 15-12 | Alireza Firouzja |
Carlsen beat Jose Martinez 14.5-8.5 and then Fabiano Caruana 14.5-7.5, and he ended that quarterfinal with eight wins in a row. In London he beat Lazavik 17-9 in the semifinal. Firouzja beat Le Tuan Minh 16-8 and Ian Nepomniachtchi 19-9. In his semifinal against Nakamura, he won twice on demand in the last five minutes to level the match, then took over the tiebreak and won 15-13.
Lazavik was the surprise of the event. He knocked out Arjun Erigaisi 12-9 and Hans Niemann 15.5-9.5, and Chess.com called his win over Nakamura in the match for third place a major upset.
Speed Chess Championship prize money
The 2025 prize fund was $250,000, the largest in the history of the event. It was $40,000 in 2016, $100,000 in each year from 2020 to 2022, $140,000 in 2023 and $173,000 in 2024. For 2021, Chess.com gave $165,000 for the whole season, qualifiers included.
The money is paid match by match. The winner of a match gets a bonus, and a second pot of the same size is split by the share of points that each player scored. In the 2025 quarterfinals both pots were $7,500. The final was worth $50,000: Carlsen took $38,888.89 and Firouzja $11,111.11 for their 15-12 score. According to Liquipedia, Carlsen earned $82,763.40 from the 2025 event in all.
Indian players at the Speed Chess Championship
No Indian player has won the Speed Chess Championship: every title since 2016 has gone to Carlsen or Nakamura. Nihal Sarin came closest, with semifinal places in 2021 and 2022.
Two Indians played in 2025. R Praggnanandhaa lost 11-10 to Fabiano Caruana in the round of 16, the closest match of the round, and Arjun Erigaisi, who qualified through Titled Tuesday, lost 12-9 to Denis Lazavik. Arjun has played every edition since 2022, and his best result is the 2024 quarterfinal, which he lost 12-9 to Carlsen.
Pentala Harikrishna played in the first edition in 2016 and lost to Nakamura in the quarterfinals. Vidit Gujrathi reached the quarterfinals in 2018, and D Gukesh played in the round of 16 in 2022 and 2023. Indian players have a better record in the Junior Speed Chess Championship: Nihal Sarin won it twice, Arjun won in 2022, and Gukesh won in 2023, beating Raunak Sadhwani 17.5-10.5 in the final.
Speed Chess Championship winners list
| Year | Played | Winner | Runner-up | Final | Prize fund |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 (Blitz Battle) | April to October 2016 | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 14.5-10.5 | $40,000 |
| 2017 | May 2017 to January 2018 | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 18-9 | $50,000 |
| 2018 | July to December 2018 | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 15.5-12.5 | $51,206 |
| 2019 | September 2019 to February 2020 | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 19.5-14.5 | $50,000 |
| 2020 | November to December 2020 | Hikaru Nakamura | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 18.5-12.5 | $100,000 |
| 2021 | November to December 2021 | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 23-8 | $100,000 |
| 2022 | November to December 2022 | Hikaru Nakamura | Magnus Carlsen | 14.5-13.5 | $100,000 |
| 2023 | September 2023 | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 13.5-12.5 | $140,000 |
| 2024 | July to September 2024 | Magnus Carlsen | Alireza Firouzja | 23.5-7.5 | $173,000 |
| 2025 | October 2025 to February 2026 | Magnus Carlsen | Alireza Firouzja | 15-12 | $250,000 |
Carlsen and Nakamura have five titles each, and no one else has won the event. Nakamura won five in a row from 2018 to 2022 and has played in 8 finals. Carlsen has won the last three and has played in 6 finals.
The two met in four finals: Carlsen won in 2016, 2017 and 2023, and Nakamura won 14.5-13.5 in 2022. Carlsen's 23.5-7.5 win over Firouzja in 2024 is the biggest margin in a final, 16 points.
Women's and Junior Speed Chess Championships
Chess.com runs a separate Women's Speed Chess Championship. The 2026 edition ran from 6 July to 7 August with a $75,000 prize fund, and Alice Lee beat Hou Yifan 11.5-9.5 in the final. India's Divya Deshmukh reached the quarterfinals, and Vaishali Rameshbabu lost in the round of 16. Chess.com announced the 2026 edition on 23 February 2026, and no 2027 edition had been announced by 25 September 2026.
Chess.com gave the 2023 Junior Speed Chess Championship a $50,000 fund, and Gukesh won it. Chess.com had announced no Junior edition after 2023 by 25 September 2026.
Speed Chess Championship FAQ
What is the Speed Chess Championship?
It is the yearly knockout of Chess.com for top grandmasters, first played in 2016. In 2025, 16 players met in a single-elimination bracket. Each match had three parts against the same opponent: 5+1 blitz, 3+1 blitz and 1+1 bullet.
Who won the Speed Chess Championship 2026?
Magnus Carlsen. He won the 2025 edition, whose final was played in London on 8 February 2026, by beating Alireza Firouzja 15-12. It was his third title in a row and his fifth in all. Alice Lee won the Women's Speed Chess Championship 2026.
When is the next Speed Chess Championship?
The 2026 edition, which Chess.com calls Speed Chess Championship XI, is part of the Champions Chess Tour 2026-27. The top 8 of the tour leaderboard on 3 November 2026 qualify. Chess.com had not announced the dates by 25 September 2026.
What time control does the Speed Chess Championship use?
Each match has three parts: 5+1 blitz, 3+1 blitz and 1+1 bullet. In 2025 the round of 16 and the quarterfinals had 75, 50 and 25 minutes for the three parts, and the semifinals and the final had 90, 60 and 30 minutes.
How much prize money does the Speed Chess Championship pay?
The 2025 prize fund was $250,000, up from $173,000 in 2024. Each match pays a bonus to the winner and splits a second pot by the score. In the 2025 final, Carlsen took $38,888.89 and Firouzja $11,111.11.
Who has won the most Speed Chess Championship titles?
Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, with five titles each, and no other player has won. Nakamura won five in a row from 2018 to 2022. Carlsen won in 2016, 2017, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
How do players qualify for the Speed Chess Championship?
In 2025, five players qualified through the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix, Carlsen, Nakamura and Hans Niemann headlined the field, and Chess.com invited eight more. For 2026, the 8 highest-ranked players on the Champions Chess Tour leaderboard on 3 November 2026 qualify.
Has an Indian player won the Speed Chess Championship?
No. Every title since 2016 has gone to Carlsen or Nakamura, and Nihal Sarin came closest, with semifinal places in 2021 and 2022. In the Junior Speed Chess Championship, Nihal won twice, Arjun Erigaisi won in 2022 and D Gukesh in 2023.
What does SCC mean in chess?
SCC is short for Speed Chess Championship, the yearly Chess.com event for top grandmasters. It began in 2016 as the GM Blitz Battle Championship and took its present name in 2017. Chess.com calls the 2026 edition SCC XI, the 11th.
Is it the world speed chess championship?
No. The Speed Chess Championship is a Chess.com event, not a FIDE title. FIDE, the world chess federation, crowns its world champions at fast time controls at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships each December.
Where can I watch the Speed Chess Championship?
Chess.com streams it live on Chess.com/TV, Twitch and YouTube, and you can watch past rounds again on Chess.com/TV. The final day in London, 8 February 2026, started at 6:30 PM IST, which was 8 AM in New York.
Does the Speed Chess Championship qualify players for the Esports World Cup?
Not directly any more. The top three of the 2025 edition won places at the 2026 Esports World Cup. The 2026 edition gives tour points instead, 150 for the winner, and the top 12 of the Champions Chess Tour leaderboard qualify.
For the classical events, dates and venues, see the chess events calendar.
Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026 against the Chess.com event page, the Chess.com 2026 rulebook and tour announcement, Chess.com news reports from 2016 to 2026, and the Liquipedia pages of each edition, which also give the brackets and the prize funds.
