Chess Goes Esports: Club Showdown Debuts With Carlsen Upset as Seirawan Chess Brings Hawks and Elephants

Esports and chess crossed over again this week. Chess.com launched a monthly event where fans compete for the same esports organisations as the professionals. On its opening night, a Bulgarian candidate master beat Magnus Carlsen. The same week, a chess variant with two extra pieces, the hawk and the elephant, began its online championship.

What is the Chess Club Showdown?

The Chess Club Showdown is a new monthly event on Chess.com, played on the last Wednesday of each month. Players join a club linked to an esports organisation and score points for it. The first edition was on Wednesday, 30 September, at 11am ET, which was 11pm in Malaysia.

The clubs taking part were 9z-Globant, FUT Esports, Team Liquid, NAVI, Team Vitality, All Gamers Global, BASILISK, S8UL and MGD1. Some well-known players took part: Magnus Carlsen played for Team Liquid and IM Levy Rozman, better known as GothamChess, played for BASILISK.

There are two stages:

1. Multi-club arena: two hours of 5+0 blitz. Each club's top 50 scorers count towards its total.
2. Club match finale: the two leading clubs play two-game matches, also at 5+0.

The usual monthly prize fund is US$15,000. US$6,500 goes to players and US$8,500 to clubs. The first edition was raised to US$25,000, including a US$10,000 bonus for the club match.

Chess.com Events Commissioner Michael Brancato said: "Esports fans bring real passion to the games they love, and we wanted to give them a new way to bring that same energy to chess."

Witty Alien beats Carlsen

The result everyone talked about came in the arena. Bulgarian CM Volen Dyulgerov, known online as "Witty Alien", beat Carlsen with the black pieces. Carlsen resigned after 21...Qd5+, which ended his winning run in the event.

Chess.com also posted about a 1,300-rated player in their first online tournament, whose third opponent was Carlsen.

Seirawan Chess: hawks and elephants

The Chess.com Seirawan Chess Championship began on the same day and runs from 30 September to 2 October. Seirawan Chess was created by GM Yasser Seirawan and FM Bruce Harper, and adds two pieces:

• Hawk: moves like a knight or a bishop
• Elephant: moves like a knight or a rook

A player can bring one of these pieces onto the board when they develop a regular piece. After that, the game follows normal chess rules.

The event has two qualifying days, 30 September and 1 October, with eight 75-minute arenas at 3+2. On 2 October, eight players play a double-elimination knockout final with best-of-four matches. The prize fund is US$2,500. Players can be asked to set up two cameras for fair-play checks. Last year IM Nhat Minh To won after losing his first match, then winning five matches in a row. GM Jeffery Xiong finished second.

Also this week: an 11-year-old record breaker

England's Bodhana Sivanandan became the youngest-ever Woman Grandmaster at 11 years, six months and 18 days. She completed her final norm at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, where she scored 8/11 on England's top board. That broke the record Hou Yifan had held since 2006, set at 12 years, three months and eight days. "I want to keep going and keep making history as well, instead of just stopping here," she told Chess.com.

Key takeaways

• Chess.com's monthly Chess Club Showdown pits fans and pros against each other for esports clubs including Team Liquid, NAVI, Vitality and FUT.
• Bulgarian CM Volen "Witty Alien" Dyulgerov beat Magnus Carlsen in the first edition on 30 September.
• The Seirawan Chess Championship, which adds hawks and elephants, runs from 30 September to 2 October with a US$2,500 prize fund.
• Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, is now the youngest Woman Grandmaster in history.

FAQ

Can ordinary players join the Chess Club Showdown? Yes. Fans join an esports club on Chess.com and play in the arena. Each club's top 50 scores count towards its total.

When is the next Club Showdown? It is held on the last Wednesday of every month.

What are the extra pieces in Seirawan Chess? The hawk, which moves like a knight or a bishop, and the elephant, which moves like a knight or a rook.

Sources: Chess.com, ChessEver