The Esports World Cup (EWC) has announced a surprising new addition to its lineup of games for the 2025 event: Chess. The game of kings, the origins of which can be traced back 1,500 years, will now be one of the crown jewels of a glitzy and extremely well-funded tournament that's meant to show us all that, these Saudis, they're alright, yeah? Don't mention the dead journalist.
The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) and Chess.com have announced a multi-year partnership to this end, with the latter being by far the biggest online chess portal (almost 200 million members, apparently) and able to bring things like retired world champion Magnus Carlsen to the table. An existing and popular rapid-fire tournament structure, the Champions Chess Tour (CCT), will become the main path for qualification to the EWC championship event, and there will be two events, in February and May 2025, with a combined $300k prize pool and a place in the finals at stake.
