Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri questioned the lineup for the upcoming Champions Chess Tour (CCT) and advocated for a separate qualifier event for the Esports World Cup (EWC) qualification. His response came after chess.com announced that Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi — the three already qualified players for EWC 2025 set to happen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, later this year — will feature in the second (and last) CCT event, named Chess.com Classic.
The two-legged CCT is acting as a qualifier pathway for EWC, where a total of 12 players will qualify from these events. Four more players will qualify through the Last Chance Qualifier event later.
Anish took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “I understand that you want the big stars in the Champions Tour event, but it creates a mess for Esports World Cup qualification, since they have already qualified. I think the CCTour and EWC qualifiers should be separate events. What do you guys think?” wrote Anish.
I understand that you want the big stars in the Champions Tour event, but it creates a mess for Esports World Cup qualification, since they have already qualified.
I think the CCTour and EWC qualifiers should be separate events.
What do you guys think? https://t.co/CIxwU2LJpN
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) May 6, 2025
The former World No. 3 opened a string of conversation, asking for opinions.
Daniel Rensch, Chief Chess Officer and the face of chess.com, welcomed the changes, citing Anish’s criticism as “fair”. He replied, “While I’d say the twitterverse is often biased (whether they realize it or not), in this case, the criticism is fair. We moved quickly in partnership with the EWC this year and evolved our CCT format as best we could, but there will be (Exciting!? Important!? We think good!?) changes next year.”
While I’d say the twitterverse is often biased (whether they realize it or not), in this case, the criticism is fair.
We moved quickly in partnership with the EWC this year and evolved our CCT format as best we could, but there will be (Exciting!? Important!? We think good!?)…
— Daniel Rensch (@DanielRensch) May 6, 2025
Apart from Carlsen, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi, current World Champion D. Gukesh and his predecessor, China’s Ding Liren, are set to participate in the Chess.com Classic event.
What is the Esports World Cup?
The Esports World Cup brings together top esports clubs across 24 popular titles. EWC 2025 will run in Riyadh from July 7 to August 24, featuring chess as an online event for the first time. The inaugural 2024 edition spanned eight weeks, while the 2025 event will be history’s largest multi-title esports tournament with 2,000+ players, 200+ teams, and a $70 million (≈₹602 crore) prize pool.
Which tournaments determine EWC qualification?
Chess players hoping to qualify for the Esports World Cup will have to secure a spot via the 2025 Champions Chess Tour (CCT), the primary pathway for EWC. The two online Champions Chess Tour events — the completed Chessable Masters (Feb 16-21) and Champions Chess Tour Leg 2 (May 18-23) — will offer players opportunities to compete on the world’s biggest esports stage. The top 12 players from CCT will make the cut and will be joined by four more players from a “Last Chance Qualifier” (LCQ) event. 16 chess players will be in action at the finale in Saudi Arabia later this year.
What is the Champions Chess Tour?
Champions Chess Tour is an online chess event that started in 2020 and was named the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The $1 million prize pool Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour had four super tournaments, and the winners of each tournament played in the finals for the prize money. The event evolved over time with a lot of invitations being handed out and qualification paths created to make it a more open tournament where anyone can have a shot at playing the tournament. The standard four tournaments with one final set-up continued till 2024 before it was tweaked to accommodate the qualification path for Esports World Cup 2025.
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This time, only two legs will be played in the Champions Chess Tour 2025 instead of four legs, with the Esports World Cup acting as a replacement for the Tour Finals of CCT. 12 players will qualify for the EWC from these two online events.
