World Chess’ Armageddon Series announces Europe and Africa Week
World Chess Plc (LSE: CHSS), a leading chess organisation seeking to promote the mass market appeal of chess globally through the commercial offering of different chess-related activities, continues its Armageddon Championship Series with Europe and Africa week. Kickstarting on June 12, the high-stakes event will follow the same dramatic format and immense time pressure constraints as the previous Armageddon events.
World Chess launched the Armageddon Championship in March 2023, bringing a fresh new twist to this traditional and timeless game. The series has daily matches consisting of two blitz games (three minutes plus a two-second move increment) and, if necessary, an Armageddon game (five minutes for White, four for Black). So far, the championship has hosted the Americas, Asia and Oceania and Women’s Week. The Europe and Africa week will be the penultimate leg of the series before the Grand Finale which will be streamed on international television in September.
The start of the tournament will feature eight players from Europe & Africa region, including Michael Adams from England. Michael became a chess grandmaster at seventeen, is a seven-time British Chess Champion and holds the highest achieved chess player rating of anyone in England.
In addition to this, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Richard Rapport (Romania), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands), Vincent Keymer (Germany), as well as Matthias Bluebaum (Germany) and Alexander Donchenko (Germany), both of whom successfully qualified online, will also be competing. This collection of Individuals will battle it out in a double-elimination format, with daily matches consisting of two blitz games with the potential for an additional Armageddon game if a victory does not emerge.
The winner and runner-up will join an exciting line-up of finalists in the Grand Finale to be held at World Chess’ newly opened Chess Club in Berlin, where they will compete for the total prize of €200,000. The tournament will follow a dramatic format, with the players’ real-time heartbeat and calories burnt displayed alongside immense time controls and breakneck moves all adding to the excitement.
The Armageddon series is being broadcast on 17 television channels worldwide, as well as World Chess’ official YouTube channel, with expert commentary and analysis provided by Grandmaster Simon Williams and International Master Jovanka Houska every day at 19:00 CEST.
Ilya Merenzon, Chief Executive Officer of World Chess, said: “It has been fantastic to watch the global accumulation of chess players come together to compete in the Armageddon series. As we now head towards the Grand Finale it has been a real joy to watch the fast-paced matches between chess players of different experiences, playing styles and nationalities.
‘The series has created an atmosphere of suspense and excitement and highlighted the benefits of embracing innovative formats such as Armageddon, enabling top-level chess to entice a broader audience and ignite greater passion amongst fans.
‘We offer our best wishes to all the players and are excited to get Europe and Africa Week of the Armageddon Championship underway.’