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 <a href="https://chessarena.com/armageddon">Armageddon Championship Series</a> 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.
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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 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc8QPYi5GPzJmjMAS98CZyw">World Chess’ official YouTube channel</a>, 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.’

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, is pleased to announce that World Chess Club Berlin (the “Club”) has now officially opened.
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<div class="e2-text-caption">Visitors to the World Chess Club Berlin play a game at the upstairs tournament area. The club features a piazza, a coffee shop, a sophisticated bar, and more.</div>
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The opening marks the launch of World Chess’ ambitions to reinvent the chess club culture in its entirety. The aim is to modernise the concept to fit more readily into mainstream society and function more as a social and collaborative centre. World Chess sees Berlin as an obvious location to debut this new and revised approach, given the cumulative factors of the substantial popularity of chess within Germany, and its vibrant café and bar scene.
The Club is located in the centre of the city on the popular street of Unter Den Linden, which starkly contrasts traditional chess clubs that have lately functioned out of multipurpose rooms. It will operate as a bar, event space, concept chess shop, coffee shop, and café and is hoped to set a new standard for the whole industry.
World Chess Club Berlin will also act as a hub, hosting chess events for the respective city as well as the rest of Europe. In addition, it will operate as the Armageddon Chess Series’ headquarters, with the 2023 series already being staged and filmed from its bespoke, purpose-built studio.
As the Berlin Club is part of the World Chess ecosystem, members of the FIDE Online Arena will get additional discounts and member-only access to a limited number of events. In keeping with World Chess’ aim to grow the sport and encourage people from all backgrounds, the Club is open to all with no need for a membership.
The Club will not only operate as a symbolically significant space for the chess community but is also visually captivating, standing to act as a physical landmark for the sport going forward. World Chess believes this is only the beginning of the chess club renaissance and intends to open further clubs around the world in the future.
Ilya Merenzon, Chief Executive Officer of World Chess, said:
“To date, chess has suffered from a lack of dedicated clubs and those that do exist are often very traditional, which can be intimidating for many. We wanted to build a club that is a symbolically significant space for the chess community, for both those living in and visiting Berlin.
‘Whilst technology has allowed the sport to grow virtually, we are also seeing a growing trend of people wanting to meet and play together, so we want to help facilitate and promote this immensely important social component through the Berlin Club.
‘The new club will play an important role in helping to bring chess out of the traditional stereotype and back into the modern world so that it can be shared and appreciated by all. The process of opening the World Chess Club Berlin has been very rewarding and we cannot wait to continue revolutionising chess clubs across the world in the future. Please do stop by if you are ever in Berlin and do let us know if you have a suggestion as to which city we should open our next club in!’

Official opening of World Chess Club Berlin

In Berlin, Germany, on May 14, 2023, the Armageddon Championship Series witnessed a victory by 19-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva from Kazakhstan, who bulldozed over the world champions to win the Women’s Week. This victory secured her a place in the Grand Finale in September, alongside the tournament’s runner-up, Indian Grandmaster Humpy Koneru. Together, they will join an exciting line-up of finalists, including Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Gukesh D, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and compete for the main prize of €200,000.
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The Armageddon Championship Series is set apart from typical chess tournaments by stunning visuals, colossal time pressure, nail-biting drama, and sky-high heart rates (yes, we measure it!) across six games. With a roster of top players like Gunay Mammadzada, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alina Kashlinskaya, Sara Khadem, Nana Dzagnidze, and Elisabeth Paehtz, this competition has become a thrilling journey for chess fans worldwide.
This tournament has become one of the most attractive and widely televised chess events of the year, with live broadcasts on over 17 online and TV platforms. Highlights from the Armageddon Championship Series will be showcased worldwide on esteemed networks like CNBC, BeIN Sports, and FOX Australia. Technological innovations, such as real-time heart rate monitoring, have generated much buzz in the world of chess in the past week.
World Chess, an innovative chess company, has taken a unique approach to presenting the Armageddon Championship Series, utilizing a striking bespoke studio set that places players at the center of the game. This departure from traditional presentations showcases chess as a dynamic, modern, and thrillingly dramatic sport. Chess has been at the forefront of cutting-edge aesthetics for over a century, and the Armageddon Championship Series has the potential to redefine the next generation of visuals.
The next stage of the tournament will feature eight players from Europe & Africa region, including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Richard Rapport (Romania), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), Michael Adams (England), Vincent Keymer (Germany), Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands), as well as Matthias Bluebaum (Germany) and Alexander Donchenko (Germany), who qualified online. This high-stakes event will take place from June 12th-18th, following the same dramatic format and immense time pressure as the previous events. Chess fans can catch all the action and highlights on World Chess’s official YouTube channel.
Interesting facts about the highest heart rates: 
— Bibisara Assaubayeva on May 9 recorded a heart rate of 155 bpm. 
— Nana Dzagnidze on May 9 recorded a heart rate of 105 bpm. 
— Sara Khadem on May 10 recorded a heart rate of 154 bpm. 
— Alexandra Kosteniuk on May 9 recorded a heart rate of 158 bpm. 
— Elisabeth Paehtz on May 12 recorded a heart rate of 143 bpm. 
— Alina Kashlinskaya on May 12 recorded a heart rate of 163 bpm. 
— Gunay Mammadzada on May 14 recorded a heart rate of 173 bpm. 
— Humpy Koneru on May 11 recorded a heart rate of 165 bpm.

Bibisara Assaubayeva steamrolls her way to the Armageddon Grand Finale

World Chess (LSE: CHSS) continues its Armageddon Championship Series with the Women’s Week, featuring eight of the world’s top female chess players in a high-stakes tournament to be held in Berlin from May 8 to May 14, 2023. This seven-day event promises to be a thrilling showcase of skill, strategy, and nail-biting drama.
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The tournament will feature top-ranked players Alexandra Kosteniuk (Switzerland, blitz rating 2453, Humpy Koneru (India, blitz rating 2448), Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan, blitz rating 2461), Sara Khadem (Iran, blitz rating 2417), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, blitz rating 2416), Gunay Mammadzada (Azerbaijan, blitz 2408), Alina Kashlinskaya (Poland, blitz rating 2382), and Elisabeth Paehtz** (Germany, blitz rating 2342).
They 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 competitors will vie for an equal male category prize fund of €50,000 and the two available spots in the Grand Finale, where the qualifiers will battle it out for the €200,000 main prize.
The overarching aim of the week is not only to promote women in chess but to also reinforce our commitment to equality through the fairer distribution of prizes across the men’s and women’s matches. The winners of the tournament will go on to compete against male players, including Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Gukesh D, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov — marking a dramatic, but overdue, moment in the sport’s history.
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, said: “For chess to grow and thrive, it needs to do more to attract female players. Chess remains a male-dominated sport, but World Chess is committed to changing this by promoting and creating welcoming environments where women can also compete against their male counterparts. We are thrilled to have this incredible female line-up at the upcoming Armageddon Week and believe it will be as spectacular and impactful as the plot of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, whilst helping to inspire a new generation of female players.” 
The tournament will follow a dramatic format, with a real-time heartbeat display, frantic time controls, calories burned, and breakneck moves all adding to the excitement. Fans can watch the action with cutting-edge analysis by Grandmaster Simon Williams and International Master Jovanka Houska every day at 19:00 CET on over 17 television channels worldwide, as well as on World Chess’ official YouTube channel.
For the first few days, the players were divided into pairs as follows:
Day 1: 
Elisabeth Paehtz — Gunay Mammadzada 
Sara Khadem — Alina Kashlinskaya
Day 2: 
Alexandra Kosteniuk — Humpy Koneru 
Bibisara Assaubayeva — Nana Dzagnidze
The pairings will be established using the double-elimination system and will be determined by the results of the previous days.
May’s battle is set to be an unforgettable event for chess fans everywhere. Stay tuned for updates and highlights from the Armageddon Championship Series: Women’s Week, only from World Chess.
Leading partners supporting the Armageddon Championship Series:
Kaspersky is the Official Cybersecurity Partner; 
FIDE Online Arena is the Official Gaming Platform; 
The it.com domains is the Official Partner.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/NteE2Gf_b4U?feature=share" class="wchess_button">Armageddon Day 1</a>

The Armageddon Series: Women’s Week to launch in Berlin beginning May 8

World Chess team joins the chess world in congratulating Ding Liren on becoming the 17th World Chess Champion. It was a pleasure to be a part of your chess journey!
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Ding Liren Is World Champion

World Chess Plc, a company that reinvents chess for 21st-century users, is listed on London Stock Exchange’s main market under the ticker symbol ‘CHSS’. ‘That was the closest to CHESS as we could get given that ticker symbols have only four letters,’ — said Ilya Merenzon, World Chess CEO.
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‘We are very excited to join LSE and become a new chapter as a public company,’ added Merenzon: “It means a new level of responsibility to the users, investors, and partners, and also a new level of transparency. We are keen to work with the users and chess players and fans to take this journey together”.
Read <a href="https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/world_chess/news/rns/story/rd33k4x">the official listing announcement</a>.

World Chess Lists on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange

World Chess, a global gaming company, will from now on plant a tree for each chess set sold. Beautiful chess sets and beautiful forests can co-exist.
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This environment-conscious initiative is a collaboration with <a href="https://onetreeplanted.org">One Tree Planted</a>, a nonprofit dedicated to global reforestation. The main goal is to plant 10,000 trees over the next 5 years, restoring deforested and fire-affected areas. For every chess set purchased, World Chess will plant one tree in India where its main manufacturing site is located.
“We will plant a tree and help restore forests for every wooden chess set sold by World Chess and its partners around the world. It’s important to us, and it’s important to our customers. We will also continue using sustainable materials since It has always been important for World Chess to be sustainable and to use wood that is already harvested by the Indian government for their use. In other cases, the trees are sometimes so old that they have to be cut down and replanted, ‘ said the CEO of World Chess Ilya Merenzon.
According to the <a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data-and-research/whats-happening-in-india-forests/">globalforestwatch.org research</a>, India lost 376kha of tree cover from 2001 to 2021, equivalent to a 3.7% decrease in forestation since 2000, and 204Mt of CO₂e emissions. The objectives of this partnership include supporting India’s reforestation efforts, empowering our partners and customers to act sustainably, and raising awareness of the importance of ecosystem rehabilitation.
Planting trees is one of the best ways to combat the damaging impacts of climate change. Trees clean our air and water, create habitat for biodiversity, contribute to our health and well-being, and create jobs for social impact.
The World Chess x One Tree Planted partnership is designed to simplify customer participation in global reforestation. For every chess set sold at the World Chess Shop, the company will make a donation to One Tree Planted equivalent to the cost of planting one tree. The trees will be planted by local partner organizations and community volunteers in areas where deforestation has occurred. World Chess will also monitor the effort and will keep its partners and customers informed.

Buy a Chess Set — Plant a Tree

FIDE Online Arena, the official gaming platform of the International Chess Federation, advances personal health in e-sport by introducing a new feature to measure calories burned by playing online.
Starting from today, <a href="https://chessarena.com">FIDE Online Arena</a>, the official FIDE gaming platform, which is operated by World Chess, will track and display the calories users burn during an online game of chess. Whilst calorie tracking is already widely used across offline fitness and sports, including chess, it has not previously been used as a feature in e-sports.
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FIDE Online Arena is hoping that calorie tracking in e-sports will spread and there will be increasing encouragement for healthier lifestyle decisions. After each online chess game, which can last anywhere from 30 seconds to 45 minutes, an estimated number of calories burned during the game will appear alongside the game results. Players will also be able to track cumulative calories burned over a week, month, or even a year. During an average 5-minute game, an online player will typically burn only 4 calories, but with online players often playing many games the cumulative total can build rapidly.
This is thought to be the first time in online sports that athletes and casual players alike can access their calorie expenditure insights and trends using an integrated calorie calculator. The FIDE Online Arena has developed a unique and innovative tracking module that takes into account multiple key indicators including but not limited to, the player’s weight, height, and age (if known) as well as the speed of play, time, game intensity and the difficulty of each game.
Whilst this is a first for e-sport, in 2019, <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/27593253/why-grandmasters-magnus-carlsen-fabiano-caruana-lose-weight-playing-chess">ESPN released surprising data</a> relating to in-person chess. The published data concluded that chess players can use up to 6,000 calories a day during an in-person tournament, three times more than an average person consumes in an entire day. The study took into account research on calorie consumption and calories burnt by physical exertion and heightened mental activity.
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, commented: “Supporting good health, both physical and mental, is hugely important, especially in modern societies which face the challenge of increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Therefore we are excited that FIDE Online Arena is using the latest technology and understanding of physiology to promote physical health for chess players around the world.
‘The research findings about the calories burned during chess reinforce the status of  chess as a physical as well as an intellectual challenge, a global sport that is good for your mind and also your body.’

Chess Platform to Measure Calories Burned by Playing Chess Online

Chess prodigy Arjun Erigaisi is making history as he signs a groundbreaking sponsorship deal with Singapore-based Quantbox.
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This five-year contract, worth over $1.5 million, marks the first-ever sponsorship of the Grandmaster from Telangana, and could be a major boost to his professional career. For Erigaisi, 2022 has been a breakthrough year as he has consistently improved his game, earning him a strong rank of 26th in the world by classical score. This sponsorship is the biggest of its kind in the history of Indian chess.

Indian Chess Prodigy Arjun Erigaisi Breaks Big Record with $1.5 Million Sponsorship Deal

The International Chess Federation recently released the requirements for the 2024 Candidates’ Tournament.
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<div class="e2-text-caption">Photo: World Chess (Candidates Tournament 2018 in Berlin)</div>
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“The main innovation is creating a new qualification path through different FIDE-rated tournaments. Tournaments that meet certain criteria, like being played under standard time control, supervised by International Arbiters, and where Fair Play measures are applied (among other criteria listed below in detail), will grant points towards the ‘FIDE Circuit’. The player with more points at the end of 2023 will get the coveted spot in the most prestigious of all chess tournaments.”
The competition will feature:
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<li>The loser of the FIDE World Championship Match (Ian Nepomniachtchi or Ding Liren);</li>
<li>The three top players from the World Cup 2023;</li>
<li>The two best players by FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament standings;</li>
<li>The top-performing player in FIDE tournaments in 2023 who has not yet been chosen;</li>
<li>The highest-ranked player in the Classic in January 2024 who has not already been selected.</li>
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FIDE has changed the selection criteria for the candidates’ tournament

After Arjun Erigaisi signed a <a href="https://worldchess.com/news/all/indian-chess-prodigy-arjun-erigaisi-breaks-big-record-with-1-5mn/">$1.5 Million Sponsorship Deal with Quantbox</a>, another Indian prodigy, GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa signs with Baseline Ventures for Commercial Representation.
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The past years, India has seen a great rise of young talents in chess including Arjun Erigaisi, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, and Dommaraju Gukesh. Indeed, a bit more than 10 days ago Arjun Erigaisi made history as he signed a $1.5 Million sponsorship deal with Singapore-based Quantbox to mark the beginning of a major boost to his professional career.
Today Baseline Ventures announced that they signed Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa to represent him in all commercial aspects. Pragg is the fourth-youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess with remarkable performances including wins against Magnus Carlsen.
The MD & Co-founder of Baseline Ventures, Tuhin Mishra, welcomed Praggnanandhaa, saying that “ Praggnanandhaa’s accomplishments as a 17-year-old are just the beginning. He is undoubtedly an exceptional talent with the potential to become a sporting sensation who can take the country by storm.”
“I am thrilled to have signed with Baseline Ventures and am looking forward to how it will benefit my career. It is imperative that every athlete today has the right representation, and having the right people around me to handle the commercial aspects would be positive for my career” said Praggnanandhaa.

17-year-old Indian GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa Signs With Baseline Ventures

World Chess Plc, a leading chess organisation seeking to promote the mass market appeal of chess globally through the commercial offering of chess related activities, is pleased to announce its intention to seek admission of its Ordinary Shares to the Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities, and a placing of new shares to raise up to £10m.
It is expected that the Admission will become effective and that dealings will commence in November 2022, under the ticker CHSS. Novum Securities Limited (“Novum”) is acting as Financial Adviser to the Company and Retail investors will be able to register their interest in the IPO by applying through PrimaryBid prior to Admission.
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Ilya Merenzon, Chief Executive Officer of World Chess, said: “I am pleased to be announcing our intention to float on the London market at a transformational time for chess and for our business. There continues to be an explosion of interest in chess, which has accelerated through recent years and even more during the pandemic. To keep pace with this growth we are scaling up our operations and expanding our range of services internationally. We are hugely passionate about chess and can’t wait to take the next step in developing the sport that looks like a hybrid of e-sports with a Nobel prize awards ceremony.”
<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/world-chess-makes-bold-move-onto-london-market-0zv6gtfcj " class="wchess_button">The Times News</a>

World Chess Plans to List On The London Stock Exchange

Magnus Carlsen, the current World Chess Champion, stunned fans earlier this week by announcing that he will not be defending his title in the next match and will effectively retire from the Championship cycle (but not from chess).
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<a href="https://yougov.co.uk">YouGov</a>, the leading research company and <a href="https://chessarena.com">FIDE Online Arena</a>, the official gaming platform of the International Chess Federation, conducted a <a href="https://chessarena.com/community/barometer/">survey</a> in the US and the UK to determine how many people know the name of the World Champion and which country he is from. The survey results were surprising, only 7 percent of people asked in the UK (9 percent in the US) could correctly pick the name of the World Champion out of 10 options. 4 percent of all respondents incorrectly said that the title is still held by Garry Kasparov, who retired from competitive chess in 2005, whilst 77 percent indicated that they don’t know the current World Champion’s name.
Results were similar when asked where the Champion is from, with 6 percent of the respondents correctly indicating that the Champion is from Norway, while 15 percent erroneously believe that the current Champion hails from Russia, and 5 percent believe that the Champion is from the United States (the last American World Chess Champion was Bobby Fischer in 1972).
The survey also offered remarkable insight into chess demographics; 14 percent of young adults (18 to 24 year old) correctly named the World Chess Champion versus 4 percent among the older respondents (55+). According to these findings, chess is seemingly more popular among younger demographics both in the US and the UK.
The inaugural report, the first official <a href="https://chessarena.com/community/barometer/">Chess Awareness Barometer</a>, will be released annually to measure awareness and popularity of the elite chess players and the World Chess Champion.
<a href="https://chessarena.com/community/barometer/" class="wchess_button"> Check out now! </a>

Only 7% of People Know The Name of The Current World Chess Champion

FIDE, ISF (the International School Sport Federation) and World Chess are proud to announce the FIDE – ISF World School Teams Online Chess Cup 2023, taking place in March 2023. This exciting event provides a platform for schools from FIDE and ISF member countries, as well as students from around the world*, to connect with chess enthusiasts from across the globe and showcase their skills in an official international chess tournament.
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With chess in schools becoming increasingly important, organizers of the FIDE – ISF World School Teams Online Chess Cup 2023 are eager to support this initiative to integrate chess into the school educational system.
“Chess is a unique game – both extremely sportive and educational. We are excited to organize the Online Schools Chess Championship together with ISF. It is a great event that we hope will create a competitive mood, but also motivate the school leaders to engage their students in further training and learning,” says FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich.
The tournament will feature two age categories, U15 and U18, with an expected 200 teams from around the world participating. Each school team must consist of 4 to 7 full-time students from the same school.
Winners and medalists will be rewarded with exclusive team training sessions with world-famous grandmasters, chessboards signed by the GMs, subscriptions for the World Chess Masterclasses program, and FIDE Online Arena premium membership packages.  The tournament will be held online on the FIDE Online Arena, with the final stage broadcast live on World Chess and FIDE’s YouTube channels.
The program of the FIDE – ISF World School Championship Online Chess Cup 2023: 
18 March 2023: Qualification tournament 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 – Teams   
19 March 2023: Qualification tournament 2005, 2006 and 2007 – Teams   
25 March 2023: Final tournament 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 – Teams   
26 March 2023: Final tournament 2005, 2006 and 2007 – Teams
The tournament registration will begin on February 09 and be open until March 11, 2023 at <a href="https://chessarena.com/WorldSchools2023">isf.fide.com</a>
  * Except schools from Russia and Belarus.

The FIDE – ISF World School Teams Online Chess Cup 2023:  Registration begins

The event is expected to be one of the most televised chess events in the world
The Armageddon Championship Series 2023, a revolutionary chess format developed specifically for television by World Chess plc, will take place in Berlin, Germany from March to September 2023, filmed in a bespoke pavilion located on Unter Den Linden. The series begins with the Americas’ Championship Series from March 6 – 12, followed by the Asia and Oceania, Women’s Week, and Europe and Africa series, ending with the exhilarating series Grand Finale streamed on international television between September 14 – 20.
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World Chess, the company famous for chess innovation, developed the Armageddon Championship Series to become the Formula 1 of chess — a season of high-intensity ultra-fast chess tournaments, groundbreaking broadcast, and international TV distribution, featuring the likes of Wesley So (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), Sam Shankland (USA), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), Vidit Gujrathi (India), Richard Rapport (Romania), Vincent Keymer (Germany), Gukesh D (India), and other world-famous chess players. These participants will battle under immense time pressure for a total prize fund of the Series of €460 000, with a heartbeat and for the first time ever, calorie-burned data points shown on screen alongside the moves and the feed live from the studio.
The Armageddon Championship Series 2023 starts on March 6 and is expected to be one of the most thrilling and widely-watched chess series of the year. It will be broadcast live and feature highlights on over 30 online and TV platforms globally, including CNBC, Channel 4, beIN, and Fox Australia, among others. Over 220 million households are anticipated to watch the show.
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, commented: “Armageddon is the Formula 1 of intellectual sports, and with millions of people watching chess, innovation like the Armageddon tournament marks chess becoming a truly global mass spectator sport.”
“From the comfort of their own home, fans can get their hearts racing watching some of the greatest chess players of all time play a rapid-fire game, before refueling and going again. All whilst chess increasingly becomes a staple of the sports broadcasting ecosystem.”
Dates: 
Armageddon Championship Series: Americas — March 6-12 
Armageddon Championship Series: Asia & Oceania — April 3-9 
Armageddon Championship Series: Women’s week — May 8 – 14 
Armageddon Championship Series: Europe & Africa — June 12-18 
Armageddon Championship Series: Grand Finale — September 14-20
<a href="https://chessarena.com/armageddon " class="wchess_button">Official website</a>

Berlin to Host Armageddon Championship Series 2023

The german media brand WELT and World Chess announce their partnership for the upcoming Armageddon Championship Series 2023, making Welt.de the exclusive German broadcast platform for the series. WELT belongs to the German media company Axel Springer. This partnership will bring the Armageddon Championship Series 2023 to German-speaking fans all over the world, giving them access to all games, as well as exclusive interviews, additional content, and events related to the event.
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The Armageddon Championship Series 2023 starts on March 6 and is anticipated to be one of the most exciting and the most-viewed chess series of the year. It features the world’s top players competing under immense time pressure and will be broadcast live. With Welt.de at the helm, German-speaking fans can expect top-notch coverage, including in-depth analysis, play-by-play commentary by Georgios Soleidis and Sonja Maria Bluhm, and thrilling live heartbeat and calorie-burned-level data points.
“We are very thrilled to be part of this partnership with World Chess,” said Sven Flohr, head of Sports at WELT. “We are sure that the Armageddon Championship Series will bring a fresh level of excitement to this timeless game of chess. Our goal is to offer chess enthusiasts an engaging and interactive experience and to introduce those who are not yet familiar with chess to its thrilling aspects. We firmly believe that Welt.de is the ideal platform to do so.”
  Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, said: “We are excited to collaborate with Welt.de on the Armageddon series, given chess’s long-standing popularity in Germany. With this partnership, we strive to bring even more fans to TV screens showing the game of chess in a captivating and entertaining way.”
For chess fans in Germany WELT provides online broadcasts of all the games on its website <a href="www.welt.de">www.welt.de</a>. Viewers will have the opportunity to see their favorite players in action, as well as access exclusive interviews and additional content. With the partnership with Welt.de, the 2023 Armageddon Championship Series is poised to be a landmark moment in the world of chess.  
Dates: 
Armageddon Championship Series: Americas — March 6-12 
Armageddon Championship Series: Asia & Oceania — April 3-9  
Armageddon Championship Series: Women’s week — May 8 – 14  
Armageddon Championship Series: Europe & Africa — June 12-18  
Armageddon Championship Series: Grand Finale — September 14-20  
Official website: <a href="https://chessarena.com/armageddon"> chessarena.com/armageddon</a>

Welt.de is The Exclusive German Broadcaster For Armageddon

All eyes are on Berlin, Germany, for the <a href="https://chessarena.com/armageddon">Armageddon Championship Series: Americas</a>, a first event of the cutting-edge new chess format developed by World Chess set to take place from March 6 to March 12. The new fast-paced series is the latest in impressive chess innovation and an epic line-up: GM Wesley So (the USA, blitz 2739), GM Jose Martinez Alcantara (PER, blitz 2712), GM Ray Robson (the USA, blitz 2668), GM Leinier Dominguez (the USA, blitz 2647), GM Sam Shankland (the USA, blitz 2638), GM Andrew Tang (the USA, blitz 2602), IM Renato Terry (PER, blitz 2579), and GM Eric Hansen (CAN, blitz 2569).
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The Armageddon Championship Series: Americas features chess players from the Americas’ region competing under excruciating time pressure in a seven-day double-elimination tournament. Daily matches consist 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) each day. Players will battle for €50,000, and the two finalists will secure spots in the Grand Finale, which will be held in September.
The Armageddon Championship Series: Americas promises to be a thrilling experience for viewers, with a range of exciting features to enjoy. These include real-time displays of the players’ heart rates and calories burned, as well as breakneck moves and cutting-edge analysis. All of this action will be broadcast live from the spectacular Armageddon Studio in Berlin.
To watch the show with commentary by GM Simon Williams and WGM Jovanka Houska, tune in to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@worldchess8938/featured">World Chess YouTube channel</a> or to one of 30 television platforms worldwide.
For the first few days, the players were divided into pairs as follows:
Day 1: 
GM Wesley So (USA), blitz 2739 — GM Sam Shankland (USA), blitz 2638 
IM Renato Terry (PER), blitz 2579 — GM Eric Hansen (CAN), blitz 2569
Day 2: 
GM Jose Martinez Alcantara (PER), blitz 2712 — GM Ray Robson (USA), blitz 2668 
GM Leinier Dominguez (USA), blitz 2647 — GM Andrew Tang (USA), blitz 2602
The pairings in the upcoming days will be established using the double-elimination system and will be determined by the results of the previous days.
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, commented: “By embracing innovative formats like Armageddon, top-level chess can captivate a broader audience and ignite greater passion among fans. Viewers of Armageddon will witness fast-paced matches between chess players of different experiences, and playing styles, creating an atmosphere of suspense and excitement.”
Sandro Cisco, Head of Global Partnerships and Sponsorships at Kaspersky, says: “Being a long-standing cybersecurity partner of the World Chess events, we are glad to support the new Armageddon Championship Series 2023 embracing the world of chess with a new innovative format and experience, focusing on the analytical skills and rapid response of players. The ability to react quickly and cope with new challenges are unquestionable values shared by Kaspersky experts, too. Both chess and cybersecurity represent the combination of the pinnacle of human intelligence, full of unrivaled knowledge and experience. We believe this event will be a new lasting experience for every player, opening up brand-new insights into the fascinating game of chess.”
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Ng4NfX4_4" class="wchess_button">Watch Armageddon</a>

Armageddon Set to Take Berlin by Storm on March 6th with Epic Match-Ups

It.com, a domain registry, has become the official partner of the Armageddon Championship Series, elite chess tournaments developed for TV broadcasting and organized by World Chess.
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It.com enters the world of chess with the “Intelligent game — Intelligent name,” campaign that is devoted to exploring the nature of intelligence. Within the multistage collaboration between it.com and World Chess, top chess players, business experts, and the general public will be invited to share their views on what intelligence really means for them. The campaign will further popularize chess and will invite people around the world to join the game’s community. Partners are to share more about the upcoming campaign soon.
It.com domain registry is a project of the UK-based Intis Telecom, a global telecommunications and technology company. With a mission to bring equal opportunities to the digital community, Intis Telecom is shaping the future of the domain industry where innovation and inclusivity thrive. By making domain names within the *.it.com registry accessible, it enables businesses and individuals to broaden their reach globally and strengthen their online presence.
“We are thrilled to enter the world of chess and explore every aspect of the intelligence that is a core part of this wonderful sport,” said Andrey Insarov, CEO of Intis Telecom. “We believe that intelligence is a very complex and multifaceted essence, and its boundaries go beyond what we are used to perceiving. And together with World Chess we strive to open the world of chess for a wider audience.”
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“We are excited to partner with it.com for the Armageddon Championship Series 2023,” said Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess. “Together, we hope to explore the nature of intelligence and demonstrate that chess is a game everyone can play or watch. Armageddon, a cutting-edge new chess format, is a fantastic project to prove this, and we look forward to scaling it through our partnership with it.com.”
The upcoming Armageddon Championship Series in 2023 will showcase renowned chess players such as Wesley So (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), Sam Shankland (USA), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), and others in a season of high-intensity ultra-fast chess tournaments. For the first time ever, calorie-burned data points and heart rate will also be displayed on the screen alongside the moves and the live feed from the studio. The series is set to commence on March 6 and is expected to be one of the most thrilling and widely-watched chess events of the year, with live broadcasts and highlights available on over 30 online and TV platforms worldwide. 
For more information about it.com, please visit the <a href="https://get.it.com">website</a>.

It.com Joins the Armageddon Series as the Official Partner

Most people can’t even imagine how much money elite chess players earn – only from tournament prizes let alone streaming and other business activities – per year but Nathaniel Green published an article on chesscom revealing that 3 GMs made more than 500k in 2022, and 17 GMs between $100-450k with only one woman on this list.
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It’s not hard to imagine that No.1 on this list is Magnus Carlsen. The winner of the Champions Chess Tour, Norway Chess, and both the World Rapid and Blitz Championships earned nearly $560k in major tournament prizes throughout 2022. With a $100 million libel lawsuit on his back by Hans Niemann, and after withdrawing from the World Championship title with a $2M prize fund though, Magnus might find himself in an uncomfortable financial position.
Second on the list and very close to Magnus is Wesley So who brought in just over $540,000 worth of prize money in 2022 after getting the first prize at Chesscom Global Championship worth of $200,000.
Third but for sure not least is the professional streamer and superstar Hikaru Nakamura, who ended the year with a bit more than $515k. Six months ago though <a href="https://chessarena.com/news/all/nakamuras-fortune-is-estimated-around-50-million/">El Pais</a> has published an article claiming that Nakamura is the world’s wealthiest chess player with a an estimated fortune somewhere around $50 million!
Moving lower on the list there are 17 more GMs who earned more than 100k, with GM Tan Zhongyi being the only woman, and 17-year-old Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu being the youngest on the list. Check them out:
Ian Nepomniachtchi – $429,512 
Alireza Firouzja – $358,542 
Jan-Krzysztof Duda – $296,178 
Fabiano Caruana – $263,810 
Levon Aronian – $260,136 
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – $234,904 
Anish Giri – $213,061 
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – $201,834 
Ding Liren – $175,540 
Richard Rapport – $166,938 
Le Quang Liem – $134,500 
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu – $129,000 
Nihal Sarin – $118,802 
Dmitry Andreikin – $112,861 
Vladimir Fedoseev	- $109,405 
Leinier Dominguez – $109,391 
Tan Zhongyi – $103,753
Read the original article <a href="https://www.chess.com/article/view/biggest-chess-prizewinners-2022">here</a>