FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup kicks off Tuesday with Superfinal set for Sunday
With all the added attention fringe sporting events have been getting over the last six weeks, the folks at Chess.com decided they should get in on the action.
Tuesday, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), which is the international organization that oversees the world of chess, will kick off a six-day online team chess tournament called the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup.
Tuesday’s three team matches see China take on Rest of the World, Europe take on Russia, and India face off with the USA in the first round. The second round will pit Europe against China, Rest of the World against India, and Russia against the USA. The second set of matches is by far the better ones, with the teams very evenly matched.
The home page for the tournament, which you can access here, has all the information you would need. The prize fund, put up by Chess.com, is $180,000. Each team will get $24,000, with the winner getting another $24,000, while the runner-up gets an added $12,000.
The games will be broadcast by the Chess.com app.
From the press release:
The FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup is a team competition held May 5-10 on Chess.com featuring Russia, USA, Europe, China, India, plus a team representing the "Rest of the World."
Some of the strongest grandmasters in the world are competing, such as GMs Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, and Alireza Firouzja but also e.g. Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, and Nana Dzagnidze.
The first stage consists of a double round-robin with each team playing each other twice on May 5-9. The top two teams after 10 rounds qualify for a "Superfinal" match on May 10.
All matches are played on four boards: three with male players and one with female players. The time control for all games is 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move one. The prize fund, coming from Chess.com, is $180,000.
How to watch?
All games will be played on the Chess.com live server and can be followed on our events page and in our Android and iOS apps under 'Watch'. Expert commentary can be enjoyed at Chess.com/TV where the games will be discussed and explained.