Chess.com Crazyhouse Championship

Perhaps the perfect way to bring one of the most exciting years we've ever had on Chess.com to a close is to announce (and host) the first ever Chess.com Crazyhouse Championship. Following up on the GM Blitz Battle Championship, the announcement of the PRO Chess League and our addition of so many variants to Live Chess, we are excited to offer this fun (but important ) championship event. It is one that many have been requesting, and we are going to make it happen!

Editor's Note: Reminder, to play in the Crazyhouse Qualifier tournaments (starting tomorrow) you MUST join this Club: https://www.chess.com/club/crazyhouse

There will be twenty qualifying tournaments followed by a final on December 10th at 10 a.m. Pacific, with a prize fund of $2,000 (which we hope to increase every year) and likely feature (invitations have been sent) many of the world's best crazyhouse chess players. Who are some that we expect to try their luck? We've invited crazyhouse legends like Kazim Gulamali (confirmed participation) and Jann Lee (confirmed participation) as well as some of the world's biggest super-grandmasters and celebrities who we know are crazyhouse lovers like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Simon Williams, and Robert Hess.

FM Kazim Gulamali is considered by many to be the best bughouse and crazyhouse player in the world. Will he deliver as he does versus IM Rensch on every Call of the Wild ChessTV show?

Beginners to the game of crazyhouse should not be intimidated though! All can compete, and the game is easy to learn. We welcome all of the crazyhouse contenders and dabblers who aspire to the title of Chess.com Crazyhouse Champion! 

Could Nakamura also be a dominant crazyhouse player? He'll be in London for the London Chess Classic, but who knows, maybe he'll play?

Qualifying Tournaments Format and Schedule:

• We will run 20 qualifying tournaments: two per day from November 30th through December 9th.
• Qualifying tournaments will run each day at 10 a.m. Pacific and 5 p.m. Pacific.
• Qualifying tournaments will be 7 rounds of 3 0 crazyhouse.
• The top five players in each event (discounting those who have previously qualified) will be invited to play in the Chess.com Crazyhouse Championship on December 10th.
• Qualifiers will be invited to a private club and must join to compete in the finals.

Qualifiers are open to all, and players may participate in as many qualifiers as their time allows. Participants need only be a member of the official crazyhouse club to play.

Finals Format and Event Details:

The championship will be open to the 100 players who earned slots in the qualifiers! A lengthy swiss-system tournament format will ensure viewers are guaranteed a bevy of matchups! The format will be:

• 15 rounds
• three minutes with a zero-second increment
• Registration (open to those who qualified) begins one hour before the event, at 9 a.m. PST (no limit on participants).
• live commentary on chess.com/tv hosted by IM Danny Rensch and guests

Prizes (in placement order):

1. $500
2. $400
3. $300
4. $200
5. $150
6. $100
7. $100
8. $100
9. $100
10. $50

Can't wait? Scratch your crazyhouse itch with GM Robert Hess as he takes on Chess.com users!

Watch live video from on www.twitch.tv

• Learn "How To Play Variants On Chess.com."

• Looking to play crazyhouse right now? Join the official club!