Opening Roulette Returns On February 5

Opening Roulette, the latest addition to Chess.com's community events line-up, is back in February. This month's theme: The Sicilian Najdorf!

This sharp opening is one of the most popular ways for Black to begin a game, and for good reason. It's positionally sound, but also leaves lots of potential for winning tactics. Also, it sounds cool.

What Is Opening Roulette?

This weekly event features two rapid arenas every Monday: an early edition at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CET, and a later edition happening at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET / 23:00 CET.

Each month focuses on a certain opening; February's theme is the Sicilian Najdorf. The Opening Roulette series is aimed specifically at chess improvers who want to get more comfortable with different openings in a competitive setting.

As well as being a fun way to expand your repertoire, there are also prizes to be won, including coaching sessions with titled players, Chessable credit, and Chess.com Diamond memberships.

Games in the arenas are unrated, so you can focus purely on improving your skills and learning new openings without the fear of losing any Elo points.

Not sure where to start with the Sicilian Najdorf? Check out our quick guide to the opening here, or enjoy some free Chessable resources to help you prepare:

• Short & Sweet: Colovic's Najdorf Sicilian
• Short & Sweet: Santos' Open Sicilian
• Short & Sweet: Saric's Open Sicilian
• Short & Sweet: Giri's Najdorf Sicilian

Opening Roulette Format (February 2024):

• Two 10+0 rapid arenas will be held in the Chess.com Community Club
• All games are unrated
• You must have played a minimum of five games on Chess.com to participate
• All games will begin with the Sicilian Najdorf

Prizes

• Weekly prizes will be distributed, as well as monthly prizes for top finishers
• A special prize category exists for players rated under 1500 rapid
• Streamers can also receive bonus prizes 
• For a full breakdown of the prize system, see the original Opening Roulette announcement

Last month's debut event saw a fantastic turnout, with 500+ community members all experimenting with the Queen's Gambit as thousands of people watched the broadcast live on ChessTV. Check out the list of winners below.

January 2024 Opening Roulette Results

Open Category:

U1500 Category:

Congratulations to our winners from last month! Want to claim your own place on the winners list? Start brushing up on your Najdorf today; we'll see you in the arena!