Play In The Chess.com Atomic Chess Championship On March 4-6

Dear Variant Fans,

We are back with this month's Community Championship! The Atomic Chess Championship is scheduled for March 4-6. This is part of the 2026 Chess.com Community Championships event series with 12 events throughout the year.

Atomic Chess is not for the faint of heart. In this variant, every capture triggers an explosion that destroys anything in all adjacent squares, except for pawns, which are surprisingly sturdy against atomic radiation. Head over to the variant server to play and practice before the event starts!

Event Dates

• Qualifiers: March 4–5, with eight qualifying arenas
• Finals: March 6, double-elimination knockout

Qualifiers on March 4-5

Reminders: Qualifiers are now happening over two days!

• There are eight arena qualifiers: four on each day.
• The first qualifier starts at 9 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST on both days; Registrations open one hour before each arena starts.
• Each qualifier is a 75-minute arena.
• The time control is 3+0.
• The winner of each arena qualifies for the Final.
• Players already qualified for the final cannot play in subsequent qualifiers.

The qualifiers are open to everyone! Check out the qualifiers' schedule and click "join" in any qualifier to participate.

Knockout Final on March 6

• Eight-player double-elimination knockout.
• The time control is 3+0.
• Each match consists of four games.
• If the match ends in a tie, players contest 3+0 games until a winner is determined.

Prize Fund
A $2,500 total prize fund is distributed among the top eight players, and the top streamer is also awarded.

Check the Official Event Rules for full details.

Mark your calendars and hope to see many of you in the Qualifiers.