Arena Kings Season 7: All The Information

The Arena Kings Season 7 runs from May 12 through August 4. Streamers will clash in a series of 3|0 blitz arenas to fight for their piece of a $40,000 prize fund and the Arena King title.

Arenas start every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time/19:00 CEST. The top 16 streamers from each arena will be invited to join a subsequent knockout event with even more prizes. Like in previous editions of the event, Chess960 fans will be able to enjoy arenas dedicated exclusively to this variant.

The Arena Kings event is open to all Chess.com users, with Twitch Affiliates who stream during the events being eligible for winning the prizes. It's not necessary, however, to be a member of the Chess.com Streamer's Program to be eligible to win.

You can find quick links to important event information below:

• Broadcast
• Format
• Prizes
• Schedule
• Streaming and Identification Requirements
• Arena Kings Championship Qualifiers
• Results
• How To Participate

Broadcast

All Arena Kings Season 7 matches will be broadcast live with commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess. 

Format

Below you can see the format for every arena and knockout event for this season:

Arenas

• 3|0 time control
• Two-hour arena tournament
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess
• Knockout event after the arena

Knockout Events

• Top 16 streamers of each arena advance to a knockout event
• Best-of-three matches in the 3|0 time control
• In the event of a tie, 1|1 bullet games will be played until someone wins. The colors for the bullet tiebreaks will alternate from the previous game.
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess
• Players will broadcast the entire knockout event

Arena Kings Championship

• In order to play in the Arena Kings Championship event, streamers must earn at least 100 points throughout the season (see more details below).
• All players who qualify will participate in a two-hour 3|0 blitz arena.
• The top eight streamers from the Championship Arena qualify for the Championship Final.
• In the event of a tie, 1|1 bullet games will be played until someone wins. The colors for the bullet tiebreaks will alternate from the previous game.
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess
• Players will broadcast the entire Arena Kings Championship.

Championship Final

• The Championship Final will consist of best-of-five matches in the 3|0 time control
• In the event of a tie, 1|1 bullet games will be played until someone wins. The colors for the bullet tiebreaks will alternate from the previous game.
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess.
• Players will broadcast the entire Championship Final.

Prizes

Arena Kings Season 7 has a total prize fund of $40,000. Below you can find more details about the prize distribution:

Weekly Arena Prize Fund: $2,500

• 1st: $500
• 2nd: $350
• 3rd-4th: $225
• 5th-8th: $100
• 9th-16th: $50
• U1400, U1800, and U2200: $100
• Streamer prize: $100

Championship Arena Prize Fund: $10,000

• 1st: $4,000
• 2nd: $2,000
• 3rd-4th: $1,000
• 5th-8th: $500

If a player is eligible for more than one prize in a given week (e.g. 10th place and U1800), they will get both prizes. If a player advances to the semifinal stage of the knockout event or beyond only the higher prize will be awarded. In that case, the under-prize will be reassigned to the next eligible participant.

Schedule

• Regular arenas: Wednesdays at 10 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST, May 12-July 28, 2021
• Chess960 Arenas: Wednesdays at 10 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST, June 9 and July 7, 2021
• Knockout events: begin five minutes after each arena ends
• Arena Kings Championship: Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT/22:00 CEST, August 4, 2021
• Championship Final: Wednesday, five minutes after the Arena Kings Championship ends, August 4, 2021

Streaming And Identification Requirements

While every Chess.com user is invited to play in this event, only streamers are eligible for prizes. To be eligible, you must fulfill every requirement below:

The following applies to all streamers:

• Players must stream their games with boards and webcams visible on stream at all times.
• Streams must have clear audio and video. Please see this video playlist for tips.
• Players must provide verbal commentary and/or chat engagement. Streamers must provide streaming value and players who are streaming simply to be eligible for prizes will be disqualified.
• Playing accounts must be labeled with real names. Anonymous players will not be eligible to win prizes.
• Players must use an account that properly reflects their playing strength. "Streaming accounts" or other underrated accounts will not be eligible for prizes. Any "streaming account" must also be approved by Chess.com's staff.
  • Note that having multiple accounts is against our terms of service. If an account is not approved by Staff, this can constitute grounds for us to close accounts and void any results or prizes earned. 
• Players must stream at least 100 minutes of the arena portion, and the entire Knockout if applicable.
• Streamers who make it to the knockout stage must set up a second field of vision camera on stream or join a Zoom call provided by staff.
• Streamers playing in the Championship Arena and Championship Final must set up a second field of vision camera on stream or join a Zoom call provided by staff.
• All requirements must be met in full. No exceptions will be made.

For Twitch streamers: 

• All streams must be easily identifiable on Twitch by listing them in the "Chess" category.
• All streams must have "!arenakings" in the stream title.
• Streamers must be a Twitch Affiliate.
• Streamers must save their VODs for at least 14 days so staff can review them after the arena.
• Streamers must connect their account to Chess.com. 

For YouTube streamers:

• Streamers must email us (titled@chess.com) with their YouTube channel URL and Chess.com username before the event starts. This must be done each week.
  • Players emailing after the 15-minute mark of the arena will not be eligible for prizes or points.
• Streamers must save their VODs for at least 14 days so staff can review them after the arena.
• Streamers must connect their YouTube account to Chess.com. 
• All streams must have "Arena Kings" in the stream title.

Streamers who win prizes will be contacted at the email address listed on their Chess.com profiles. These emails are usually sent on the weekend following the arena.

By participating in Arena Kings, streamers agree that Chess.com can use their content for mashups/highlights. We will always reference the original channel and source of the clips used.

Arena Kings Championship Qualifiers

The Arena Kings Championship qualifiers work on a point-based system, where streamers collect points during the entire season leading up to the Championship Final. Players need to accumulate at least 100 Grand Prix points throughout the season. The list below displays how to earn Grand Prix points:

• 1st: 100 points
• 2nd: 85
• 3rd: 75
• 4th: 75
• 5th: 50
• 6th: 50
• 7th: 50
• 8th: 50
• 9-16th: 25
• Streaming: 10
• Win any Under prize: 15

Note that points are accumulated if a player is eligible for multiple Grand Prix points in the same event (for instance, if a player wins the 9th place points and U1800 points).

Results

You can find all of the weekly results and season leaderboards here.

How To Participate

To play in the event, you should join each week's arena by finding it under Upcoming Tournaments on Live Chess and clicking the orange "Join" button.