2026 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship - Round 1
https://www.chess.com/tournament/2026-chess-com-daily-chess-championship
I joined the 2026 CDCC and decided to blog my experience, like so many people apparently do. All completed games excluding ones that didn't get played in will be at the end of the blog.
I ask that you do not report anyone mentioned in this blog. The fair play team will figure out who actually cheated, and I think that (but I'm not sure) before every round they'll conduct a fair play check. As for the non-fair play related stuff, just don't.
All times given are in Mountain Time. Also don't ask why I say what group everyone is in. It's just a fun little thing to know.
Day 1
The tournament starts on what is January 1, 2026 for me. There are 55,394 players and the average rating is 786. I've been assigned to Group 314 of 4,616. There are 185 pages in the "Pairings" section.
Here are the standings for my group:
- @bukh1 (1892) "Buk"
- @Akash040307 (1600) "Akash"
- @Aanya_Dhanuka (1240) "Aanya"
- @SlamHammy (1217) "Slam"
- @gourax (1200) "Gourax"
- @Dulingo665 (1200) "Dulingo"
- @Mbulaaa8 (1200) "Mbu"
- @restlesswarrior7 (987) "Restless"
- @KhaiPhongProMax (968) "Khai"
- @CL4Y10 (736) "Clay"
- @TheAuthorOfChickens (711)
- @thunderbolt999009900 (210) "Thunder"
I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm making it past Round 1 unless almost everyone either times out, resigns, withdraws, or gets banned.
At the time of writing this sentence I have 9 games that have not been played in yet. I've played e4 in all of my white games, and in my two games as black that have been played in, Nf3 (Slam) and e4 (Clay) were played. I responded with Nc6 in Slam's game and e5 in Clay's game.
Right off the bat, @SlamHammy and @CL4Y10 are the most active players, but then again, this is the first day of the tournament.
As of 7:44 PM Jan 1 there are still groups that have not received their games yet.
Over in Chess.com vs. ChessKid notes around the same time, @AkitoClaw (Group 2,234) is talking about his experience. (read the first screenshot bottom to top)
7:20 PM (time of comment posting) and @SheldonOfOsaka (Group 870) has already completed one of his games.
Restless plays in his games some time after this, responding e5 to my e4 in his game as black and playing e4 in his game as white. We end up in the Four Knights Game in my black game against him.
After exchanging a few more moves with Restless and Slam (who, I've observed, responds pretty quickly), I conclude Day 1 of the CDCC.
Day 2
The next I come online, it is Day 2. I have 14 games waiting for me, from Restless, Buk, Dulingo, Aanya, Clay, Slam, and Khai. It's looking like Mbu, Gourax, Akash, and Thunder will be our immediate time-out guys, with them all having 5-6 hours left in most of their games.
In my game as black against Clay, we end up in this position:
(forgive my notation if I've done it incorrectly) 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 had just been played. I thought about Nxd4 (you probably see the knight trade I was thinking about), but realized the queen would snag my bishop after that. I decided to retreat with Bb6 instead.
As of 10:09 AM Jan 2, there are 15,037 completed games.
The current biggest upset is over in Group 84, with @Lamborghini_120 (321) winning against @RookLoverYusuf (1052) via checkmate. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/909829229
I checked their profiles, and Lamborghini is 651 rapid, 761 blitz, and 610 bullet. Rook is 1025 rapid, 770 blitz, and 646 bullet. Lamborghini is currently at the top of his group. Based off Rook's rapid rating, I'd say it looks like possible cheating, but I will let Chess.com determine the fate of the accounts. Please do not report these accounts.
People in the tournament comments are talking about this too.
Funnily enough, @danb4279 is in the same group, someone I played in the 83rd Chess.com Quick Knockouts (601-1000) tournament.
Remind me to not win this tournament lol
Mbu, Gourax, Akash, and Thunder all time out at 3:11 PM, giving me four free wins. I have no doubts they'll time out in their remaining games against not only me but the other players as well. The timeout wave began I think a few hours ago since the games didn't all start at once.
Appropriate comment based off the current happenings.
Shoutout to this explanation by @cymbalshift:
One of the people who put the nerd emoji is Sheldon by the way XD
It looks like Restless and Slam are the fastest responders, with somewhat even response times. Buk is also responding pretty consistently.
I end up in the below position as black against Slam:
I almost played Nxe5 but realized what my bishop and other knight's fate would be if I did indeed play that move. Finally, I can stop this monstrosity from happening! I opt for Bxe5.
Mbu, Gourax, Akash, and Thunder all time out in their black games at 4:39 PM.
And that concludes Day 2 of the CDCC.
Day 3
Khai times out in both games at 10:23 AM on Day 3. More realistically, I claim the wins.
I was in the position above for one of Restless's games. I though about Nxd4, but wasn't going to play it because that'd be a reckless capture. Nxe4 was the other option I considered, so if they take that knight I'll capture their bishop. But then I realized that their f3 knight is pinned. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Nxd4 is played.
Meanwhile, Clay looks like he's attempting to set up a late Scholar's Mate.
I play Nf6. Nice try.
Meanwhile, in one of Dulingo's games:
Not here to judge too much...but what was that Qf6 move?
Back with Restless, here's how Nxd4 went:
I went with Nxf3+ for mass destruction because now you have to capture with the pawn (:
I make a mistake in my white game against Slam...
Not sure why I didn't just play Bg3 there. Slam would probably still have the advantage but at least I'm not completely running away.
With Restless's game where I opened up his defenses, I spot something interesting.
Is it a bad idea? Doesn't look like it. Let's do it!
You clever little-
I play h6. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes my knight, though.
In my other game against Slam, I'm probably getting mated very soon.
As of 5:14 PM Jan 3 there are:
- 400,591 games remaining
- 208,850 completed games
- 182,256 timeouts
The new biggest upset is from Group 1,462. @kindakindasus12 (476) won by checkmate against @Itshimitsthepatzer (1536). https://www.chess.com/game/daily/910251887
Kinda is 256 rapid, 347 blitz, and 641 bullet. Patzer is 1479 rapid, 1411 blitz, and 1063 bullet. Kinda is at the top of his group, with Patzer in 2nd. Like with Lamborghini vs Rook, this is highly suspicious, even more so than the first biggest upset I put in this blog. Again, please do not report these members but instead let Chess.com's fair play team sort this out. I am only here to blog the current events.
These are the current standings in my group:
So far all of my wins are via timeout.
Day 4
Day 4 is pretty uneventful. I resign in my black game against Slam after he gets me into a M2 situation. Or M3. IDK if it's moves as in white and black's combined or each individual move.
Restless times out in both his games at 5:58 PM.
I'm currently at the top of the group. I doubt I'll stay there for long, but it's nice to visit the top lol. I'm not super worried because all my wins are timeout instead of accidental against a 1200 or something.
As of 6:03 PM, there are 250,033 completed games, 216,986 timeouts, and 359,185 remaining games. The biggest upset is still Kinda beating Patzer.
It looks like no matter your settings, you have to claim a timeout win in this tournament. I have "Auto Claim Win" on and yet I've had to confirm all timeouts. Hopefully they have something in place to prevent inactives from holding up the tournament by not claiming their timeout wins.
Some drama potentially starts in the tournament comments.
Yrwp's comment implies that these two have argued before. No, I'm not going looking for said argument.
Day 5
People are starting to notice the auto-claim problem and point it out or complain.
Regarding Group 314, Buk has played in only one game so far, with 8 hours left in the other. The game with the most moves is my white game against Slam, with 22 moves. 2nd place for most moves is black against Clay having 14 moves. Buk does eventually play in his other game.
And then I blunder my queen.
Whoops.
If it's any consolation, the game between Kinda and Patzer is still the biggest upset.
As of 8:22 PM, Khai, Akash, Gourax, Mbu, and Thunder have finished all their games. Restless and Dulingo are pretty close to being done as well.
I think staff fixed the auto-claim problem. Or are working on it. Or it's not that. IDK lol
Day 6
As of 9:41 AM Jan 6, there are 86,727 remaining games, 522,519 completed games, and 479,849 timeouts. There are 54,114 players remaining from the original 55,394, meaning we lost 1,280 players in the span of 5 days. The biggest upset is still Kinda vs Patzer.
This is what my group looks like:
I think now would be a good time to look at the other ratings of the members of Group 314.
- @bukh1 2023 Rapid, 2194 Blitz, 2037 Bullet
- @CL4Y10 1032 Rapid, 634 Blitz, 1032 Bullet
- @SlamHammy 1478 Rapid, 918 Blitz, 1258 Bullet
- @restlesswarrior7 708 Rapid, 429 Blitz, 125 Bullet
- @TheAuthorOfChickens 727 Rapid, 589 Blitz, 754 Bullet
- @Aanya_Dhanuka 1216 Rapid, 1043 Blitz, 1002 Bullet
- @KhaiPhongProMax 1967 Rapid, 1031 Blitz, 1422 Bullet
- @Dulingo665 693 Rapid, 693 Blitz, 693 Bullet
- @Akash040307 738 Rapid, 738 Blitz, 738 Bullet
- @gourax 163 Rapid, 385 Blitz, 159 Bullet
- @Mbulaaa8 491 Rapid, 100 Blitz, 100 Bullet
- @thunderbolt999009900 596 Rapid, 236 Blitz, 442 Bullet
I'm guessing that if you haven't played certain formats, your rating just syncs with your rapid rating or whatever.
Now, let's look at the people who've time out in the majority of their games.
- @KhaiPhongProMax joined April 7, 2024 and was last online 1 day ago.
- @Dulingo665 joined December 5, 2025 and was last online 3 hours ago.
- @Akash040307 joined December 10, 2025 and was last online 1 hour ago.
- @gourax joined August 1, 2025 and was last online 2 hours ago.
- @Mbulaaa8 joined December 27, 2025 and was last online 4 days ago.
- @thunderbolt999009900 joined January 1, 2025 and was last online 22 days ago.
I have no idea if this is useful information, but I figured it would be interesting.
As of 5:40 PM Jan 6, we finally have a new biggest upset in Group 217. @wardruine (828) wins against @numismaticsandchess (1897) via resignation. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/909871527
As of 1:50 PM on January 11 (I forgot to list this when the game showed up), Ward is 1131 rapid, 956 blitz, and 870 bullet. Numis is 1993 rapid, 2233 blitz, and 1993 bullet.
Day 7
Day 7 is pretty uneventful, but Dulingo gives me a free queen.
As of 8:41 PM Jan 7, we have 69,669 remaining games, 539,560 completed games, and 489,145 timeouts. The biggest upset is in Group 80: @Luffy7850 (766) wins by resignation against @ChezzPro85 (1950). https://www.chess.com/game/daily/909827813
Luffy is 868 rapid, 633 blitz, and 459 bullet. Chezz is 2031 rapid, 2119 blitz, and 2404 bullet.
This is what Group 314 looks like:
Day 8
Not much happens during Day 8. Except Slam deciding to be mean to me.
I'm kidding please don't report him-
Day 9
Dulingo times out in both his games at 9:44 AM. Yet another two free wins. Fun fact: I have not won by either resignation or checkmate in this tournament so far.
Looks like Restless only has one game left, and it's against Slam. RIP.
As of 10:08 AM, there are 53,863 remaining games, 555,391 completed games, and 497,572 timeouts.
Restless closes his account at some point, with only one game remaining, his game as black against Slam. The same person continues to bully me.
Day 10
While playing in my games, this happens:
The arrow has been added for those of you who are also hard of sight when it comes to bishops that exist on the other half of the board. Maybe he won't see it because it's so far away... He's 1044 rapid with a high of 1126 so unfortunately for me, he probably won't miss it.
Day 11
Clay didn't notice that he can capture my rook. Or he did and is being nice and letting me have a chance to move my rook. Or he doesn't want to capture it. Either way, my rook is safe. I almost played a move that would've kept my rook in the open but then I remembered the bishop-
I go ahead and just resign against Slam after we end up in the below position:
As of 1:45 PM, there are 37,183 remaining games, 572,070 completed games, and 506,034 timeouts. The biggest upset is still Luffy vs Chezz, but @Luffy7850 has now been closed for fair play. Lamborghini, Kinda, and Ward are still open.
We've got ✨Drama✨
Day 12
Day 12 is quite calm, at least on my end. I'm sure there's lots of games where someone just blundered their queen. Speaking of queens, Buk now has an extra one.
As of 8:45 PM, there are 30,212 remaining games and 579,029 completed games, with 509,177 of those being timeouts.
Day 13
As of 9:51 AM Jan 13, there are 27,624 remaining games, 581,619 completed games, and 510,265 timeouts. We completed 2,588 games in 13 hours and 6 minutes. As of 9:59 AM, there are now 27,585 remaining games. We completed 39 games in only 8 minutes.
Said International Master in Group 3 is @GregShahade, who currently has 62 daily games.
I casually blunder a rook to another sniper bishop.
Day 14
Buk gets ready to checkmate me, and I decide to let him have this checkmate, instead of me just resigning.
Over in tourney comments, Sheldon gets downvoted by 8 people for something that I have a strong suspicion he was joking about:
Day 15
I accidentally give Buk a free promotion.
Don't see the problem? Congratulations! You're probably U800 in all your ratings too! Here's what I should've done, which I realized the second I confirmed the move I made above:
Welp. Anyways!
As of 8:31 PM, there are 18,769 remaining games, 590,469 completed games, and 513,863 timeouts. Luffy vs Chezz is still the biggest upset.
Buk has a confirmed win and Slam will come in 2nd. It would've been fun to finally make it through to Round 2 (coming from the person who's only been in the 2024 CDCC besides this one), but not when we've got an over 2000 in all ratings besides dailies in our midst.
@PurrsianCat (Group 4,335) and @Nihl98 (Group 3,469) have gotten guaranteed wins.
Also, shoutout to this comment. I just find it to be funny. I dunno why he got downvoted. Maybe because of the sarcasm? IDK. It's a funny comment.
Day 16
I decide to just resign against Buk.
Meanwhile, @KnightSpooken (Group 961) has accidentally started drama with the below comment:
I will not be posting the ensuing argument.
My games are officially the only ones remaining in Group 314.
As of 8:47 PM, there are 15,950 remaining games, 593,277 completed games, and 514,888 timeouts. The biggest upset is still Chezz vs Luffy.
I checked the comments, and KnightSpooken is getting himself into even more trouble by making sarcastic comments. He stated that this is because of "Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers". Just go find it in the comments. I'm not putting that much drama in my blog.
Day 17
Clay times out in his two games, leaving me vs Aanya as the only two remaining games. None of my wins have been by checkmate or by resignation, only timeout. I wouldn't be surprised if Aanya, a 1216 rapid, wins instead of me, but maybe she'll accidentally give me a win.
As of 10:51 AM, there are 14,289 remaining games, 594,935 completed games, and 515,566 timeouts. We lost 1,661 games in 13 hours and 4 minutes.
Day 18
As of 1:30 PM Jan 18, there are 11,847 remaining games and 597,385 completed games, with 516,469 of those being timeouts.
There is even more drama in the comments. Perhaps a lot of people are done with most or all of their games and thus are bored enough to go say random things in the tournament comments.
Days 19
Day 19 was highly uneventful and I didn't even record what number of games we had remaining.
Day 20
I resign in my game as black against Aanya after she forks my king and rook with her queen.
My white game against her currently looks like this:
As of 10:16 AM, there are 8,727 remaining games, 20,848 remaining players, 600,497 completed games, and 517,593 timeouts. Chezz vs Luffy is still the biggest upset.
Day 21
As of 10:36 AM, there are 7,402 remaining games, 19,204 remaining players, 601,828 completed games, and 518,014 timeouts. We lost 1,325 games and 1,644 players in 12 hours and 20 minutes.
Day 22
Day 22 is uneventful.
Day 23
I decide to resign in my game against Aanya.
As of 10:27 AM, there are 5,287 remaining games, 603,936 completed games, and 518,742 timeouts.
Remember the sniper bishop in my game with Clay? Apparently that ignorance was a brilliant move ;-;
Don't mind the pfp. It was use @F1-24's moose pfp day.
As of 8:58 PM, there are 4,988 remaining games, 15,640 remaining players, 604,238 completed games, and 518,827 timeouts. We lost 299 games in 10 hours and 31 minutes.
Day 24
As of 5:32 PM, there are 4,291 remaining games, 14,418 remaining players, 604,939 completed games, and 519,078 timeouts. Chezz vs Luffy is still the biggest upset. Congratulations to everyone who has won their group!
My Games
restlesswarrior7 (White | Black)
KhaiPhongProMax (White | Black)
N/A
N/A
N/A
thunderbolt999009900 (White | Black)
N/A
