2025 Chess.com Bughouse Championship: Official Discussion Thread - Chess Forums

Wind

16 hrs ago

0

#1

The 2025 Chess.com Bughouse Chess Championship is the seventh installment of the 2025 Chess.com Community Championships, happening July 7-11 with a $5,000 prize fund.

Bughouse is one of the most popular chess variants in the world. Whether online or at over-the-board tournaments, chances are you'll always find a group of people eager to play Bughouse. And that's the case even among the chess elite, as you can see in this video of GMs Wesley So, Levon Aronian, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu having a blast while casually playing the variant.

Bughouse is a chess variant in which teams of two players compete against each other. Players from the same team play side by side on different boards and with opposite colors. When a player captures one of their opponent's pieces, they give the captured piece to their teammate. Their teammate can, at any point, spend a turn to place that piece on their board as part of their army.

This mechanic means one thing: crazy sacs and thrilling king hunts are guaranteed! Combine that with a blitz time control, and you have the perfect recipe for five days of pure excitement and drama.

The 2025 Chess.com Bughouse Chess Championship kicks off with eight qualifiers happening across four days.

Jul/7-10 • Qualifiers (click to expand details)

Anyone can join the Qualifiers. Players can join as a team or come solo to get automatically paired up by our system. However, only teams can qualify for the Final.

There are eight qualifiers
Each qualifier is a two-hour arena
Time control: 3+0
Only teams are eligible to qualify for the Final
The winner of each arena advances to the Final
Teams that have already qualified for the Final cannot play in subsequent qualifiers

Jul/11 • Bughouse Chess Championship Final (click to expand details)

The eight teams that qualified play a double-elimination knockout.

Time control: 3+0
Each match is a 30-minute countdown timer
Teams earn 1 point for a win, 0.5 for a draw, and 0 for a loss
The team with the most cumulative points when the match time runs out wins

Watch the live broadcast of the Final on our Twitch and YouTube channels, with expert commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan and FM James Canty.
Find all relevant info on our Events Page. Below a quick summary.

Variant - Bughouse
Date - July 7-11
Prize Fund - $5,000
Qualifiers Format: 2 hour arenas, 3+0 blitz, rated. Winner advances to Knockout Final.
Qualifiers Date: July 7 to 10, two arenas per day, eight total arenas. Full Schedule
Finals Format: 8 Teams double-elim. KO, 3+0 blitz, rated. Matches are a 30-min countdown.
Finals Date & Time: July 11 at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST with live broadcast.

What other variants would you like to see in the Chess.com Community Championships?
Let us know in the comments below! 🐞

HonestHufflepuff

16 hrs ago

0

#2

First!

BasixWhiteBoy

16 hrs ago

0

#3

It's my time to shine. Thank you for choosing me to represent the forums in this competition. I won't let you guys down!

AurenChess

16 hrs ago

0

#4

Let's go get this one! 😉

EzFranxper

12 hrs ago

0

#5

Hi

SacrificePawnAlways

5 hrs ago

0

#6

Ooh… Is Ding Liren playing?

dehi98

4 hrs ago

0

#7

SacrificePawnAlways 写道:

Ooh… Is Ding Liren playing?

Maybe he will

GMfor1

16 min ago

0

#8

hi