2025 Chess.com Duck Chess Championship: Official Discussion Thread

The 2025 Duck Chess Championship is the next installment of this year's Chess.com Community Championships, taking place September 4-5, featuring a $2,500 prize fund, and a duck.

Duck Chess is one of the newest variants on Chess.com. It went viral in 2023, quickly winning over the hearts of creators like IMs Levy Rozman, Eric Rosen, WFM Anna Cramling, and even GM Hikaru Nakamura.

In Duck Chess, a rubber duck is placed on the chessboard and blocks the square it's on, with each player moving the duck on their turn. This added element adds a whole new layer of complexity to the game, enabling new types of tactics—or "quacktics" for Duck Chess fanatics.

The event is open to all players and features eight qualifier arenas, all taking place September 4. Each arena lasts 75 minutes and features a 3+2 time control.

The winner of each arena will qualify for the Final on September 5, a double-elimination knockout tournament with a 3+2 time control. From there, players will quack their way towards becoming the 2025 Chess.com Duck Chess Champion.

As usual, we may require participants to join a video call for fair play checks. Players who join the fair play call must set up two cameras from different angles in the room. Non-compliance will result in a player's removal from the event.

Join The Qualifiers!

Watch the live Final broadcast on our ChessTV, Twitch and YouTube channels.
Find all relevant info on our Events Page. Below a quick summary.

• Variant - Duck Chess
• Prize Fund - $2,500
• Qualifiers Format - 75 min arenas, 3+2 blitz, rated. Winner advances to Knockout Final
• Qualifiers Date - September 4, eight total arenas. Full Schedule
• Finals Format - 8 Players double-elimination knockout, 3+2 blitz, rated. Matches are Best of 4, if tied players contest 1+2 games until there's a winner.
• Finals Date & Time - September 5 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST
• Location - Online
• 🦆

First yaey

Two yay

Thankyou @Wind! <3

😋😘🎛️📹🗡️🔒🗄️🗃️🔒🔓🔏🔐🔑🗝️🔨⛏️⚒️🛠️🔫🗡️⚔️🏹🛡️🔧🔩⚙️🗜️⚖️🔗⛓️🧰🧲⚗️🧪🚿🧬⚠️☢️☣️🚫☣️☢️⚠️💯🆒🆗🆕🆙👑

Why is that called Duck? People play around a lake?

😎😃😀😈🤠👾🧨🎁🥇🔈📢📣📯🎛️🎤📻🎺☎️📟📠📞💽🌆📟📠💾💽🔍📼📹📸📷📺🎬📽️📌🧪🧫🧬🔬🔭📡💉💉

Wow

This looks fun. I will play some Duck Chess in the spirit of this event (and definitely sign up for the Spell Chess Championship next year!)

I’m not sure if it’s called the Spell Chess Championship or Spell Chess Chess Championship, sorry if I made a mistake.

Lol

i'm not good enough for this. im the ugly duckling

Wow $2,500?!?

👍

Let’s go👍

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how to participate in these tournaments?

fu

hi

Good