Live Now: Arena Kings Season 4 Grand Final
Some of the top chess players in the world will vie for the crown of season four Arena Kings champion on Friday, August 9 at 2 p.m. PDT (11 p.m. CEST) live on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess.
The top 10 players of this season based on grand prix points will play a double-round robin to determine the top four who will advance to a final knockout, where one streamer will reign supreme as the best in arena chess.
Among the qualifiers for today's final are Alireza Firouzja, Georg Meier, Daniel Naroditsky and current points leader Hikaru Nakamura.
Format and prizes can be found here and you can catch expert commentary by GM Robert Hess for today's final live on ChessTV.
For more information about Arena Kings, continue reading the season intro below:
Chess.com and Twitch will partner once again for season four of the new Arena Kings chess tournament series starting on Monday, May 13.
As in season three, Monday and Friday will remain the regular Arena Kings days. A more detailed schedule is available below. We are also introducing two new special event days each month. Mystery Mondays will feature a different chess variant instead of classical chess, and Fischer Fridays will be Fischer Random (Chess960) in honor of the Fischer Random Chess World Championship qualifiers this summer.
The prize fund for season four will remain at $18,900, with a similar breakdown of prizes as season three. Of course, we are continuing with two Arena Kings Knockouts weeks (June 17 and 21, and July 29 and August 2), with the expected participation of some of the world's best chess players.
The tournament series will allow both super-grandmasters and casual players to earn cash prizes and grand-prix style leaderboard points to play their way into the season's big event, the Streamers Championship finals, alone worth more than $3,000 in prizes.
All Chess.com members are eligible to join the Arena Kings Streamers Championship season by playing an Arena Kings tournament on the Chess.com live server and streaming their games to Twitch.tv.
All players must stream their games to earn cash prizes and Arena Kings Streamers Championship leaderboard points.
You can find quick links to important event information below:
- Streaming and Identification Requirements
- Format
- Cash Prizes
- Points Awarded
- Full Schedule
- Results and Standings
The two weekly Arena Kings and Royal Arena Kings events will form a four-month streaming circuit, concluding with the Streamers Championship, giving chess fans a distinct arena-streaming season to follow and enjoy.
After the next Streamers Champion is crowned, season five will begin later this year.
Players must earn their way to the new Streamers Championship qualifier by accumulating at least 125 leaderboard points, earned in the Arena Kings and Arena Kings Knockout events for placing and streaming. As in all previous seasons, if a player plays and streams enough events, he or she will earn the required leaderboard points to play in the qualifier regardless of over-the-board results.
For tips on how to stream your games and the best ways to get more viewers, see these articles:
Arena Kings Streamers Championship Details
Streaming and Identification Requirements:
- All players must stream their games to any earn cash prizes or leaderboard points.
- Per our standard identification rules for all cash-prize events, we require all finalists in Arena Kings Knockout or the Streamers Championship events to identify themselves.
- Real names must be listed on Chess.com profiles, and streamers must appear on camera during their streams or provide verbal commentary of the games in progress to earn cash prizes during Arena Kings Knockout and Streamers Championship events.
- Anonymous players cannot earn prizes in Arena Kings Knockout and Streamers Championship events.
- All streams must be easily identifiable on Twitch by listing your streams in the game "chess."
Arena Kings
- Mondays at 5 p.m. Pacific and Fridays at 12 p.m. Pacific
- 3/0 time control
- Two-hour arena tournament
- Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess
Arena Kings Knockouts
- Two weeks per season: June 17 and 21 and July 29 and August 2
- 3/0 time control of classical chess
- Two-hour arena tournament followed by a 1.5-hour, eight-player knockout bracket
- Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess
Streamers Championship Qualifier:
- Once per Arena Kings season (every four months)
- 125 leaderboard points needed to qualify (see chart below)
- Three-hour, 3/0 blitz arena
- The top nine finishers qualify for the Streamers Championship final
- The top seed on the leaderboard after the April 5 event automatically qualifies to the final
- Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess
Streamers Championship Final:
- Once per Arena Kings season (every four months)
- One-day event
- 10-player round-robin championship
- Each finalist plays every other finalist in a two game mini-match
- Top 4 players after the round robin continue to a knockout round
- If two players are tied after the round robin, the heads-up record will be used as a tie-break
- If the heads up record is also tied, the players play 1|1 sudden death games
- All knockout matches are four games (two with each color)
- A third-place match will take place before the finals that will determine the overall winner.
- If any knockout match is tied, the players play 1|1 sudden death games
- Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess
All players must stream their games to earn cash prizes and leaderboard points. All finalists in Royal Arena Kings or the Streamers Championship events must identify themselves to win prizes. See further requirements above. Click the image for a larger version.
Leaderboard Points: 125 required to make Streamers Championship qualifier tournament
Full Schedule: Click the image for a larger version.
