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Arena Kings Season 8 Recap: Nakamura Wins Championship Final

Arena Kings Season 8 Recap: Nakamura Wins Championship Final

NathanielGreen
| 15 | Chess Event Coverage

Another season of Chess.com's premier streaming event, Arena Kings, is in the books. Season 8 concluded on Wednesday, December 15, with GM Hikaru Nakamura (@Hikaru) winning the Championship Final and earning the $4,000 prize for first place. Nakamura won an additional $4,150 during the season for total earnings of $8,150.

In the last round of the Championship Final, Nakamura defeated GM Raunak Sadhwani (@champ2005) by a 3-1 score. Sadhwani won $425 during the season and $2,000 in the final for a total of $2,425 in prizes.

The full broadcast of the Championship and Championship Final, with hosts NM James Canty III and, for the FInal, GM Daniel Naroditsky.

Arena Kings Season 8
Bracket of the Championship Final.

Season 8 consisted of the usual weekly arena tournaments, of which there are 12, including two Chess960 (Fischer Random) tournaments. December 15 was the culmination, a two-hour Championship arena followed the Championship Final knockout.

Throughout the season players earned points for their standing each week. Players who scored at least 100 points were eligible for the Championship. 

Season Standings

Rank Player Points # Events Channel Name
1 Hikaru 975 10 www.twitch.tv/gmhikaru GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 wonderfultime 960 12 www.twitch.tv/gmminhle IM Tuan Minh Le
3 Jospem 795 11 www.twitch.tv/gmjosephmart GM Jose Martinez
4 Oleksandr_Bortnyk 585 10 www.twitch.tv/bortnyk_chess GM Oleksandr Bortnyk
5 exoticprincess 520 9 www.twitch.tv/jamesblunder GM Baadur Jobava
6 miterryble 505 11 www.twitch.tv/miterryble IM Renato Terry Lujan
7 emiliochess 465 11 www.twitch.tv/mrchessmx NM Emilio Castellanos
8 Zhigalko_Sergei 460 11 www.youtube.com/c/SergeiZhigalkoChess GM Sergei Zhigalko
9 GMBenjaminBok 380 7 www.twitch.tv/gmbenjaminbok GM Benjamin Bok
10 The_Blessed 315 12 www.youtube.com/channel/UC045f5ja4Ln5PsXI4n6u5pQ Arian Piscoya Romero
11 diamondop 300 10 www.youtube.com/channel/UCaUY_EmSKy5tkCv1GC4JIIA Rushil Shah
12 jack2212 280 11 www.youtube.com/channel/UCPYuG83HjsxyLAfEhCu6awg Shlok Chandrani
13 MarcoRiehle 275 10 www.twitch.tv/chesshobbits99 FM Marco Riehle
14 vugarrasulov 270 7 www.youtube.com/channel/UCatcV_KnIFEsFWLoj5ByXdQ GM Vugar Rasulov
15-T XDPS 265 9 www.twitch.tv/gmsalinas GM Pablo Salinas
15-T gurkiraatt 265 10 www.youtube.com/channel/UCDmmH-Ue1XlmFoTWygYUhlw Gurkirat Singh Anand
15-T strider23cpk 265 11 www.twitch.tv/strider28cpk Caleb Kircher
18 siddharthsarma_2003 250 12 www.youtube.com/channel/UCFG6OW-V9vFa5KoKyIse0ew Siddharth Sarma
19 hallvardhf 245 12 www.twitch.tv/hallvardhf Hallvard Haug Flatebo
20-T artem_sadovsky 210 11 www.twitch.tv/IM_ArtemSadovsky IM Artem Sadovsky
20-T ChessHeroesComp 210 11 www.twitch.tv/chessheroes Andrew Horne
22 KeshavGupta1 205 10 www.youtube.com/channel/UCjAbfK2K78bHyfWf9_CkAAQ Keshav Gupta
23 Arseniy_Nesterov 200 5 www.youtube.com/channel/UCev1BG00VIdNflNX_ZTg58g GM Arseniy Nesterov
24 ChessLover0108 195 7 www.youtube.com/channel/UCWRsd9ffavDMpXxHmwi2ddg IM Mahammad Muradli
25-T MikhailTal-ReBorn 190 9 www.youtube.com/channel/UCBXLHqAoK7034O-tIGD-ksA Saksham Singh
25-T TigrVShlyape 190 9 www.twitch.tv/igmgatakamsky GM Gata Kamsky
27 champ2005 175 5 www.youtube.com/channel/UCIDUkl61OpGhEo_0RQ-5H6w GM Raunak Sadhwani
28-T SundramNaam2SunaHoga 170 7 www.youtube.com/channel/UCBIS7oXQ42849gL0fh-gLng Sundram Kumar
28-T R_ANIRUDH 170 8 www.twitch.tv/chessguy1976 Anirudh R
28-T RYZ3NGAMES 170 10 www.youtube.com/c/Ryz3Ngames Krish Kumar
28-T FritziSchach_Twitch 170 12 www.twitch.tv/fritzischach Marvin Henning
32 OhanyanEminChess 165 9 www.youtube.com/channel/UC-pg99UwhhMpxBWTdE8XL0g FM Emin Ohanyan
33-T ckgchess 160 6 www.youtube.com/channel/UCDw07vdFzmMqY6LSVKjwZnw IM Cem Kaan Gokerkan
33-T Damianolew95 160 6 www.twitch.tv/DamianLewtak IM Damian Lewtak
33-T GMHess 160 6 www.twitch.tv/gmhess GM Robert Hess
33-T leapmanpepa 160 12 www.twitch.tv/leapmanpepa Edwin Vargas
37-T kbkhan91 145 7 www.twitch.tv/kbkhan91 Kaykobad Khan
37-T ande_star 145 12 www.twitch.tv/ande_star Andrea Jakovac
39 ME_Mosharrof 140 9 www.twitch.tv/mosharrof Mosharrof Hossain
40-T GMSrinath 135 6 www.youtube.com/channel/UC0GH48LA_TcWKWOIXJkyJXg GM Srinath Narayanan
40-T Mr_Ruthless 135 6 www.youtube.com/channel/UCQxuDui8osU_DBMZLFwmCRw Namitbir Singh Walia
42 LordGigantics 130 8 www.youtube.com/channel/UCyVOLOcqwgfZ6erbMl8DW9g Sriansh sinha
43-T SleepingBeast07 120 8 www.youtube.com/channel/UCOVn8fkCgVb_IWtWjgd_Dtg Aryan Nair
43-T cha_charealsmooth 120 12 www.twitch.tv/chachachess Vahan Nalbandyan
43-T NikolaDubovik 120 12 www.youtube.com/channel/UCd_jjprIf7VTo_dyppgJa5Q Nikolay Dubovik
43-T th3d4rkness 120 12 www.twitch.tv/aajusti Luciano Justi Antunes
47 Blitzstream 115 9 www.twitch.tv/blitzstream Kevin Bordi
48-T Akshay_joglekar 110 2 www.youtube.com/channel/UCtKsYIdT2Qe8kR5Ng8VyijQ Akshay Joglekar
48-T adarsh0369 110 3 www.youtube.com/channel/UCwTQchThDnuMpPEbpQK6CLg Adarsh Sudhakaran
48-T adriananikolova 110 11 www.twitch.tv/wgmadriana WGM Adriana Nikolova
48-T potatoboi007 110 11 www.twitch.tv/potatoboi007 Harshit Singh
52-T Tanishv1234 100 2 www.youtube.com/c/SportsWithTanish Tanish Virmani
52-T moro182 100 5 www.twitch.tv/gm_moro GM Luca Moroni Jr
52-T shreyas1609 100 6 www.youtube.com/channel/UCVr4zb1HHi4tZXK4hlGs7WA Shreyas K
52-T vallabhtft 100 6 www.twitch.tv/vallabhtft Neil Vallabh
52-T biregina 100 10 www.twitch.tv/biregina Nicolas Perossa
52-T NM_Antelacus 100 10 www.twitch.tv/antelacus NM Alberto Fabris

The top eight finishers advanced to the Championship Final, where Nakamura toppled IM Renato Terry (@miterryble), GM Jose Martinez (@Jospem), and GM Sadhwani on his way to victory.

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.

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