Chess Streamers To Play Komodo Boss Rush In Twitch Rivals Event
Chess.com and Twitch are teaming up to bring chess to the esports mainstream with a new man-vs-machine event called Komodo Boss Rush on Wednesday, April 24 at 9 a.m. PDT on www.Twitch.tv/TwitchRivals and www.Chess.com/TV.
Some of the top chess and variety streamers from Twitch will pair up to battle the Chess.com computer engine Komodo at increasing difficulty levels.
Confirmed participants include stars like Hikaru Nakamura, John Bartholomew, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Alexandra Botez and Eric Hansen, who will be looking to grab their share of the $25,000 prize fund. With 32 players per region and 64 players, this Twitch Rivals event is set to become the latest hit in a series of marquee events in the Twitch Esports category, which regularly draws over 20,000 viewers per event with some of the world's hottest esports titles.
We had a great weekend with all of you at TwitchCon Europe.
— Twitch Esports (@TwitchEsports) April 16, 2019
We’ll be back next week with #TwitchRivals Dota Auto Chess (@drodostudio) & a special @chesscom challenge!
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Streamers will play cooperative chess against up to 20 predetermined strengths of Komodo, attempting to beat each level as both White and Black before proceeding to the next stage. The first 19 levels of Komodo will get progressively stronger before any surviving teams can reach the Komodo Boss, level 20 of the mighty chess engine.
Teams will begin at level one and players will alternate moving vs Komodo while discussing the game with their teammate. At the end of the competition, teams will be ranked on the levels of Komodo they were able to defeat.
In addition to the main fight vs Komodo, streamers can also win prizes with various checkmates and displays of skill, such as a bishop-and-knight mate, pawn mate, smothered mate, winning without castling and more.
Teams will be paired by rating and will be placed into three different ratings classes.
Here is the full schedule for the event:
- Europe U2000: 18:15 CEST / 9:15 AM PT
- Europe 2000-2599: 18:30 CEST / 9:30 AM PT
- Europe 2600+: 18:45 CEST / 9:45 AM PT
- North America U2000: 23:15 CEST / 2:15 PM PM
- North America 2000-2599: 23:30 CEST / 2:30 PM PT
- North America 2600+: 23:45 CEST / 2:45 PM PT
The Komodo Boss Rush computer chess event comes shortly after a landmark Computer Chess Championship, where the machine-learning engine Lc0 (Leela Chess Zero) placed ahead of Stockfish to win the first title for a neural network.
The inclusion of chess in the Twitch Rivals series marks a historic leap for the game as it continues to grow as an esport on Twitch and beyond. Be sure to tune in to watch all of your favorite streamers in action as they attempt to outsmart and outplay one of the world's strongest chess engines.
You can catch all the action on Wednesday, April 24 at 9 a.m. PDT at www.Twitch.tv/TwitchRivals and www.Chess.com/TV.
