Naroditsky Wins Arena Kings Final, Tang Wins Season Two

Grandmasters Daniel Naroditsky and Andrew Tang (two of the fastest flag kings in chess) put their firm stamp on the Arena Kings Season Two by winning the finals (Naroditsky) and overall season (Tang). Naroditsky won the finals on Wednesday, December 12th with a gaudy score while Andrew Tang's season-long performance kept him ahead in total Arena Kings points.

The Arena Kings season two took place over two stages, first a regular season, then a qualifier and finals.

Regular Season

The regular season of the Arena Kings Streamers Championship Season Two was staged from September to December and was played thrice a week on Mondays (1+0 arena), Wednesdays (3+0 arena), and Fridays (5+0 arena).

Streaming participants received Grand Prix points for their participation and placement during the regular season. Each event also had it's own prize fund; details are available here.

The biggest news in season two was the entrance of Hikaru Nakamura into the field. The strongest chess streamer in the world racked up a bevvy of points with convincing performances in each event he played. Here he is winning a Royal Arena Kings event with victories against grandmasters Jon Ludvig Hammer, Alexander Lenderman, and Gata Kamsky.

Finals Qualifier

Once the regular season wrapped up, all participants with 125 or more  Grand Prix points (full leaderboard here) were seeded into the finals qualifier on Monday, December 10th where a total of 48 eligible players competed to secure one of the top 10 slots in the finals.

Some players who were strong performers during the regular season were not able to participate during finals week. Most notably absent was Hikaru Nakamura while Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja was also missed. Georg Meier won the qualifier while Krikor Mekhitarian, Pavel Ansimov, Daniel Naroditsky, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Kevin Bordi, Andrew Tang, Alexander Lenderman, Vlad Dobrov, and ChessicallyInclined all secured qualification into the finals.

Finals

The climactic finals proved to be anticlimactic in many ways as Daniel Naroditsky absolutely ran away with the event. He scored 22/27, losing only five games. Coincidentally five games was also his margin of victory over the rest of the field! Here are the final standings and prize money from the finals.

Here is Naroditsky streaming his powerful performance:

Some of the other competitors had great moments, but they just couldn't put a complete run together. As Hammer lamented after a disastrous premove, "It's one of those days."

IM Levy Rozman commentated the finals, shifting between being in awe of Naroditsky and being astonished at the various gaffes.

Points earned in the final were added to seasonal scores and the top 15 finishers received prize money based on their seasonal point totals.

Thanks to all the streamers, players, and spectators who made this season a blast. We'll be back with season three on January 14th!