Nearly 600 Play In Bikfoot's Prize Arena

Chess.com and Partner Streamer Wouter Bik hosted the first ever co-sponsored arena tournament on January 21, and nearly 600 chess players competed for "prime number glory"!

Per the event rules, only those finishing (by a combination of skill and luck) in prime-number slots could win a cash prize.

WINNERS: Please send an e-mail to titled@chess.com from the e-mail address affiliated with your Chess.com account to claim your prize.

Though several people streamed their games while playing, including the Norwegian grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer, the official broadcast brought together Bikfoot and IM Danny Rensch for a show as lively as any ever held on Chess.com/TV.

Don't believe us? Watch one of the clips below:

The full show replay can be found here, but it wasn't all funny business! IM Rensch and Bikfoot followed all the games closely during the two-hour arena tournament, and even jumped in the pool of players a couple times. Here's one of the more thrilling moments where Bikfoot got his first win:

The final standings can be found here, and while a few players were later found guilty of fair-play violations, the final standings were not affected, and all those listed in prime-number slots are to be awarded prizes. 

The top-finishing titled players were GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (third place), IM PinguInTheCity (anonymous), IM Alex Katz and GM Imre Balog. While not all of them are eligible for prizes based on the prime-number criteria, following them led to many instructive moments during the show.

So who finished in lucky #97? The last $20 prime-number prize went to Farhan Ahmed for being just good (or bad?) enough to squeeze into the top 100. Congratulations to all the prize winners!

Wouter Bikfoot is one of the most popular streamers to have joined the Chess.com and Twitch Partner Program, and is regularly looking for interesting, innovative ways to get his fans involved in his shows.

On January 27, he will square off against another partner of the streaming program, Alexandra Botez, in a self-organized "Mini Death Match."

The two will play blitz and bullet for two hours straight, where both Wouter and Alexandra will compete to win the match and for the love of the fans by streaming their own thoughts while they play!

Wouter Bik's channel can be followed here: https://www.twitch.tv/bikfoot

Alexandra Botez's channel can be followed here: https://www.twitch.tv/alexandrabotez

Are you enjoying the co-organized streams by Chess.com and their partner streamers? Do you have any other ideas on fun ways to involve the chess-streaming community and events on Chess.com? Please leave a comment and let us know your thoughts!