Win Prizes In The Spring 2025 CCL Predictions Challenge
The 2025 Collegiate Chess League (CCL) Playoffs are upon us, and you can join in on the excitement by predicting who wins!
Can you see Mizzou repeating as champions? Will Saint Louis avenge last year's title match? Will a dark horse emerge? Will you be the one to believe in the underdog team that is about to go on a shocking winning streak? Immortalize your foresight and win prizes!
As the proud sponsor of the 2025 Collegiate Chess League, Susquehanna International Group has teamed up with Chess.com once again for the CCL Bracket Predictions Challenge. The bracket prediction winner in each of the 24 divisions will walk away with a six-month Chess.com Diamond Membership.*
To enter, submit your predictions by March 15, 2025 at 1 p.m. ET / 18:00 CET / 10:30 p.m. IST.
How To Participate
Click the button above for the Spring 2025 prediction brackets. Each division has its own bracket. Make predictions for as many divisions as you'd like. Fill out all 24 for your best chance to win!
Make sure to include your email in your entry, so we can ensure you receive your prize if you create one of the victorious brackets.
Then, sit back and watch your favorite teams duke it out in the Playoffs―knowing each of their wins brings you closer to a chance to win six months of Chess.com diamond membership!
Winners will be notified by email at the email address provided the week of April 15.**
*One winner per bracket. No purchase is necessary to participate or win. Prizes cannot be transferred or redeemed for cash. Participants may not win more than one bracket. Void where prohibited.
Some Of The Favorites: Division 1
The Leaders: Saint Louis University
They were defeated in the finals last year, but Saint Louis is back and hasn't lost a match yet this season. With an all-GM lineup and some new faces including GMs Viktor Gazik and Aryan Chopra, SLU is ready to regain the title! As the top seed, they are seeded straight into the Semifinals.
Reigning Champions: University of Missouri - Columbia
After three consecutive championships for Saint Louis University, Missouri took the title from them last year. They're a powerful team with an all-GM lineup and have a good shot to repeat as champions again this year. Like SLU, Missouri, as the second seed, has a free pass to the Semis.
Always Dangerous: SRM Institute of Science and Technology
The lone Indian team in the top division shouldn't be taken lightly. They only lost to the two all-GM teams. Their lineup features GMs M Pranesh and Arjun Kalyan, supported by five IMs, and they will be a hard team for anyone to defeat in the Playoffs.
The Balanced Lineup: National Technical University Of Athens
Representing Greece, this team has a lineup of mostly IMs and FMs. Despite having no grandmasters, they won most of their regular season matchups and clinched the fourth seeding in the Playoffs.
The Pan Am Champions: University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
They've been having a rough season, but Texas at Rio Grande is always a dangerous team. They have won the CCL in the past and are the reigning champions of the Pan American Intercollegiate Championship, the most prestigious collegiate event in American OTB chess.
The Rookies: Lviv State University of Physical Culture
Although this is their first season in the top division, Lviv took the final playoff spot ahead of the veteran teams Yale and Virginia. They are led by GMs Igor Kovalenko and Martyn Kravtsiv, two of the best players in the league. After those giants, there are two promising but untitled players. Each Lviv match is an exciting race as the top players aim to win every game and the other boards aim to score a couple of upsets.
For all standings and results for Division 1, see our events page.
Division 2
In Group A, Illinois won the regular season with a 6-1 record, but keep an eye on Rice University, which got second and managed to give Illinois their only loss. You can see Rice's captain Stephen Xu celebrating a victory against them on broadcast in this highlight. In Group B, Shri Ram College of Commerce from India won the regular season on tiebreaks just ahead of Far Eastern University A from the Philippines.
Division 3
In Group A, Lviv's B team was able to sweep their group 7-0 for the second season in a row. Can this team from Ukraine improve upon their third place finish in Division 3 from last season? Group B saw University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill win first place, but American University of Armenia finished right behind them and also handed the Tar Heels their only loss of the season. Which team will emerge as the new season's champions?
For all standings and results for Divisions 2-3, see the Playfly platform.
Divisions 4-24
Standings and results for Divisions 4-24 are available here.
The Collegiate Chess League (CCL) is the premier online chess competition for college students. It is a team event with an all-play-all blitz format, featuring a $25,000 prize fund thanks to tournament sponsor Susquehanna.
Previous coverage:
- Week 7: Rio Grand Valley Edges Lviv State University In Tense Match: CCL Week 7
- Week 6: SLU Defeats Mizzou To Remain Unbeaten
- Week 5: SLU Handles Yale
- Week 4: Mizzou Sweeps First Round On Way To Victory: CCL Week 4
- Week 3: Saint Louis Wins Clash Of Leaders To Reach 3/3
- Week 2: Saint Louis Leads With SRM On 2/2, Athens Scores 1st Win
- Week 1: Missouri Settles the Score vs. Virginia, SLU Inches Ahead of Athens
- College Chess League Spring 2025 Registration
Jeremy Kane is a National Master and three-time Wisconsin state champion. He is the Director of Training Content for Chess.com. He has been teaching chess in person and online for over 15 years and has designed hundreds of lessons, available on chess.com/lessons. He is the author of Starting Out The Trompowsky on Chessable and The Next To Last Mistake, a book on defensive ideas in chess.
He is the developer of the Caro-Kane Variation of the Caro-Kann Defense.
email: jeremy@chess.com
Twitter/X: @chessmensch
