chess24 and the Play Magnus Group are proud to announce the $1.5 million Champions Chess Tour, a series of ten tournaments featuring the world's top chess stars that will for the first time determine the world's best player over the course of a full season of online chess. The action kicks off with the Skilling Open on November 22-30 and runs until September 2021.
The Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour was born in April-May in response to the pandemic and quickly captured the imagination of millions of chess fans around the world.
It's now time for the next stage, the Champions Chess Tour, which will be bigger and bolder. Ten events will be played over 11 months, with the action reaching its climax in the final in September 2021.
Each event will last 9 days, with prize funds ranging from $100,000 up to $300,000 for the grand final, with a total purse of $1.5 million.
The logos for the tour and each individual event are graphical representations created from the moves of a particular game of chess. The game chosen for the Champions Chess Tour logo is the spectacular end to the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour: the $140,000 Armageddon decider that saw World Champion Magnus Carlsen beat Hikaru Nakamura.
Tour director Arne Horvei said:
We are incredibly proud to reveal this new logo as the run-up to the Champions Chess Tour begins. It was only natural that this game was used because it depicts perhaps the most memorable moment yet in online chess history. The new tour begins on November 22 and will be even bigger and better than its predecessor, the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Play Magnus Group is at the forefront of developing online chess as a nascent online sport and we expect this worldwide craze only to continue!
Each tour event will get its own version of the logo based on a memorable game, with chess24 Premium members able to vote for the game as the Champions Chess Tour progresses.
The Skilling Open logo was generated from The Game of the Century, the famous game 13-year-old future World Champion Bobby Fischer won against Donald Byrne in 1956
The tour kicks off with the 16-player Skilling Open, to be held from November 22 to November 30. The event is sponsored by the Nordic trading platform Skilling, which has agreed a 12-month partnership with Play Magnus.
As part of the deal, World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen will act as Skilling's ambassador and represent their brand. Carlsen said:
I have been fascinated by Skilling as a fintech player, and I like the attitude of making things accessible and easy for both beginners and experienced players. We share the view that everyone with an interest in something should have the opportunity to exploit and develop their full potential.
André Lavold, CEO of Skilling Group, said:
Skilling offers online trading in a wide range of the world's stock, currency and commodity markets. We are now working more actively with marketing aimed at the Nordic market, and the sponsorship collaboration with Play Magnus and Magnus Carlsen will be an important part of our investment in Norway and the Nordic region. In addition, chess players are analytical and up-and-coming people, and we believe many of them will be interested in international financial trading.
Stay tuned for players announcements and more details both here on chess24 and on the brand new Champions Chess Tour website: https://championschesstour.com
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