Magnus or Hikaru will the first to qualify for Chess’ EWC debut.
Two chess grandmasters clash in the grand final of Champions Chess Tour 2025 - Chessable Masters. Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura meet in the grand final after a week of chess, and the winner becomes the first qualifier for the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025.
Chessable Masters 2025 Grand Final
Either Magnus Carlsen, representing Team Liquid, or Hikaru Nakamura for Team Falcons will be the first player to qualify for EWC 2025. This is actually a rematch of the upper bracket final that happened only a day before the grand final is scheduled.
The upper bracket final between Carlsen and Nakamura went in the former grandmaster's favor, with the match ending in 2.5 - 0.5.
This loss caused Nakamura to drop to the lower bracket final, where he faced Ian Nepomniachtchi, representing Aurora. The match ended in three draws, and Nakamura gets another against Carlsen.
The winner of the event will take home USD $25,000 as well as 100 points on the CCT Leaderboard.
Apart from the tree above, there are more competitors who represent various esports orgs. Among the invited players; there is Fabiano Caruana for Team Liquid, Arjun Erigaisi representing Gen.G Esports, and Wesley So for Natus Vincere.
The play-in swiss saw Maxime Vachier-Lagrave for Team Vitality and Wei Yi for Weibo Gaming.
Related articles
Where and how to watch the Chessable Masters final
You can watch the game on the Chess.com YouTube and Twitch channels. The grand final begins on Feb. 21, 2025 at 8:15 AM Pacific Time.
Chess in the Esports World Cup 2025
The top 12 players from the CCT leaderboard will qualify for this year's EWC. Chess is a new addition for this year, and was not part of last year's 22 titles.
GM Magnus Carlsen was also named as the global brand ambassador for Chess in the international esports event. You can read everything we know about Chess in EWC here, including the format and how it came to be.
Stick around esports.gg for more Chess news and updates.
