Arena Kings Season 9: All The Information

Arena Kings Season 9 starts on February 2 at 9 a.m. PT/18:00 CET and happens every Wednesday until May 4. The event features streamers battling in a series of 3+0 blitz arenas and knockout tournaments for their share of the $45,000 prize fund and the Arena King crown.

The top 16 players from each weekly Arena tournament advance to a knockout stage starting 10 minutes after the arena with additional prizes. Just like in previous editions, there will be dedicated Chess960 arenas during specific weeks of this season.

Any Chess.com member can play in the event, with streamers eligible for winning cash prizes.

• Broadcast
• Format
• Prizes
• Schedule
• Streaming and Identification Requirements
• Arena Kings Championship Qualifiers
• Results
• How To Participate

Broadcast

Season 9 of Arena Kings is broadcast live with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV. You can also watch the show on our official Twitch channel or enjoy all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive.

Format

Arena Kings consists of weekly arenas followed by knockout events. A Championship Qualifier and Championship Final happen in the last week of the season. Below you can see the format for each of the events:

Weekly Arenas

• The time control is 3+0
• Arenas last for two hours
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/Chess and YouTube.com/ChesscomLive
• The top 16 players from each arena move on to a subsequent knockout event

Knockout Events

• The top 16 streamers of each arena move on to the knockout event and are re-seeded according to their blitz rating
• Players compete in best-of-three matches up until the semifinals, with the final being a best-of-five match
• The time control is 3+0
• 1+1 bullet games break ties if necessary, with colors alternating from the previous game
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess and YouTube.com/ChesscomLive
• Players participating in the knockout stage broadcast their participation

Arena Kings Championship Qualifier

• Streamers who accumulate at least 10 arena points throughout the season can play in the Arena Kings Championship Qualifier (read about the point system below)
• The qualifier lasts for two hours
• The time control is 3+0
• The top 16 streamers from the Arena Kings Championship Qualifier advance to the Championship Final, a knockout event
• 1+1 bullet games break ties if necessary, with colors alternating from the previous game
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess and YouTube.com/ChesscomLive
• Players participating in the Arena Kings Championship Qualifier broadcast their participation with two cameras

Championship Final

• The top 16 players from the Arena Kings Championship Qualifier advance to the Championship Final, a knockout event
• The players are re-seeded according to their blitz rating
• Players compete in best-of-five matches
• The time control is 3+0
• 1+1 bullet games break ties if necessary, with colors alternating from the previous game
• Live broadcast on Twitch.tv/chess and YouTube.com/ChesscomLive
• Players participating in the Championship Final broadcast their participation with two cameras

Prizes

The prize fund for Arena Kings Season 9 is $45,000, divided as follows:

Weekly Arena Prize Fund: $600

• U1400: $100
• U1600: $100
• U1800: $100
• U2000: $100
• U2200: $100
• Streamer prize: $100

Weekly Knockout Prize Fund: $2,050

• 1st: $500
• 2nd: $350
• 3rd-4th: $200
• 5th-8th: $100
• 9th-16th: $50

Arena Kings Championship Qualifier: $600

• U1400: $100
• U1600: $100
• U1800: $100
• U2000: $100
• U2200: $100
• Streamer prize: $100

Championship Final Prize Fund: $12,600

• 1st: $3,500
• 2nd: $2,000
• 3rd-4th: $1,250
• 5th-8th: $650
• 9th-16th: $250

If a player is eligible for more than one prize in a given week (e.g. 10th place and U1800), they get both prizes. If a player advances to the semifinal stage of the knockout event or beyond only the higher prize is awarded and the under-prize is reassigned to the next eligible participant.

Schedule

• Regular arenas: Wednesdays at 9 a.m. PST/18:00 CET, February 2-April 27
• Chess960 arenas: Wednesdays at 9 a.m. PST/18:00 CET, March 2 and April 6
• Knockout events: ten minutes after each weekly arena
• Arena Kings Championship Qualifier: May 4 at 9 a.m. PST/18:00 CET
• Championship Final: ten minutes after the qualifier

* There was no round on March 16.

Streaming and Identification Requirements

Arena Kings Season 9 is open to all Chess.com members. Participants must stream their participation and meet all the requirements below to be eligible for prizes:

All Streamers

• The player must stream their games with boards and camera visible on stream, and their video and audio must be clear
• Verbal commentary and/or chat engagement are required. We are specifically discouraging players from streaming simply to be eligible for prizes while not providing any streaming "value"
• Anonymous players cannot earn prizes. All accounts must be labeled with the player's real name
• All players must play using accounts that properly reflect their playing strength as measured by rating.
• All forms of rating manipulation are against site rules.
• "Streaming" accounts must be approved by staff. Note that multi-accounting is against our terms of service so if an account is not approved by our staff, this can constitute grounds for us to close the account and void any results or prizes earned
• The player must stream at least 100 minutes of the event
• Players who make it to the knockout stage must set up a second field of vision camera on stream
• No more than 3 short draws are permitted per arena, particularly at the end of the arenas. We expect players to play normally at all times.

Twitch Streamers

• Streamer must be at least a Twitch Affiliate to be eligible for prizes
• Players must be easily identifiable on Twitch by listing their streams in the "Chess" category
• All streams must have "!arenakings" in the stream title
• The streamer must save their VODs for a minimum of 14 days so staff can review them after the arena
• The streamer must connect their Twitch account to Chess.com

YouTube Streamers

• Streamers must have at least 100 subscribers on YouTube.
• Streamers must email Chess.com ([email protected]), with their YouTube channel URL each week before the start of the arena
  • Players emailing after the 15-minute mark of the arena will not be eligible for prizes or points
• All streams must have "Arena Kings" in the stream title.
• All streamers must save their VODs for a minimum of 14 days so staff can review them after the arena.
  

By participating in Arena Kings, streamers agree that Chess.com can use the content for mashup/highlights (will always reference original channel and source) and also gives permission for the Chess.com commentary broadcast to show live look-ins of the player's stream during the event.

Arena Kings Championship Qualifiers

The Arena Kings Championship Qualifier works on a point-based system. Streamers collect points during the entire season and need to accumulate at least 10 points to play in the qualifier. The list below details how to earn points:

• 1st: 10 points
• 2nd: 7
• 3rd-4th: 5
• 5th-8th: 3
• 9-16th: 2
• 17th-32nd: 1
• Streaming: 1
• Win any Under prize: 2

Results

We will publish the results of the Arena Kings Season 9 in a separate article.

How To Participate

To play in the event you should follow the steps below:

1. Go to our Play page
2. Click the "Tournaments" button in the sidebar
3. Find the Arena Kings event you want to join and click on it
4. Click the "Join" button. Notice that you'll only be able to join the event at least one hour before it starts.