Julius Baer Generation Cup Named As Next Champions Chess Tour Event
With the fourth leg of the $2 million Champions Chess Tour ending in a thrilling climax and International Chess Day celebrations now underway, Chess.com can reveal the title of its penultimate regular season event: the 2023 Julius Baer Generation Cup.
The elite chess event, which boasts a $235,000 prize pool, will take place between August 30 and September 3 and is supported by the Tour’s Founding Partner, Swiss private bank Julius Baer.
The lineup for the 2023 edition will feature the world’s top chess players sorted into three divisions playing the Tour’s now familiar double-elimination rapid chess format.
Spots in Division I have already been secured from the previous tournament by two of the established big hitters, world number-one GM Magnus Carlsen, who is currently competing in the 2023 Bullet Chess Championship, and U.S. star super-GM Wesley So.
They will be joined by two up-and-coming stars of the game, 18-year-old Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and 17-year-old GM Denis Lazavik, who qualified after winning Division II of the Aimchess Rapid.
The remaining four spots in the top division will be decided at the pre-event Play-In on July 24, which is open to all grandmasters and qualifier winners. Chess.com can also announce Julius Baer is helping champion more gender equality in chess by becoming the title partner of the Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship.
The Julius Baer Generation Cup follows on from its debut tournament last year with the theme of inclusivity of chess across generations. Julius Baer is keen to highlight that chess, unlike many sports, is a pursuit that old, young, and everyone in between can enjoy together—not just as fans, but in competition too and at every level.
Both the Julius Baer Generation Cup and the Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship continue Julius Baer’s close association with chess and the award-winning Champions Chess Tour, from its very beginning. Since 2020, Julius Baer has seen the Tour grow from an idea into the online game’s premier circuit.
Antje Hembd, Head Global Sponsoring & Partnership at Julius Baer, said: "The Julius Baer Generation Cup is an important testament to our commitment and support of the Champions Chess Tour. In its second year, the JB Generation Cup again highlights the incredible inclusivity the game can promote and inspires a new generation of aspiring champions. In addition we are looking forward to support the 'The Women’s Speed Chess' Championship to empower women and create a more equitable, diverse and exciting chess landscape."
In 2021, the bank sponsored the Challengers Chess Tour—a ground-breaking spin-off event from the Champions Chess Tour designed to be gender-balanced and aimed at up-and-coming young stars.
The inaugural season was eventually won by the Indian prodigy GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, and the 2022 edition saw another young Indian talent, GM Pranav Venkatesh, clinch the season. The first Julius Baer Generation Cup took place in September 2022 and was won by Carlsen, who defeated GM Arjun Erigaisi in the final.
The 2023 event is sure to bring even more excitement to the board. Can Carlsen hold onto his title of Julius Baer Generation Cup champion?
Coverage begins on August 30 and will be broadcast live with commentary from Chess.com’s Oslo studio on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com’s Twitch channel.
