Arena Kings got a fresh new start on October 1; the new monthly version of Arena Kings continues to showcase the Chess.com streaming community as it always has, and only adds to that sense of community by allowing players to join together in a large, multi-club arena. This inaugural edition can be considered a success after 2,341 players representing 56 different streamers’ Chess.com clubs joined in, a 40% increase in participation compared to the past year average under the previous format.
Ronaldo Playing Chess, a fan club of the soccer star run by streamer @jack2212, won the tournament, while IM Renato Terry of his Los Terrybles club posted the best individual score. Second-place individual finisher GM Oleksandr Bortnyk led his Bortnyk Chess club to fourth place as fourth- and ninth-place GMs Daniel Naroditsky and Haowen Xue joined forces alongside him. Four of these five players (all except Xue) streamed their proceedings on Twitch.
WIM Anna-Maja Kazarian was the featured streamer at Chess.com/events as part of her overall six-hour stream.
Nor were Kazarian, Terry, Bortnyk, and Naroditsky the only high-profile players to share their games live over the two hours of the arena. Others included IM Eric Rosen, IM George “The Big Greek” Souleidis, and NM Kevin “Blitzstream” Bordi. Three of them—Naroditsky in Russian, Souleidis in German, and Bordi in French—streamed in languages besides English, bringing Arena Kings to an international audience.
Although the Ronaldo fan club led the team standings most of the way, Terry and Bortnyk battled for the top individual spot until the very end, when the two-hour tournament clock ran out during their game. Terry thus ended on a six-game winning streak and retained his lead with a 29/33 overall score, including two wins over Naroditsky in his last four games that counted.
The next edition of Arena Kings will be held on November 5 at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET. You can catch your favorite streamers competing for prizes then, or apply below to participate yourself! Full regulations can be found here.
October 1 Arena Kings | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Club | Total Players | Score |
| 1 | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 157 | 2141 |
| 2 | Yoseph Club | 138 | 1736 |
| 3 | Witty_Aliens | 232 | 1464 |
| 4 | Bortnyk_Chess | 80 | 1291 |
| 5 | CHESSBRAHS | 138 | 1273 |
| 6 | Szachowe Zoo | 50 | 1248 |
| 7 | BlitzStream | 218 | 1199 |
| 8 | Eric Rosen Fan Club | 149 | 1195 |
| 9 | Klub Zbigniewa Paklezy | 74 | 1051 |
| 10 | Ahmet Dönmez Satranç | 55 | 970 |
| 11 | GMSpiderIbarra | 80 | 970 |
| 12 | Sabo Satranç | 217 | 934 |
| 13 | The Big Greek Fan Club | 40 | 820 |
| 14 | K2N_chess | 30 | 809 |
| 15 | ChessDojo | 46 | 752 |
| 16 | Sadistic Minions | 51 | 748 |
| 17 | 64 Squares ka khel | 36 | 735 |
| 18 | Speed Chess Twitch | 25 | 611 |
| 19 | afitpawn YT | 43 | 605 |
| 20 | Blunder Men Chess Club | 31 | 585 |
| 21 | Stowarzyszenie Szachistów Cebularz Lublin | 34 | 559 |
| 22 | phoebe’s friends cafe | 28 | 481 |
| 23 | Lile Koridze fan club | 23 | 448 |
| 24 | Demonchess | 29 | 440 |
| 25 | chessMAD | 20 | 433 |
October 1 Arena Kings | Top 20 Individual Finishers
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Club | Score | Long Streak |
| 1 | IM | @MITerryble | Los Terrybles | 100 | 8 | |
| 2 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Bortnyk_Chess | 97 | 12 | |
| 3 | @CristianArrieta1 | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 92 | 14 | ||
| 4 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Bortnyk_Chess | 87 | 13 | |
| 5 | IM | @lucliasco | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 84 | 11 | |
| 6 | IM | @Gianmarco_es | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 82 | 10 | |
| 7 | @AladarRyder | Yoseph Club | 81 | 8 | ||
| 8 | IM | @yosephtaher | Yoseph Club | 80 | 8 | |
| 9 | GM | @Dr_Tyger | Bortnyk_Chess | 79 | 15 | |
| 10 | IM | @JakubPulpan | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 79 | 7 | |
| 11 | GM | @KNVB | CHESSBRAHS | 78 | 11 | |
| 12 | IM | @atbenina64 | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 78 | 9 | |
| 13 | @yaZID19_pratama | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 78 | 8 | ||
| 14 | IM | @carokannlover213 | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 77 | 13 | |
| 15 | CM | @Germanovs_Georgijs | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 77 | 9 | |
| 16 | @Realistically12 | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 76 | 5 | ||
| 17 | GM | @VSERGUEI | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 75 | 7 | |
| 18 | FM | @ixcii | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 74 | 9 | |
| 19 | FM | @ReadySkate | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 73 | 12 | |
| 20 | FM | @Gravity_Chess | Ronaldo Playing Chess | 73 | 5 |
