It’s time to put fire on the chessboard in the next installment of the Chess.com Community Championships. The Chess.com Atomic Chess Championship kicks off on March 4 and will feature a $2,500 prize fund. With explosive tactics and incendiary captures, this event promises to be a wild one.
Atomic Chess is a variant in which each capture triggers an explosion that affects all surrounding squares. The explosion affects all pieces in the area except pawns—including the piece that made the capture.
The explosive nature of this variant shifts the game’s dynamics, making every capture potentially devastating. With a whole new spectrum of tactics, get ready for fierce attacks and dramatic swindles! You can see a video of IM Levy Rozman talking about the variant and playing a few games:
The event starts with the qualifiers, which take place over two days on March 4 and 5—thanks to the feedback from the community! Qualifiers are 75-minute arenas with a 3+0 time control and are open to any Chess.com member. To play, check the qualifier schedule and press the Join button within an hour of it starting.
While we do encourage our members to play with fire during the event, we’ll also be closely supervising everything. During the qualifiers, our Fair Play team may require you to join a video call to ensure a safe playing environment for everyone. Players who join the call must set up two cameras from different angles in the room. Players who refuse to comply will be removed from the event.
The winner of each arena qualifies for the Final, a double-elimination knockout taking place on March 6 at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CET / 11:30 p.m. IST.
The current Chess.com Atomic Champion is Liam Hereford. Hereford won an exciting final, recovering from a first-match loss to NM Eduardo Lorenzon to win the Grand Final Reset. With this victory, Hereford became the first-ever non-titled player to win a Chess.com Community Championship title. Impressively, only one other non-titled player could repeat his feat and win a title as well.
Could another non-titled player win the title of Chess.com Atomic Chess champion this year? Join the event on March 4 and 5 and give it a shot!
