The Speed Chess Championship 2024, Chess.com's most elite blitz and bullet event featuring the strongest speed chess players in the world, ended on September 9. For the first time in the event's history, fans got to witness the Finals live at the ESpot Internet cafe in Paris, France, helping it become the second most popular chess event in 2024.
This $175,000 Chess tournament witnessed top GMs like Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja, and Hikaru Nakamura in action, with this trio joined by Hans Niemann in the four-person Finals. Eventually, it was the unstoppable World No 1 who clinched his fourth title at this event after dominantly defeating Alireza Firouzja 23.5:7.5, taking home a little over $60,000 as prize money.
Nakamura beat Niemann in the consolation match to take third, with this being his first time not reaching the Final in almost ten years of the competition after losing the semifinals 11:16 to Firouzja. In fact, he and Carlsen are the only two players to have ever won this championship, with the American making every title clash between 2016 and 2023 and all his losses coming to the five-time world champion.
Thanks to a star-studded field of participants and the legacy of the series, the Speed Chess Championship 2024 hit 223.2K Peak Viewers. This was achieved during the semifinals between Carlsen and Niemann, which was a pretty close affair that saw the Norwegian legend come out on top with a 17.5:12.5 scoreline.
Interestingly, the peak came at the end of the first segment involving 90 minutes of 5+1 games in Blitz, where Carlsen opened a comfortable lead that he never relinquished. This was also when Niemann seemingly encountered technical issues involving the clock, mouse, and server which he reported to the arbiters and were checked on by Chess.com before the match resumed.
The only other game to cross 200K PV was the in-person Final, which was dubbed as the clash between the King and the Prince. Fans were excited to see Firouzja, dubbed the best talent of the next generation and someone who can challenge Carlsen in the future, face off with the legend after he dismantled Nakamura, attracting a healthy crowd for the clash.
That the Frenchman was coming off a slew of wins, including the Sinquefield Cup 2024 and Grand Chess Tour, added to the anticipation for this meeting. However, things were more one-sided than anticipated, although the challenger to the throne appreciated the challenge, saying 'he will continue to challenge Carlsen in the future.'
When looking at the platforms, YouTube continues to be the live-streaming service of choice for most viewers, with most big influencers in the sport calling it home. Kick almost exclusively depends on the celebrity of Nakamura to bring in audiences, with the World No 2 ending as the third-most popular individual channel.
Speaking of channels, Chess events continue to bank a lot of official handles to reach a wider audience. The Speed Chess Championship 2024 was no different, with the official channels on YouTube and Twitch emerging as the most watched and most popular.
However, the impact of community casting cannot be underestimated, with the likes of Carlsen, Nakamura, and Raffael Chess constantly growing their numbers at each competition they cover. Crucially, when they do decide to cover any event, they can bring with them the perspective of being players themselves which helps fans understand and follow the action easily.
English remains the most watched language, although Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian viewers followed the competition almost equally. A majority of viewers continue to come from Europe, where the game has continued to grow after its pandemic era boom.
As mentioned earlier, the Speed Chess Championship 2024 ended as the year's second most popular Chess tournament, behind the highly successful FIDE Candidates Chess Tournaments 2024. It was also the second most popular Chess.com competition ever, with only Chess.com Pogchamps 3 from 2021 doing better.
Additionally, this Blitz and Bullet event is now the most successful iteration of the Speed Chess series in its near decade-long run. It is also the only edition to pass the 3M HW mark, proving that the star power of its participating field is vital to attracting more viewers.
It's been another great year for Chess and its fans globally, with many successful events being organized across the world. With the 2024 FIDE World Championship yet to come, alongside other prestigious tournaments, things are far from over, and it remains to be seen how much higher the viewership scene can go.
