The finals of the Speed Chess Championship 2025 were held on February 7 and 8 in London. Four players competed in this Blitz and Bullet event, aimed at providing high-speed, high-stakes chess to fans in front of a sold-out crowd at 180 Studios, with a $50,000 prize pool on the line.
After three days of fast-paced action, Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen emerged as the champion, winning a third straight crown. The World No 1 eased past French GM Alireza Firouzja 15:12 to claim a fifth title overall and earn $38,888.89 for his efforts.
This prominent chess event also served as a qualifier for the Esports World Cup 2026, where the game will be returning after a successful debut last year. Although the top two were supposed to punch their tickets to Riyadh, Firouzja and the third-placed GM Denis Lazavik qualified for this multi-disciplinary spectacle, as Norwegian legend Carlsen had already made it through by virtue of being the defending champion.
Lazavik qualified for the EWC 2026 after a sensational upset over GM Hikaru Nakamura in the match for third place. The Belarusian teenager edged this encounter 13.5:12.5, ensuring he became richer by $11,394.23, and to make it just the second time in SCC history that six-time champion Nakamura finished outside of the top two.
The Speed Chess Championship 2025 peaked at 154,437 viewers during the Finals between Carlsen and Firouzja. It was a repeat of the 2024 edition's finale from Paris, and the latter gave a much better account of himself this time around after losing a lopsided match 23.5:7.5 last time around.
The nearly 154,500 concurrent viewers this competition reached was also just over 44.5% less than the Speed Chess Championship 2024, which created a series record when it hit 223,229 in September 2024. It had the added hype of being the first in the event's history to allow fans to witness the Finals live, at the ESpot Internet cafe in Paris, which undoubtedly added to the hype of what was already a star-studded field of chess players.
Although only a few competitions have been held so far this year, the SCC 2025 has emerged as the clear leader in terms of viewership. No other event has crossed 100,00 Peak Viewers (PV), with the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2026 - Masters being the only other tournament to surpass 2 million Hours Watched (HW).
Across the ten editions of the Speed Chess Championship, which is part of the Champions Chess Tour 2025, only two people have emerged as champions: Carlsen and Nakamura, with five each. This dominance, especially from the former, adds a layer of intrigue as we head into the season proper, with the Esports World Cup 2026 set to be another litmus test for challengers as they look to challenge the former world champion.
