FIDE announces 2024 World Corporate Chess Championship

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is pleased to announce the second World Corporate Chess Championship, bringing chess and business together in a series of online events that will conclude with an over-the-board final in New York in June

FIDE is excited to present the 2024 World Corporate Chess Championship aimed at companies and corporations from across the world.

Chess and business share similarities in strategic thinking, decision-making, competition, and the need for effective planning. Both involve navigating complex environments where individuals or companies must assess risks, seize opportunities, and formulate tactics to achieve their objectives. In both realms, success often hinges on the ability to analyze situations, make informed decisions, and adapt to changing circumstances. That is why bringing people from the world of business to chess makes sense!

“Business and work are areas of life where chess vocabulary is often used to explain and illustrate things and where concepts from the 64-square game play a role in conceptualizing strategies and plans. With this in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to bring chess closer to the corporate world,” said Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Deputy Chair of FIDE’s Management Board and former minister of economics and finance of Latvia.

“In a year where we celebrate our 100th anniversary, this is also a good opportunity to foster new connections and open new opportunities for the promotion of chess,” Reizniece-Ozola added.

The first World Corporate Chess Championship was held in 2021 and was completely online. This year’s edition will feature an over-the-board final, with top teams meeting in New York to decide the winner.

Who can take part

The event is open to teams representing legally recognized companies from all around the world. A participating company can register more than one team, with each team consisting of four members plus a team captain (who may or may not also be a player on the team). Every team has a right to have one invited player who is not directly employed at the company or a member of the board, while all other team members have to be working for/on the board of the company. In any round at any stage of the competition, each team must have at least one male and one female player playing. To ensure a level playing field, each team may only have one player whose FIDE standard rating exceeds 2400 (according to the January 2024 FIDE Rating list).

The qualifying stages

The FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship will consist of three stages:

Online Qualifiers (played on Lichess.org)

Online Knockout (played on Lichess.org)

The Finals (played over-the-board at the grand finale in New York in June)

The Online Qualifiers will be played in two different formats – Rapid (six rounds, played with a time limit of 10 minutes plus 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1) and Blitz (eight rounds, played at a time limit of 5 minutes plus 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1). The Online Qualifiers will be played as Team Swiss System tournaments.

The team’s score shall be calculated as a sum of gamepoints. Each team will score 1 gamepoint for each game won, and ½ gamepoint for each game drawn, and 0 gamepoints for each game lost.

The qualifier stages will take place on the following dates:

The top 8 teams in each qualifier’s final rankings will advance to the Online Knockout Stage. The knockouts will be organized on Saturday, April 20, between 14:00 and 18:00 UTC.

The Finals will take place in New York on June 14-16. They will be played between eight winners of the Online Knockout Stage. The event will feature a group stage and a playoff stage.

The prize

⁠Teams reaching the finals have their travel and accommodation expenses in New York covered. Additionally, they secure four seats each for an online simultaneous chess game against a participant of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024. Additional prizes will come. Also, the winner will get FIDE’s recognition as the smartest company in the world. Every participating team/corporate gets a digital diploma for participating.

The official website of the event with the registration form will be launched on Monday, February 19.

Regulations for 2024 World Corporate Chess Championship