CCT ChessCom Classic Play-In: A Strong Pack Joins Magnus, Hikaru and Gukesh
The 2025 Chess.com Classic, the final online event of the Champions Chess Tour (CCT), concluded its Play-In and Match Play phases on May 19, 2025, setting the stage for an electrifying playoffs. With Esports World Cup spots and a $150,000 prize pool on the line, the competition saw some intense and ruthless encounters between the top GMs in the world.
The Play-In stage saw a flawless Fabiano Caruana, who cruised his way to 7/9 without faltering. The swiss was eventually won by Vladimir Fedoseev with 7.5/9. As many as 5 Indians made it to the top 15 – Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, Vidit Gujrathi and Pranesh M. However, some big names, including Alireza Firouzja who also had to face relegation. Here is how the standings looked after the 9-round swiss:
With a dominating performance, Fedoseev booked his seat directly to the playoffs, while the rest of the 14 players played in the match play phase; the match play phase saw a mini upset where Denis Lazavik beat Nihal Sarin. His win can be attributed to his speed and time management in this unique 10+0 time control. The rest of the matches went in favour of the favourites:
The day concluded with a strong statement from Poland No. 1, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who expressed his frustrations with classical chess and his results in the format. “To be honest, I’m pretty fed up with classical chess or rather with what I’ve been doing for a very long time in this format… I think it’s quite likely that I won’t participate in both the World Cup and Grand Swiss,” says Duda. Let’s see how the ambitious Polish champion fares against World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen.
The play-in phase has set up many exciting matches for the playoffs – matches like Pragg vs. Ding, Arjun vs. Nepo, Magnus Carlsen vs. Duda, etc. The exciting 16-player double-elimination KO will take place across 4 days, May 20-23, treating chess fans to the pure bliss of enterprising chess. Who, in your opinion, will book their tickets to Riyadh?
Graphic courtesy: Chess.com
