The Champions Chess Tour 2021, known for sponsorship reasons as the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, was a 10-month long series of 10 online chess tournaments featuring the world's top players, playing for a prize money pool of US$1.5 million. The tournament games were held on chess24.com and broadcast on Twitch, YouTube, chess24.com itself, and the tour's official website. The tour started on November 22, 2020, and lasted until October 4, 2021. The tournaments were not rated by FIDE.

Format There are 10 total tournaments in the tour: 6 labelled as Regular, 3 labelled as Major, and 1 Final. Each takes place towards the end of a month over the course of 9 days.

Qualification According to the tour regulations, there are 16 spots in a Regular tournament, 12 spots in a Major tournament, and 10 spots in the Final tournament. However, after the first Major tournament (Airthings Masters), it was concluded that 8 out of 12 players advancing to the knockout round rewarded cautious play, and the remaining Major tournaments (Magnus Carlsen Invitational and FTX Crypto Cup) were conducted with 16 players.

For each of the Regular tournaments except for the first one, 8 of the 16 spots are given to the current top 8 players in the Tour Rankings. The rest of the spots are given out via wild cards, invitations, or popular votes. The 16 spots for the first tournament of the tour are chosen via the decision of the event organizers.

For the Major tournaments, 8 of the spots are also given to the current top 8 players in the Tour Rankings. The winner of the preceding Regular tournament is also given a spot, if he or she is not already in the top 8. The rest of the spots are given via wild cards.

For the Final tournament, 8 of the 10 spots are given first to the winners of the 3 Major tournaments, then down the standings of the Tour Rankings. The final 2 spots are given to the best-performing "Tour Ambassadors."

Schedule DatesTournament NameTypeNovember 22–30, 2020Skilling OpenRegularDecember 26, 2020 – January 3, 2021Airthings MastersMajorFebruary 6–14, 2021Opera Euro RapidRegularMarch 13–21, 2021Magnus Carlsen Invitational 2021MajorApril 24 – May 2, 2021New In Chess ClassicRegularMay 23–31, 2021FTX Crypto CupMajorJune 26 – July 4, 2021Goldmoney Asian RapidRegularJuly 31 – August 8, 2021Chessable MastersRegularAugust 28 – September 5, 2021Aimchess US RapidRegularSeptember 25 – October 4, 2021Meltwater Champions Chess Tour FinalsFinal

Time controls

Three different time controls are used in the tour:

In rapid games, each player has 15 minutes, plus a 10-second increment for each move. In blitz games, each player has 5 minutes, plus a 3-second increment for each move. In Armageddon games, white has 5 minutes, black has 4 minutes, there is no increment, and black wins the tie in case of a draw.

Tournament formats Regular The Regular tournaments consist of a preliminary round and 3 knockout rounds. In the preliminary round, the 16 players participate in a round-robin spanning 3 days (5 games per day), with each player playing the other players for 1 rapid game, for a total of 120 games. The top 8 players with the most points advance to the next round and are seeded for the purposes of making the bracket based on their points. In the event that 2 or more players are tied with points, the following system is used: Points won in matches involving the tied players Number of wins Sonneborn–Berger score Koya score

In the knockout rounds, each matchup consists of 2 matches of 4 rapid games on back-to-back days. If either player wins one match and at least draws the other, he advances on to the next round. If each player wins one match or both matches are drawn, immediately following the second match, the players play 2 blitz games. If the blitz games are split, the winner is determined via an Armageddon game. The higher seed in each matchup picks the color for the first game, the first tiebreaker, and the Armageddon. In addition to the games between players who advanced, there is also a match for third place between the semifinal losers.

Major The Major tournaments operate the same way as the Regular tournaments. It is still the top 8 players who qualify for the knockout rounds.

Final The Final only consists of one round-robin for the 10 players, spanning 9 days (1 matchup per day). Each matchup will comprise 4 rapid games. If the 4 points are split among the two players, then 2 blitz games are played, followed by Armageddon if the blitz games are split. 3 points are awarded for an outright win (no tiebreak needed), 2 points are awarded for a tiebreak win, and 1 point is awarded for a tiebreak loss.

In addition to these points, the players start off with bonus points based on their Tour rankings coming into the Final. The player with the fewest Tour points gets 0 bonus points, and the other players are awarded half a point for every full 10 points they have more than the player with the least number. For example, if Player A has the fewest Tour points with 86, a Player B with 143 Tour points will be awarded 2.5 points, since they exceed Player A's total by 57 (no rounding).

The player with the greatest sum of bonus points and points won in the Final will be crowned the Tour Champion.

Tour points For Regular tournaments, points are awarded as follows. FinishPointsWinner40Runner-up253rd place154th place10

In other words, a player receives 10 points for winning in the quarterfinals, 15 points for winning in the semifinals, 15 points for winning the final and 5 points for winning the match for third place. The regulations were present for most of the tournament, excluding the Skilling Open tournament; in that tournament of the tour, the runner-up was awarded 20 points and the two remaining semi-finalists were each awarded 10 points, without a match for 3rd place.

Additional points are also awarded to finishes in the preliminary round: FinishPoints1st102nd83rd64th55th46th37th28th19th–16th0

The points system for Major tournaments is the same, but all values are doubled.

In the event that two players are tied for the same number of Tour points, the following tiebreak system will be used: Number of tournament wins Number of tournament appearances (fewer is better) Number of final appearances Number of semi-final appearances Number of quarter-final appearances

The administrators of the tournament also have the right to substitute a tiebreak match if the tie is for a qualification spot.

Prize money Regular The total prize pool for a Regular tournament is $100,000. The money is split as follows: FinishPrizeWinner$30,000Runner-up$15,0003rd place$8,5004th place$6,500Quarterfinalist$5,000Preliminary$2,500

The regulations were changed after the Skilling Open tournament; in this first tournament of the tour, the players who lost in the semifinals each received $7,500, without a match for 3rd place.

Major The total prize pool for a Major tournament is $200,000. The money is split as follows: FinishPrizeWinner$60,000Runner-up$40,0003rd place$25,0004th place$15,000Quarterfinalist$10,000Preliminary$5,000

Final The prize pool for the final is $300,000, which is split as follows: FinishPrize1st$100,0002nd$60,0003rd$40,0004th$30,0005th$20,0006th$15,0007th$12,5008th$10,0009th$7,50010th$5,000

Results Tournament results DatesTournament NameTypeWinnerRunner-up3rd place4th PlaceNovember 22–30, 2020Skilling OpenRegular Wesley So Magnus Carlsen Hikaru Nakamura Ian NepomniachtchiDecember 26, 2020 – January 3, 2021Airthings MastersMajor Teimour Radjabov Levon Aronian Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Daniil DubovFebruary 6–14, 2021Opera Euro RapidRegular Wesley So (2) Magnus Carlsen Teimour Radjabov Maxime Vachier-LagraveMarch 13–21, 2021Magnus Carlsen InvitationalMajor Anish Giri Ian Nepomniachtchi Magnus Carlsen Wesley SoApril 24 – May 2, 2021New In Chess ClassicRegular Magnus Carlsen Hikaru Nakamura Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Levon AronianMay 23–31, 2021FTX Crypto CupMajor Magnus Carlsen (2) Wesley So Ian Nepomniachtchi Teimour RadjabovJune 26 – July 4, 2021Goldmoney Asian RapidRegular Levon Aronian Vladislav Artemiev Magnus Carlsen Ding LirenJuly 31 – August 8, 2021Chessable MastersRegular Wesley So (3) Lê Quang Liêm Vladislav Artemiev Levon AronianAugust 28 – September 5, 2021Aimchess US RapidRegular Magnus Carlsen (3) Vladislav Artemiev Levon Aronian Alireza FirouzjaSeptember 25 – October 4, 2021Meltwater Champions Chess Tour FinalsFinal Magnus Carlsen (4) Teimour Radjabov Levon Aronian Wesley So

Tour rankings The column labelled "Wins" indicates the number of tournament wins.

The column labelled "Apps" indicates the number of tournament appearances (including the ongoing tournament, if any).

The winners of the Major tournaments are invited to the Final tournament, as are the 5 players (or more if one player has won more than one Major) with the highest tour ranking among the remaining players. Two additional players are invited as wild cards. As the winners of the Major tournaments (Teimour Radjabov, Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen) are guaranteed a place in the Final. An asterisk denotes a Major. PosNameWinsAppsSkilling OpenAirthings Masters*Opera Euro RapidMagnus Carlsen Invitational*New In Chess ClassicFTX Crypto Cup*Goldmoney Asian RapidChessable MastersAimchess US RapidTotal1 Magnus Carlsen3830203550508620483392 Wesley So394616463255845042613 Levon Aronian19456521405018211704 Teimour Radjabov163881701241335 Anish Giri171089616201236 Ian Nepomniachtchi051510058321157 Hikaru Nakamura07181201033125908 Vladislav Artemiev03331935879 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave062341441006410 Lê Quang Liêm04022803011 Alireza Firouzja07063006153012 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov050210232613 Daniil Dubov0522100023 14 Fabiano Caruana01202015 Ding Liren04000161616 Jan-Krzysztof Duda0503032817 Arjun Erigaisi0111 18 Jorden van Foreest030101 Leinier Domínguez030011 20 Daniel Naroditsky0100 Eric Hansen0100 Awonder Liang0100 Abhimanyu Mishra0100 Ju Wenjun0100 Koneru Humpy0100 Eduardo Iturrizaga0100 Hou Yifan0100 Gukesh D0100 Salem Saleh0100 Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa0100 Gawain Jones0100 Johan-Sebastian Christiansen0100 Sam Shankland0100 Matthias Bluebaum0100 Nils Grandelius0100 32 Pentala Harikrishna02000 Adhiban Baskaran02000 Aryan Tari02000 Alan Pichot02000 37 Peter Svidler030000 Alexander Grischuk030000 Sergey Karjakin030000 40 David Antón Guijarro040000041 Vidit Gujrathi05000000

Tournaments

Skilling Open

The results of the preliminary round were as follows.

NameELO01020304050607080910111213141516Points01 2881 -½½0½1½½1½½11½01902 2829½ -½1½½½½1 0½½1½1½903 2741½½ -½1 ½½½01½½½½½18½04 277810½ -½1½½½½½½01½18½05 2778½½0½ -0½101½1½½118½0627580½½01 -1½ 1½0½0½11807 2860½½½½½0 -½½1½½1 0½1808 2731½½½½ 0½½ -01½1½½1½8 092703001½10½1-01½1½10810 2744½10½0½001 - ½½111½811 2836½½ ½½½1½½0½ -½1½½07½12 26360½½½0½ ½0½½½ -110½6½13 266700½1½10½0000 -1 116½14 2742½½½0½½1 ½½0½00 -½½615 270910½½00½000½ 10½ -15½16 27740½00000½1½1½ 0½0 -4½

The results of the knockout rounds were as follows.

* This player advanced by drawing as black in an Armageddon game.

Airthings Masters

The results of the preliminary round were as follows.

NameELO010203040506070809101112Points01 2881 -½1½½½½1½½½½6½02 2741½ -½½½½½1½½1½6½03 28290½ -½½½½½½1116½04 2778½½½ -½½11½0½½6052758½½½½ -½½½½½½16062778½½½½½ -½½½½105½07 2860½½½0½½ -½½10½508 277000½0½½½ -½½115 092705½½½½½½½½ -½0½510 2784½½01½½0½½ -½½511 2731½00½½0101½ -½4½122667½½0½01½0½½½ -4½

The results of the knockout rounds were as follows.

* This player advanced by drawing as black in an Armageddon game.

Opera Euro Rapid