The upcoming inaugural Olympic Esports Series 2023 will feature Blitz Chess, and Chess.com, which is the recognised by IOC as the game’s governing body will host the qualifying event.
"Blitz chess will be included in the upcoming inaugural Olympic Esports Series 2023, with Chess.com playing host to a unique qualifying event. The world’s leading online chess platform has been selected by FIDE, recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the game’s governing body, to run a mass participation pre-event tournament," said FIDE in a press release.
The Format
The qualifying event will feature 3 phases. Starting April 1, the competition will start with a 3+2 blitz tournament, which is open to any player on Chess.com. The winners of this will then progress to the Trial stages.
"The top 16 from that phase then go through to a Preliminaries event between May 1 and 5. Eight will be eliminated, and the final eight will progress into a live in-person tournament, the first of its kind, held during the Olympic Esports Week in Singapore from June 22 to 25," the release added.
The last Olympic e-sports event saw participation from across 100 countries and around 2,50,000 participants.
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