Who says chess needs to be an individual game? Call up your buddy and get ready for the madness of the Chess.com Bughouse Chess Championship! The event features a $5,000 prize fund and will take place from August 3 to August 7.
Bughouse is one of the most popular chess variants in the world. In fact, it’s hard to go to any chess gathering without spotting a few people playing Bughouse.
In this variant, two players team up to play on separate boards, with one playing White and the other playing Black. Whenever a player captures their opponent’s pieces, those pieces join their partner’s piece bank. That player can then place that piece on their board, making it a part of their army. If any player on a team wins their game, the team wins the match.
With this mechanic, Bughouse becomes a beautiful, chaotic mess of crazy attacks and wild king hunts! Taking the initiative becomes more important than ever, inviting players to sacrifice material to aid their partner’s attack.Â
Here’s a video of GM Hikaru Nakamura reacting to Bughouse games and explaining how this variant works:
The action starts with eight qualifiers, each a two-hour arena with a 3+0 time control, taking place from August 3 to August 6. Every member of the community can participate by checking the qualifier schedule and clicking the Join button. Players can join as a team or come solo and be automatically paired by our system—but please note that only teams can qualify for the Final.
We may require players to join a video call for fair play checks, where players must set up two cameras from different angles in the room. Failing to comply will result in a team’s removal from the event.
The winning team from each arena then qualifies to play in the Final, taking place on August 7. The Final consists of a double-elimination knockout bracket, with a match clock for every match and a 2+0 time control. Teams earn points for wins or draws, and the team with the most points when time runs out wins.
Last year, Bughouse specialists NMs Janak Awatramani and Isaac Chiu won the title after an undefeated run. To claim the title, the two national masters had to overcome a field that included the 2024 Bughouse champions and star players GMs Awonder Liang and Jeffery Xiong. Will any of the previous champions take the title for a second time, or will a new team rise to the top?
Are you excited to play in the Chess.com Bughouse Championship? Join the qualifiers between August 3 and 6!
IMPORTANT NOTICE
While the Qualifiers are open to all players, only players who team up with the same partner throughout the entire arena can qualify for the Final. Individuals without a fixed playing partner can join the arenas and will be randomly assigned new partners throughout the event. However, they won’t be eligible to qualify for the Final. To partner with a single teammate and be eligible for qualification, please follow the instructions in our help article after joining the arena.