Ever since the historic moment the great GM Garry Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in 1997, artificial intelligence has transformed chess. Now Chess.com, the world’s leading chess platform, is launching an elite tournament to celebrate AI’s achievements in the game.

The inaugural AI Cup from September 25-29 will take its place as the sixth and last regular season knockout as the race to reach the Finals of this year’s prestigious $2 million Champions Chess Tour reaches its climax.

Following the event Play-In open to all grandmasters on September 18, 56 of the world’s strongest players will be sorted into three divisions and advance to the AI Cup’s knockout stage. Four have already secured places in the AI Cup’s top tier with four more available in the eight-strong Division I.

The prize pool for the AI Cup is $235,000. Also at stake are Tour points and, for the winner, the last automatic spot in December’s live and in-person $500,000 Tour Finals event.

GM Magnus Carlsen, the world number-one and reigning Tour champion, takes center stage in Division I having qualified as winner of the previous leg, the Julius Baer Generation Cup. Carlsen tops the current Tour standings and has already booked a place in the finale.

The Norway’s chess superstar is joined by France’s Iranian-born superstar-in-the-making GM Alireza Firouzja, who took the second qualifying spot at the Julius Baer Generation Cup, while 17-year-old sensation GM Denis Lazavik continues his impressive rise into the elite having blazed his way to a third-place finish.

Two-time world title challenger GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, this week’s Titled Tuesday winner, steps up a tier having won Division II. Lazavik and Firouzja will be looking for big performances.

Both are neck-and-neck in the race to make it to the Finals in Toronto, Canada, standing on 155 and 150 points respectively on the overall leaderboard. Carlsen, who has won three of the five events so far, is on 525 points and cannot be overtaken.

Coverage of the AI Cup knockout begins at 12 a.m. ET/18:00 CEST on September 25 and will be broadcast live with commentary from Chess.com’s Oslo studio on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com’s Twitch channel. Check out the official website for more information.

The Champions Chess Tour 2023 (CCT) is the biggest online tournament of the year. It is composed of six events that span the entire year and culminate in live in-person finals. With the best players in the world and a prize fund of $2,000,000, the CCT is Chess.com’s most important event yet.