 "Magnus Carlsen is the favourite to win the chess event at Esports World Cup 2025 but he will face tough competition from players like Nihal Sarin. Images: Esports World Cup 2025/Nihal Sarin on X")
World No.1 Magnus Carlsen is unperturbed about his ‘slow’ mouse speed as he gets ready for his chess debut at the Esports World Cup 2025 with a unique format. The debut of an ancient sport like chess at the mega event, which has existed for centuries, started with the Last Chance Qualifiers, as 135 players competed for the remaining four slots.
The main round of the chess tournament at the Esports World Cup 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will include a total of 16 players, including Carlsen, world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura and India’s Arjun Erigaisi, who qualified directly for the tournament through the Champions Chess Tour 2025 standings.
The tournament will be played in a 10-minute Rapid format with no time increment. It will begin on 29 July (Tuesday) with four groups of four players. Each group stage match will consist of two games and tiebreakers will be decided by an Armageddon match.
Carlsen unperturbed by ‘slow’ mouse speed at Esports World Cup
Will the faster time control of 10 minutes and no time increment be a problem for a 34-year-old veteran Carlsen, as compared to younger players like 21-year-old Nihal Sarin of India or France’s Alireza Firouzja (22)? Only time will tell, but the Norwegian Carlsen feels he has done well in faster formats over the years and that will help him do well again.
“I only played two qualifier events to get here with this time control, but for me, it worked out okay. My mouse speed is not the best necessarily, but I play fast and well enough that it usually doesn’t bother me,” Carlsen said in an interview with ChessBase India.
While teenage sensation R Praggnanandhaa was knocked out in the qualifiers, Sarin from Kerala made it to the main draw through victories in the qualifier playoffs . Carlsen acknowledged that India’s Nihal Sarin could prove to be a dangerous prospect, with his ability to play quickly under time pressure and high mouse speed, but Magnus is confident his motor skills will hold him in good stead.
“We will see, however, you could run into really dangerous matchups here. For instance, we saw in the qualifier how incredibly good Nihal is with very little time on the clock. So, there could be certain players like him and Alireza, I think, especially if they have a good event, they can certainly use that mouse speed to their advantage,” Carlsen added.
“But overall, as I said, it’s entertainment and it is also esports and therefore motor skills should matter a little bit, be that overboard or both and generally I like that events are unforgiving in terms of time control and that time management actually is an important part of the game. So, overall I think it may make players uncomfortable at times, but that’s part of the game and overall I like it.”
Reflecting on who can be the favourites to win the tournament, Carlsen picked his friend Nakamura and Alireza
“I think the Falcons players, Hikaru, Alireza on paper, are the most dangerous. Hikaru is the most consistent among the others. But I think there are many players who could make a dent. I would say practically all the players here have some sort of chance to make a deep run. There isn’t really that much in between them. I might have personal preferences of whom I would like to play, but if you talk to one of the other top players, it might be different. So, it’s a really stacked field and everybody’s very strong.”
While the group stage matches will feature two games, it will increase to four games for the quarter-finals and six games in the semi-finals. The final will be played in a best-of-three sets format. The first two sets will include four games, followed by a two-game set played if needed.
The chess tournament at Esports World Cup has a total prize pool of $1.5 million prize pool. The winner will take home $250,000.