London Chess Classic: Emirates Team Blitz

Emirates Team Blitz

On Friday 5th December, AlphaChess put together eight teams (for a total of 32 players) competing in the 2025 XTX Markets London Chess Classic Team Blitz at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, a fantastic venue for team chess. How did they do?

Two of our teams meeting in a time scramble

AlphaChess Marauders got off to a great start, with a 4-0 win, while AlphaChess Plunderers got a fantastic 2-2 draw against a much higher-rated team. Owenians,  First Wednesday, Firestorm and Nefarious Knights all lost while AlphaChess Futures (eight and nine year olds) pulled off a noteworthy draw against AlphaChess Vandals, one of our stronger teams. 

AlphaChess Vandals (l) vs AlphaChess Marauders (r)

The first round of a Swiss is always difficult for the teams in the lower half and it got better and more evenly matched from then on. Even so, there were some standout moments, including the top board of the Marauders holding a draw against one of England’s top GMs.

It was a nine-round blitz and fortunes fluctuated but by the end places were settled - Marauders, Vandals and Plunderers all finished in the top half of the 40 teams, while the others did not fare quite as well in a field featuring multiple FMs, IMs and GMs.

Final

Rank

Team

+

=

-

12

AlphaChess Marauders

5

0

4

18

AlphaChess Vandals

4

2

3

20

AlphaChess Plunderers

2

5

2

33 

Nefarious Knights

3

1

5

34

AlphaChess Futures

2

2

5

37

Owenians

3

0

6

38

Firestorm

1

3

5

40

First Wednesday

0

0

9


Thanks to all who joined us!



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