We’re thrilled to announce Espot B-Cup 2 Presented by Chess.com! It’s a community and streamer event live from Espot Paris on June 17, 2023, at 6:20 a.m. PT/15:20 CEST. There will be online and on-site tournaments with prize pools, two concurrent broadcasts conducted on-site, with additional creator and player appearances!
How To Watch
Kevin (“Blitzstream”) is a French national master, content creator, and streamer superstar. He’s the most popular chess streamer in France and the Director of French Content for Chess.com.
Anna-Maja is a Dutch FIDE Master, professional chess player for the Alliance GG, and regularly contributes to Chess.com live event broadcasts.
B-Cup
Blitzstream organized B-Cup, the world’s first chess “LAN” or hybrid tournament, at Espot Paris in December 2022. With 120 players, 100 spectators onsite, and 73k unique Twitch viewers, the groundbreaking blitz competition was all the rage. It’s coming back around again.
Now partnering with Chess.com, B-Cup 2 will have an even greater impact. New features include: English live commentary, a larger cash prize (3500€) to attract higher Elo players, increased production quality, elevated player experience, and additional side events.
Espot Paris
Espot Paris is France’s and Europe’s largest public gaming and Esports venue. Located directly across the street from the world-famous Louvre Museum, Espot is a gamer’s paradise right in the heart of Paris. The complex includes a 130-seat arena, 90 PCs with 150 games installed, 30 console stations equipped with PS5, simracing venue with 4 F1 Alpine simulators, VIP lounge, and catering area with 2 full-service bars.
So, let’s say you find yourself standing on Rue de Rivoli in Paris on June 17. Do you wait in an hours-long line to see a tiny painting behind a barricade with bulletproof glass? Or do you walk across the street and play chess at Espot? You don’t need to be a grandmaster to make this brilliant move.
Guest Appearances
B-Cup featured guest appearances by French GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, and Matthieu Cornette. New guest appearances for B-Cup 2 include: GM Parham Maghsoodloo, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, Nemo, Sardoche, AlexandraChess, and many others.
Conclusion
B-Cup 2 is just the beginning. In Napoleonic fashion, Blitzstream has plans to take over the (chess) world. In a recent interview with Chess.com, Kevin shared his long-term vision for B-Cup:
Our dream would be to make it an international event one day and to create international online events, like having people from Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, everywhere, all meeting in an e-sports place and having a worldwide tournament. Not just from home, but playing from actual places so the chess community can gather together and really spend time in one location. It’s not like the usual chess tournament where you can’t speak! It was a lot of fun to have people in one place, sometimes screaming that they lost their queen or things like that.
If you want to learn more about Blitzstream, check out Turning Dolphins Into Sharks: Meeting France’s Most Famous Chess Streamer. And of course, don’t miss the live B-Cup 2 Twitch stream on June 17, 2023, at 6:20 a.m. PT/15:20 CEST!
