Analytics service Chess Watch released the list of the most-watched chess tournaments of the first quarter of 2026. The list is sorted by peak concurrent viewers and includes total hours watched across livestreaming platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Kick, etc.

# Tournament Peak viewers Total hours
1. FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 168K 6.7M
2. Speed Chess Championship 2025 154K 2.2M
3. FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 91K 853K
4. Tata Steel Masters 2026 77K 2M
5. Tilted Tuesday (Jan 13, 2026) 62K 131K

The peak number of viewers for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 reached 337K, with a total of 9.9 million hours watched. Peak viewers count of Candidates 2026 is two times lower than the 2024 edition.

Chess Watch is a specialized analytics service launched in 2023. It provides detailed data on chess tournaments and streaming channels from Twitch, YouTube, Kick, etc.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE