There is not enough chess in the world! Let's fix that.

How about a 24 hours long tournament. Full earth rotation around its own axis. How about making it world wide. What if it was entirely free. Anyone could join. Thousands of chess enthusiasts competing for the first place, for the podium, for the top 10, for the top hundred, or just for seeing how high they can climb up the leaderboard.

How many would join? Which legends of chess will have the strength to occupy the glorious leaderboard first page? What fantastic games will we witness between these titans? Which brilliant moves will take our breath away? Can a single blunder make the difference between winning and losing the largest chess event of 2017?

Will lichess handle the load?

We'll figure all this out during our new edition of the epic lichess Marathon.

Where?

lichess.org/tournament/spring17

When?

Sunday the 16th of April, starting at 00:00AM. See the exact hour in your local timezone.

How?

3+2 rated blitz games (3 minutes per side, plus 2 seconds Fischer increment).

The lichess arena system applies.

How long?

24 hours. Players can join and pause the tournament at any time, without losing their current points and ranking. Take breaks. Be strategic. Should you play as many games as possible, or be well rested and ensure a high win ratio? Your call.

Why?

Most of all, to have great fun, and to show the world that chess is all the rage, now more than ever.

But that's not all. The winner, top 10, top 50 and top 100 players will get unique trophies on their profile page. Is one of them for you?

Let the party begin

Do you remember, 4 months ago, during the Winter Marathon, when 6,803 players fought 69,159 games, playing 4,733,008 chess moves in a single tournament? Certainly we can top that. Chess only goes one way: up!

Have great games all, and may your pieces find their way to your opponent's king, during the 2017 Spring Marathon!