Airthings Masters To Kick Off Record-Setting $2 Million 2023 Champions Chess Tour

The World’s Leading Air Quality Tech Company Returns as a Title Partner of the World’s Preeminent Chess Tour for the Third Consecutive Year

OSLO, NORWAY (January 24, 2023) - Chess fans, your move! Airthings, creators of the best-selling indoor air quality and radon monitors for homeowners, businesses and professionals, is excited to announce that the Airthings Masters chess tournament will kick off the highly-anticipated 2023 Champions Chess Tour for the third consecutive year. The Airthings Masters, held on February 3rd, 2023, will mark the first of six star-studded tournaments before a playoffs and finals round. A record $2 million prize pot will be up for grabs in the 2023 season of the Champions Chess Tour - making it the richest and most prestigious annual circuit in chess history.

Over the last two years, Airthings has endeared itself to Champions Chess Tour fans by not only serving as a title sponsor, but for playing an active, influential role in the gameplay of the tournament. Airthings provides the world’s best chess players with its industry-leading indoor air quality monitors during the tournament - helping them breathe better and play better. Air quality pollutants, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), have been scientifically proven to negatively affect mental and physical health factors such as cognitive ability, attention span, focus and energy when their levels are too high. During the 2023 tournament, Airthings will once again display live readings from the chess players’ homes to spread awareness about how indoor air quality factors like CO2, humidity, and airborne pollutants can have a significant impact on performance in the competition. 

"It’s great to partner with the Champions Chess Tour for a third consecutive year, kicking off the season again with the Airthings Masters,” said Oyvind Birkenes, CEO of Airthings. “Chess represents a truly global community and remains one of the few universal pastimes. Similarly, air quality is such a constant in our lives that often we forget to think about it, but factors such as CO2, particulate matter, radon, temperature, and humidity have been well-documented to impact our health, well-being, and performance. We look forward to once again helping the best chess players in the world breathe better and play better."

The 2023 Champions Chess Tour arrives at an exciting time for the chess world, following Chess.com’s game-changing acquisition of Play Magnus Group. This year’s tournament will combine the best format elements from prior seasons of the Champions Chess Tour and top events from Chess.com, including the Chess.com Global Championship, into one convergent format packed with marquee talent. Hundreds of professional players worldwide will take part in the flagship Champions Chess Tour, including Norway’s Magnus Carlsen - two-time Tour winner, the World number 1 and arguably the greatest player in chess history, who will defend his title. Carlsen heads a glittering roster of top stars which includes his great rival Hikaru Nakamura and the 2022 Chess.com Global Championship winner Wesley So. Fans can expect all the world’s best players to be involved. With new open qualifiers and a division system to include more players into the Tour, the Champions Chess Tour is democratizing chess for all.

Airthings products provide continuous, accurate and easy-to-understand monitoring of various air quality pollutants including particulate matter, radon, CO2, airborne chemicals and more, making the devices a welcomed addition to homes, workplaces, and, in this case, chess tournaments everywhere. All Champions Chess Tour games, including the Airthings Masters are played on Chess.com. The live broadcast can be viewed on Chess.com and chess24 YouTube and Twitch channels starting at 8:00 PT / 11:00 ET / 17:00 CET on February 3rd.

About Airthings

Airthings is a global technology company and producer of award-winning radon and indoor air quality monitors for homeowners, businesses, and professionals. Founded in 2008, Airthings is on a mission to ensure that people around the world recognize the impact of indoor air quality and take control of their health through simple, affordable, and accurate technology solutions while optimizing energy consumption in buildings. Airthings’ products have made radon detection and indoor air quality monitoring easy to deploy, accurate, and user friendly, and have received several accolades including the TIME's Best Inventions award and CES Innovation Award Honors. Headquartered in the heart of Oslo, Norway, and with offices in the US and Sweden the company has over 140 employees from more than 30 nationalities—and counting. To see the full range of Airthings indoor air quality monitors and radon detectors or to learn more about the importance of continuous air quality monitoring, please visit airthings.com.