Airthings Masters To Kick Off $1.6m Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

Oslo, Norway, 1st February 2022: Airthings, creators of the best-selling indoor air quality and radon monitors for homeowners, businesses and professionals, is pleased to announce that the Airthings Masters chess tournament will kick-off the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The online super-tournament will open on February 19th, featuring some of the world’s most decorated chess players, including top-ranked Magnus Carlsen, and a $120,000 grand prize.

The 2022 Airthings Masters marks the second year for the tour and second time that Airthings has been a key sponsor. For Airthings, the connection between the company’s mission and the game of chess is a perfect match. As a leading global indoor air quality monitoring brand, Airthings’ goal is to educate people everywhere about the impact that air quality can have on their overall health, wellbeing and comfort level. One area where this is clearly evident is mental wellness and cognitive function. Air quality pollutants, specifically 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 at elevated or unhealthy levels. All of these factors are essential to successful performance in both chess and esports, two universes that converge directly during the Airthings Masters competition and throughout the year-long tour.

I’m always looking for ways to play a little bit better, including staying in good physical shape, good nutrition and being well prepared mentally,” said Magnus Carlsen, the world’s #1 ranked chess player and Airthings Masters participant. “Ensuring that the air I breathe is as good as possible is yet another way to lift my game a few percent, something that can have extra special importance when we aren’t sitting in the same place while competing.”

“Whether it’s in chess, esports, or elsewhere in life, we often take for granted that the air we're breathing indoors is completely safe and enables us to perform at our best, but unfortunately this isn't always true,” said Oyvind Birkenes, CEO of Airthings. “Fixing poor air quality starts with proactive monitoring, and Airthings is delighted to partner with the Champions Chess Tour to help chess players everywhere be at their best. By streaming live air quality data for the world’s top players, including CO2, radon and PM 2.5, we want to highlight to the world how easy it is to take control of the air quality in your home, office or school.”

Airthings will not only act as a sponsor in name of the Airthings Masters, but will also have an influential presence in the actual gameplay of the tournament. During play, Airthings will deploy its flagship indoor air quality monitor View Plus, to track and provide live air quality data for the top players on the broadcast and at airthings.com/chess. This data will highlight the importance of good air quality for health and cognitive ability, providing valuable insights to help the world’s top chess grandmasters remain at the top of their game.

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. Fans can enjoy full and free coverage of the Airthings Masters on official Tour streams provided by chess24 in several languages on chess24.com. The broadcast in English from the Play Magnus Group’s Oslo studio will return, featuring the familiar team of panel host Kaja Snare, Grandmaster David Howell and International Master Jovanka Houska plus new addition Grandmaster Simon Williams. A separate stream in English will also be provided by chess24’s expert commentary team which includes Grandmaster Peter Leko and International Master Tania Sachdev. For more information on Airthings products and the impact of indoor air quality, please visit www.airthings.com.

About Airthings
Airthings is a leading 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.