Arizona Cardinals' Kyler Murray, ex-receiver Larry Fitzgerald to play in charity chess event

Quarterback Kyler Murray has on-field football work to do with the Arizona Cardinals on Wednesday. When his workday ends, he's going straight to his online chessboard.

From X's and O's to rooks and pawns, one might say. Murray has a chess match against Michael Vick — yes, the Michael Vick who revolutionized the QB position in his Atlanta Falcons days — after practice, and anyone who wants to see it live can do so.

Murray joins Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald in an eight-player chess tournament called BlitzChamps, which starts Wednesday and can be seen on Chess.com/TV or Chess.com's Twitch and YouTube channels starting at 1 p.m.

For the first time in the three-year history of the event, NFL broadcast partners will also be part of the programming. NFL Films will be documenting this year’s tournament, and will feature BlitzChamps III and its players, past and present, as part of its "NFL Films Presents" series airing this season on NFL Network and FS1.

"BlitzChamps is a perfect brand for the NFL, because it's a perfect pun. We're talking about blitzing the quarterback, we're talking about the fastest, most exciting plays often developing from whatever you want to call it, the breakdown of the pocket or the scramble that happens in an NFL blitz," said Danny Rensch, Chief Chess Officer for Chess.com. "When we branded the event before any association with the NFL, and of course we're super excited this has become what it has, beyond our wildest dreams, Blitz was a perfect brand association to the game of football."

Blitz in chess is any time control under 10 minutes. So both players have 10 minutes or less to make a move, as opposed to classical chess, in which each side has more than an hour.

More people are playing blitz chess online at Chess.com, Rensch said. It's the most popular form, and is more conducive to a tournament like one involving NFL players.

The tournament's opening pairings are: Murray vs. Vick; Fitzgerald vs. Buffalo Bills wide receiver Mack Hollins; defending champion Drue Tranquill (Kansas City Chiefs) vs. Quenton Nelson (Indianapolis Colts); and Chidobe Awuzie, the 2022 chess champ from the Cincinnati Bengals, going against Kansas City's Justin Reid.

Players are broken into small groups so that everyone is guaranteed a few games. The preliminary stage leads to a knockout round, and the winner will get $30,000 to donate to his charity of choice with an additional $70,000 divided among the rest of the field for charity.

Players are playing remotely, while tournament commentators will be calling the action from the NFL Films offices in New Jersey.

Rensch said he's learned that chess has a community among NFL players that grew during the COVID pandemic. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow plays almost daily, and was playing chess online moments before Super Bowl 56.

Rensch met Fitzgerald through a mutual friend, and Fitzgerald reached out to Rensch about chess lessons on the Chess.com website. Uwuzie and NFL wide receiver Amari Cooper also helped get BlitzChamps going, their fun rivalry in chess leading to an online tournament.

Fitzgerald helped Rensch find more players to start a tournament. Chess has become a popular pastime for NFL players.

"The explosion of chess into the NFL is truly a phenomenon, thanks largely to the incredible work of Chess.com, " said Greg Smith, NFL Films Senior Producer, in a statement from the chess site. "They’ve made chess accessible to everyone, everywhere, any time, and are innovative in their approaches to reaching new players. NFL Films is thrilled to be hosting BlitzChamps III."

Murray took notice, and reached out to Rensch about playing in the event after the first tournament.

"He tweeted at me like 'Hey bro, where's my invite?'" Rensch said. "It was hilarious. I reached out to him and I was like 'Hey, I didn't even know you would be in. We DM'ed a little bit and he's like 'Hey, I'm in next year.'"

Murray was eliminated from the BlitzChamps II fairly early, and this year, Rensch is picking him as a favorite to win.

"Kyler has been grinding like no other," Rensch said. "I expect him to do a little better than he did last year. I'm excited to see what he does (Wednesday).

"Kyler joining the field was a really cool deal," Rensch added. "Kyler jumping in as probably one of the biggest names in the league as far as active players go was really exciting, and last year we saw a bit of a jump (in viewership). We've done a lot of cool things by the game of chess and it's awesome when some of them pay off like this."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals stars take to the chess board for charity