The Chess Super League: An Indian Makeover for Online Chess

The pandemic-induced popularity of online chess, surplused by the highly popular Netflix series Queen's Gambit has turned a never-before spotlight on the elite sport. Back home, the streaming sessions by influencers like International Master Sagar Shah and stand-up comedian cum chess enthusiast Samay Raina have further brought Indian youth closer to the good old board game and its intricate gaming techniques.

 

The new wave of enthusiasm has paved the way for one of a kind online chess league: The Chess Super League (CSL). Nodwin Gaming, a leading esports company in South East Asia, partnered with Samay Raina, and Sagar Shah, CEO of ChessBase India, to launch the premier chess League. The six teams of the League are steered by young Indian celebrities. 


The inaugural edition of Chess Super League came to an end on Sunday 17th October 2021 with  Zahir Khan’s Pivotal Pawns winning over Tanmay Bhatt’s The Kingslayers. The former became the first champions of the Chess League. 


All About the Chess Super League

The first season of the League was held between the 11th and 17th October 2021. Samay Raina and Sagar Shah are no strangers to the Indian youth, Both the YouTubers started streaming chess in early 2020 as online chess got a boost up from the pandemic lockdown. With highly entertaining streaming sessions, both YouTubers have managed more than 650 million views. 


Interestingly, the celebrity band that spearheadS the teams represent the spirit of the Indian youth, comprising young entrepreneurs, social media influencers, YouTube personalities and sports stars like Saina Nehwal, Shreyas Srinivasan (PayTM), Tanmay Bhatt, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Raftaarr, and a few other well-known names. As Akshay Rathee, MD,  Nodwin Gaming remarked, the Chess Super League is an amalgamation of gaming entertainment, bringing together brains, funny bones and egames on the same platform. 


The Kingslayers, with their previous win against Pivotal Pawns twice in the tournament, dominated the finals initially. The side led by Anish Giri had a narrow win at the first game at 3.5-2.5 But Pivotal Pawns fought back remarkably in Game 2 for a victory of 3.5-2.5.


The match went to Armageddon as International GMs Nana Dzagnidze of The Kingslayers confronted Zhansaya Abdumalik of Pivotal Pawns, in a final face-off in the ultimate decider. Abdumalik won the match leading the Pawns to the final crown.


THE FORMAT FOR THE CHESS SUPER LEAGUE

 

The event was a round-robin and had a time control of 15 minutes plus extra  10 seconds after each move. From the round-robin phase, the top 4 teams would advance to the Playoffs while those having the lowest positions would leave the event.


Two out of the four teams would then go for the Qualifier, the winner of which can progress to the finals. However, the second Qualifier provided the defeated team one more try to get an entry into the finals. On the other hand, the lowest ranking teams (the third and the fourth) would head to the eliminator. The winning team then moves towards the second Qualifier (against the loser of Qualifier 1), and the losing team leaves the event.


In total, there are six teams, each owned by a celebrity, and two players from junior level and two from international players. Here’s the list of the teams, the owners,  and the respective players.

 

THE TEAMS

The Kingslayers - Tanmay Bhat

The players:

  • Anish Giri

  • Dommaraju Gukesh

  • Arpita Mukherjee

  • Soumya Swaminathan Nana Dzagnidze

  • SP Sethuraman


Brutal Bishops – Raftaar (Kalamkaar)

The players: 

  • Eesha Karavade

  • Alexandra Kosteniuk

  • Raunak Sadhwani

  • Vidit Gujarathi

  • Tarini Goyal

  • Wang Hao

Krazy Knights - Biswa Kalyan Rath and Shreyas Srinivasan

The players: 

  • Hikaru Nakamura

  • Aryan Chopra

  • Krishnan Sasikiran

  • Mary Ann Gomes

  • Maria Muzychuk

  • Mrudul Dehankar


Pivotal Pawns - Zakir Khan

The players: 

  • Arjun Kalyan

  • Abhijeet Gupta

  • Bhakti Kulkarni

  • Savitha Shri

  • Ding Liren

  • Zhansaya Abdumalik


Quintessential Queens - Saina Nehwal and Suhani Shah

The players:

  • Koneru Humpy

  • Hou Yifan

  • Priyanka K

  • P Iniyan

  • Rania Sachdev

  • Sergey Karjakin


Ruthless Rooks - S8ul 

The players: 

  • Harika Dronavalli

  • Anna Muzychuk

  • Harshit Raja

  • Saina Salonika

  • Karthikeyan Murali

  • Teimour Radjabov


THE PRIZE FACTOR AND THE SURPRISE ELEMENTS

The prize money is something that makes every competition or event interesting, and The Chess Super League is no exception. The grand event comes with a total prize pool of a whopping ₹30,00,000. Here's a break of prices meant for the first three positions:


  • 1st prize is USD 16,245 or ₹1,200,000.

  • 2nd prize is USD 10,150 or ₹750,000.

  • 3rd prize is USD 8,100 or ₹600,000.

 

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize money would be equally distributed among the six players.

 

For the best player in each section in the League, the prize amount would be ₹50,000 (US $675). Another prize fund worth ₹1,00,000 (the US $13,500) would be for the team owners and would be broken down according to the 1st (₹450,000), 2nd (₹350,000), and 3rd (₹200,000) positions


The event had its share of surprise dessert in the form of "swapping." The fresh rule implemented in the tournament permitted any team member to swap between boards two and one (Indian and International GM) and boards four and three (Indian and International women players) However, this rule doesn't apply to boards five and six.


Also, the finale event was notable with the guest appearance of Yuzvendra Chahal (cricketer and former national Chess champion), during the live streaming, where he confronted host Samay Raina in an exhibition 3-match series.

Playing white, the leg-spinner stole the first contest but Raina stood strong in the next match, getting even in the series. Chahal’s careless blunder in the deciding contest proved advantageous for Raina as he clinched the tight fight 2-1.


Wrapping Up

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