Mumbai: South Asia-based esports company, Nodwin Gaming is teaming up with chess streamer Samay Raina and chess media company ChessBase India to launch a new online chess league - Chess Super League (CSL). The online esports league is also the first property announced by Nodwin Gaming, an independent subsidiary of Nazara Technologies after the acquisition of the gaming business of OML Entertainment for Rs 73 crores.
The first season of the Chess Super League will run between 8-11 pm from 11 to 17 October featuring six top Grandmasters across the globe. It will include the top six players in both men and women categories from India as well as junior categories. The six teams of six players each will give viewers an opportunity to see players come together to battle for a prize pool of a whopping Rs 40 Lakhs.
The teams will be spearheaded by franchise owners who will support and represent their squad through the Chess Super League. The franchise owners of the debut edition include Tanmay Bhat, Raftaar (Kalamkaar), Zakir Khan, MortaL (S8ul), Biswa Kalyan Rath, and PayTM Insider CEO Shreyas Srinivasan. These franchise owners will act as ambassadors and will be the torchbearers for their teams for the entirety of the league, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Chess Super League is a testimony to the fact that gaming, eSports, and comedy have significant synergies and shall come together in a big way. It is a sampling of many such collaborations between the different forms of gaming entertainment that the world will see,” said Nodwin Gaming MD Akshat Rathee.
The league will be broadcast on Samay Raina’s YouTube channel and will feature ChessBase India CEO Sagar Shah and Samay as the hosts and commentators. “Indian chess is on the rise and experts all across the world have dubbed India as the next powerhouse in the world of chess. We have many strong players and young talents. This online league will give more exposure and opportunity to Indian players, especially the youngsters,” said ChessBase India founder Sagar Shah.
The league will see Grandmasters like Ding Liren, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov, Hou Yifan (the strongest female player in the world), Muzychuk sisters, Nana Dzagnidze, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and others.
