Chess Super League is an online

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition am ...

organized by

Samay Raina Samay Raina is an Indian Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian, YouTuber, and chess enthusiast. He was the co-winner of the second season of the stand-up comedy contest Comicstaan#Season 2 2, Comicstaan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began str ...

, ChessBase India, Nodwin Gaming. Players in the tournament, consist of some of the Top International Grandmasters, Indian Grandmasters, International Masters and Indian Junior Players, which are grouped into 6 teams. The first iteration of the tournament kicked off on 11 October 2021 on chess.com, with a prize fund of . The entire event was streamed on

's YouTube Channel.

Format

The games will be played with a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The first five days will see a league stage with different pools, from which the top four teams will qualify for the playoffs. The teams that finish first and second will play Qualifier 1, and the teams that finish 3 and 4 will play the Eliminator 1. Eliminator 2 consists of the loser of Qualifier 1 against the winner of Eliminator 1. The winner of Eliminator 2 goes to the finals to face off with the winner of Qualifier 1.

Teams (Season 1)

The players are six top grandmasters (male and female), six top players from India (male and female), and six top Indian juniors (boys and girls). One player from each of these 6 brackets are clubbed into a team, leading to a total of 6 teams that will be spearheaded by franchise owners who will support and represent their squad throughout the league.

Results (Season 1)

The first season was won by Zakir Khan's Pivotal Pawns at an Armageddon clash against Tanmay Bhat's Kingslayers on 17 October 2021. The finals saw a two round event with round 1 being won by The Kingslayers and Round 2 being won by Pivotal Pawns, to force a tie break between

Zhansaya Abdumalik Zhansaya Abdumalik ( kk, Jansaya Daniyarqyzy Äbdimalik; russian: Жансая́ Дания́ровна Абдумали́к; born 12 January 2000) is a Kazakhstani chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the first Kazakhst ...

and

Nana Dzagnidze Nana Dzagnidze ( ka, ნანა ძაგნიძე; born 1 January 1987) is a Georgian chess player. She was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2008. Dzagnidze was a member of the gold medal-winning Georg ...

which was won by the former.

Controversies

The first season saw massive controversies being sparked. In one of the matches, a draw was offered by

Vidit Gujrathi Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. he is the second highest rated player in India (behind Viswana ...

, before move 40, which was, according to rule-book, illegal, and thus, the arbitrators awarded the win to his opponent, which sparked rage from Vidit's end for not receiving any warning. In another instance,

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru Nakamuraarbitrators An arbitral tribunal or arbitration tribunal, also arbitration commission, arbitration committee or arbitration council is a panel of unbiased adjudicators which is convened and sits to resolve a dispute by way of arbitration. The tribunal may con ...

as a use of external aid, and thus, deemed illegal, with a win being awarded to his opponent. Hikaru Nakamura, in another instance, was playing

Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server, news website and social networking website. The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be play ...

's Titled Tuesday and Chess Super League's matches simultaneously, which was, according to the viewers, unethical for his team, and his opponent. He and his team, would later lose the matchup, which might have been a crucial turning point.

References

{{reflist Team chess competitions Online chess tournaments Chess in India