Bangalore: V.S. Rathanvel was declared the winner of MPL Chess Mahayudh, India’s largest digital chess tournament, which was hosted by Mobile Premier League (MPL) on 21 July 2019. MPL is one of the fastest growing digital gaming platforms in the country. Rathanvel, the 18 year old prodigy from Coimbatore who just beat one grandmaster and drew against 5 others earlier this year, has won a cash prize of Rs.5 lakh. He secured 253 wins out of 265 matches that he competed in over a 12 hour period. On his way to the top, he defeated Grandmaster Ankit Rajpara, from Gujarat, who won 241 games, secured the second position and a cash reward of Rs.50,000. Ankit Rajpara is one of the only 64 Grandmasters India has produced till date. The third position in the leader board was secured by Suyog Wagh, a young FIDE Master, from Ahmednagar, who had won the All India Rapid Chess Championship back in 2015. Suyog had 238 wins and finished a mere three points away from Ankit Rajpara. It was a story of a Grandmaster being challenged by two up and coming chess stars of India.

With World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand as the official ambassador of this chess tournament, the highly competitive tournament witnessed over 3lakh registrations and, garnered over 90,000 players on the day who played an astonishing 1.2 million games of chess over a 12 hour period.

“For a 10 month old start up to host a Grandmaster, 2 FIDE Masters and another 90,000 players is no small feat! It was an absolute honour for us to have them play MPL and we thank them for their trust. The future of digital sports is on the mobile phone and we are happy to bring chess on our platform.”, said Sai Srinivas Kiran G, Co-founder and CEO, MPL.

“I am delighted beyond words about winning MPL Chess Mahayudh. Winning this means more recognition. I don’t have a sponsor so it is difficult to play in tournaments abroad and I will use these funds to compete globally. Playing chess for 12 hours straight is exhausting but I am happy I was able to maintain the momentum! I am looking forward to the next chess tournament organized by MPL,” said V.S. Rathanvel, on winning the competition. He leaves for international chess tournaments later next month and plans to use his winnings to further pursue his professional chess career.

Commending MPL on its product quality, Grandmaster Ankit Rajpara said “I played over 250 games, and I did not face a single technical issue or glitch. This has never happened before in my experience. The fairness ensured by MPL bodes well for the growth of chess in the digital era.”