MUMBAI: The Mumbai franchise of the Pro Chess League (PCL), the world’s first online chess league, announced Tuesday that Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand had joined the team.
Anand, representing the Mumbai Movers, makes his debut in what is the second edition of the PCL in the 4th round Wednesday against Oslo Trolls of Norway.
Incidentally almost all the top players in the world are featuring in this league.
Mumbai Movers owner Rishi Gupta commented: “The boys have performed magnificiently so far and the mood is upbeat as we could rope in Anand with the help of RBS Sports and Narendra Firodia. Anand’s presence immediately lifts up the spirits and boosts the morale and we have an excellent chance to figure in the top four which is the qualifying mark for the next stage.”
Mumbai Movers are placed second in the Eastern Division behind Armenia Eagles. Armenia however has tallied 48 points while Mumbai has scored 42 points. The league consists of eight teams bunched into four divisions – Eastern, Central, Atlantic and Pacific. Each team fields four players in a match against the rival team and each member has to play against all the four member of the opposing team. Adding a twist is the inclusion of Super Saturdays and Super Sundays where the teams play against teams from other Divisions.
The first leg of the event, which kicked off January 18, is a round robin one where four teams from each division will advance to the next round.
Matches will be played every Wednesday.
After three rounds, Mumbai Movers (42 points) are currently placed second behind Armenia Eagles (48) in the eight-team Eastern Division.
Anand had a dream run in December winning the World Rapid Championship and bagging a Bronze in World Blitz Championship and followed with another good showing at the Tatal Steel Chess in January due to which he could not play in the first three rounds.
Anand opined: “The format is interesting and exciting and I have always experimented with various formats. Also the fact that I knew Rishi Gupta and his family’s association with chess made it easier to play for Mumbai Movers, which is an Indian team.”
According to the Mumbai Movers team management, Anand had offers from other teams to play for them.
