Online Chess Tournament Raises Rs. 15 Lakh for Coronavirus Relief Fund

The '#CheckmateCovid' initiative saw nearly 20,000 play the May 2-3 chess tournament which awarded Rs. 10 Lakh in prizes👍, and Rs. 15 Lakh to the Karnataka Chief Minister's COVID-19 Reliefꦇ Fund.

A tot𝓰al of 19,245 players played the online tourney, which was set up by the Karnataka governm🃏ent, with the support of the United Karnataka Chess Association and leading mobile gaming platform, Mobile Premier League (MPL).

🅰༒The competition saw 2.37 Lakh chess games played, with matches played in the Speed Chess format. Each participant got three minutes in the game, and winners were decided on contests won over the duration of the tournament.

GM Ankit Rajpara was the champion. GM Bhakti Kulk💃arni took honours for the top-ranked female player, and Shakuntala Devi won the award for top player over 60 years of age.

"I thank all the players who participated and contributed to the CheckmateCovid Chess Tournament. We are glad to have collected a large amount for the CM's Covid Relief Fund. We must continue to come together and fight this crisis," said Karnataka Sports Minister CT Ravi,✨ quoted in a press release on .

Esports goliath MPL has a history of supporting chess. It's a popular sport on the firm's app and MPL have previously ran India's biggest chess tournament.