Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 24 (ANI): India's leading Grandmasters including world number 11 Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, Raunak Sadhwani and Karthikeyan Murali have advanced to the closed playoffs, in the Top 8 stage of the India Rising: Road to EWC Chess qualifiers alongside emerging Indian talent M Pranesh, who secured qualification through the titled qualifiers route after narrowly missing out in the Indian qualifiers.

The qualifiers are part of the India Rising: Road to EWC initiative, launched by JioBLAST and the Esports Foundation to create a competitive pathway for Indian esports and chess talent, as per a press release.

Among the notable stories to emerge from the qualifiers was Indian Grandmaster M Pranesh. Coming from a modest background and having previously relied on crowdfunding support during his rise through the chess circuit, Pranesh's progression into the Top 8 highlighted the kind of breakthrough opportunity the India Rising platform is aiming to create for emerging Indian talent.

Speaking on the significance of the initiative, Charlie Cowdrey, CEO, JioBLAST, said, 'India has one of the strongest chess ecosystems in the world, and India Rising is designed to create a more open pathway for Indian players to access global esports competition. What has stood out through the qualifiers is the mix of elite Grandmasters and emerging talents competing through the same structure. Stories like M Pranesh's progression into the playoffs reflect the kind of opportunity this platform can create for rising Indian talent. The level of participation and competition we've already seen underlines both the depth of Indian chess and the growing momentum around chess within the esports ecosystem.'

Conducted in a nine-round Swiss format, the India Rising: Road to EWC Chess qualifiers brought together 12 Grandmasters across the Indian and global preliminary stages alongside some of India's leading emerging chess talents in an online competition, including Women's Chess World Cup Champion Divya Deshmukh, V Pranav, Pranav Anand and Aravindh Chithambaram, who also competed in the qualifiers despite having recently secured qualification for the Esports World Cup (EWC).

The global preliminaries also featured Greek Grandmaster Nikolas Theodorou, who became the first Greek player to defeat reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in last year's Swiss.

Among the other notable participants were German Grandmaster Matthias Blubaum, a two-time European Champion recognised for his technical and positional style of play, also competed in the qualifiers, alongside Dutch Grandmaster Benjamin Bok, known for his strong online chess presence and dynamic playing approach.

The India Rising LAN Finals in Mumbai will feature a prize pool of Rs 27.5 lakh for chess, further underlining the growing scale and competitiveness of esports-led chess competition formats in India.

The India Rising: Road to EWC Chess Qualifiers is being held in collaboration with Chess.com. The closed playoffs, scheduled for Sunday, May 24 at 6:30 PM IST on Chess.com, will see the Top 8 players compete in an online faceoff to determine the two finalists advancing to the India Rising LAN Finals in Mumbai.

The eventual winner of the India Rising LAN finals will earn a spot in the final stage of the Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris, where players will compete for a share of the overall 1.5 million USD prize pool. (ANI)