15 Lakhs Raised from Online Chess Tournament for COVID-19 Fund

In the initiative of ‘#CheckmateCovid’ 20,000 players were seen in the chess tournament of 2-3 May, they were rewarded with a prize of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh to the Chief Minister of Karnataka COVID-19 relief fund. A total of 19,245 players played the online tournament, which was set up by the Government of Karnataka in collaboration with the United Karnataka Chess Federation and the leading mobile gaming platform, the Mobile Premier League (MPL).

The competition saw 2.37 lakh chess games, in which matches were played in the speed chess format. Each participant received three minutes of play time and the winners were decided on the claims won over the duration of the tournament.

GM Ankit Rajpara was the champion. GM Bhakti Kulkarni received the honor for the top-ranked female player and Shakuntala Devi won the top player award over 60 years of age.