China's first world chess champion and a well - known chess player recently joined e - sports clubs respectively and will represent their clubs in the chess - related events of the 2025 E - sports World Cup.
They confirmed that they have joined LGD Club and WBG Club respectively. The 2025 E - sports World Cup is expected to be held from July 31 to August 3 in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and chess is a newly added event. It is reported that the chess competition of the E - sports World Cup will adopt the fast - chess system. Sixteen players will be selected through different stages of qualifying rounds to participate in the main tournament.
According to the strategic advisor of LGD Club, the club was established in 2009 and has top - level teams in games such as DOTA2, League of Legends, and Honor of Kings. It has won more than 150 championships in various international and domestic events. Previously, the club had never been involved in the chess project. However, both e - sports and chess belong to intellectual sports and are under the overall management of the Hangzhou Chess Academy in Zhejiang. After learning that the chess project was selected for the E - sports World Cup, both the Hangzhou Chess Academy and LGD Club paid close attention and hoped to promote the participation of excellent professional chess players in the event. As the first male world chess champion in China, he has strong competitive strength. Therefore, LGD signed him to prepare for this E - sports World Cup.
The strategic advisor of LGD Club said that in recent years, the popularity of online chess has increased significantly, and platforms such as Chess.com have hundreds of millions of users. This E - sports World Cup provides an opportunity for chess to be showcased on the same stage as top e - sports games.
Another well - known chess player said that after chess became an event in the E - sports World Cup, many e - sports clubs signed contracts with high - level chess players. For example, Liquid Club signed Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Besides him and the first world chess champion, other Chinese chess players will participate in the qualifying rounds as individuals.