Norway's Magnus Carlsen and USA's Hikaru Nakamura, the top two highest-ranked players in chess, have congratulated R. Praggnanandhaa and sung the praises of the Chennai Grandmaster after he was signed by Esports Organisation Team Liquid on Saturday. The Norwegian maestro, who is also a part of Team Liquid alongside the USA's Fabiano Caruana, has welcomed the Indian. On X, he wrote, Whole lot of letters in Praggnanandhaa, but no «I» Welcome to the team🤝." Whole lot of letters in Praggnanandhaa, but no «I» Welcome to the team🤝 — Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) June 28, 2025 The inclusion of Praggnanandhaa in the Team Liquid makes them one of the strongest Esports teams in the chess world. The World No. 2 and arguably the most famous esports athlete in chess - who has promoted this sport in the online world - Nakamura called the Indian a rare gem. Posting a reply to Team Liquid's announcement post on X, Nakamura wrote, "Pragg is a rare gem in the chess world." Massive congrats to @rpraggnachess and @TeamLiquid - Pragg is a rare gem in the chess world! — Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) June 28, 2025 The wave of these signings comes after chess was actively promoted as an Esports, with the traditional board game evolving itself into an online game and getting included in the upcoming Esports World Cup (EWC), set to happen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Besides Praggnanandhaa, multiple Indian stars have signed contracts with Esports organisations. Arjun Erigaisi was among the first few players in the world to sign such a contract. He signed the deal with Gen.G. Earlier, Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram also signed contracts with the Indian Esports organisation S8UL. So far, Arjun is the only player to have assured himself a spot in the Esports World Cup, which has spots for only 16 players. Both Carlsen and Caruana are also among the 12 grandmasters who have qualified. The others are Hikaru Nakamura (Team Falcons), Alireza Firouzja (Team Falcons), Ian Nepomniachtchi (Aurora), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (NAVI), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Team Vitality), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Twisted Minds), Wei Yi (Weibo), Vladislav Artemiev (Team Spirit), and Vladimir Fedoseev. Praggnanandhaa will represent Team Liquid for the Last Chance Qualifiers, which will see some heavy-hitters in action trying to secure one of the four remaining spots. This includes former world champion Ding Liren (LGD), Wesley So (NAVI), Oleksandr Bortnyk (NAVI), Anish Giri (Team Secret) and Daniil Dubov (Team Spirit). What is the Esports World Cup? The Esports World Cup will be an event where the world’s biggest esports clubs compete across 24 of the most popular esports titles. For the first time, the World Cup will also feature chess, which will be played online. The first edition of the Esports World Cup was held in 2024 and saw teams compete over eight weeks. The Esports World Cup 2025 is set to be the largest multi-title esports event in history, which is expected to have at least 2,000 players and 200 teams competing for a combined prize pool of $70 million (approx. Rs 602 crore). Chess was also included as an Esports at the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 in Patna.
