This is an archive article published on April 14, 2025

Esports World Cup: Nihal Sarin, Aravindh Chithambaram to compete for India’s S8UL

Before Nihal and Aravindh, Arjun Erigaisi was named on the roster of Gen.G. There are plenty of stars like Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren, who have already signed up for teams for the Esports World Cup

Esports World Cup: Nihal Sarin with Naman Mathur (known as Mortal) of the S8UL.

Nihal Sarin with Naman Mathur (known as Mortal) of the S8UL team. Nihal will compete for S8UL at the Esports World Cup.

3 min readApr 14, 2025 12:04 PM IST First published on: Apr 14, 2025 at 10:15 AM IST

Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram will compete for India’s S8UL in chess at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, the franchise announced late on Sunday night. Online chess will be introduced for the first time at the upcoming Esports World Cup this year when it will be held at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh from July 7 to August 24.

Aravindh Chithambaram is currently ranked 4th in India and 11th in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2749. Nihal Sarin is currently ranked 8th in India and 40th in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2687. Before Nihal and Aravindh, Arjun Erigaisi was named on the roster of Gen.G, thus becoming the first Indian to be named in an esports team’s roster.

There are plenty of big names who have already signed up for esports outfits. Team Liquid has snapped up stars like former world champion Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana while Team Falcons will have five-time Speed Chess champion Hikaru Nakamura and rising star Alireza Firouzja in its squad. Ian Nepomniachtchi will play for Serbia’s Team Aurora while LGD has former world champion Ding Liren on its roster.

Besides playing for Team Liquid, Carlsen will also join the Esports World Cup as an ambassador. Chess will have a prize pool of $1.5 million at the Esports World Cup and is featuring for the first time this year.

Chess players hoping to qualify for the Esports World Cup will have to secure a spot via the 2025 Champions Chess Tour (CCT). In 2025, there will be two online Champions Chess Tour events, in February and May, which will offer players opportunities to compete on the world’s biggest esports stage. The top 12 players from CCT will make the cut and will be joined by four more GMs from a ‘Last Chance Qualifier’ event. 16 chess players will be in action at the finale in Saudi Arabia later this year.

What is S8UL?

India’s S8UL is a global name in esports and gaming content. Besides chess, it will also have players competing in four other titles (disciplines) at the Esports World Cup: Tekken 8, Call of Duty (COD): Warzone, Apex Legends and EAFC 25.

Recently, S8UL also revealed its roster for Apex Legends, which comprised of three Australians: Sharky, Jesko, and Legacy.

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).