By
The competition is driven by the
"He's a big believer in team sports. Sports plays in a lot of culture, of working together, collaborating, succeeding as a team, so he is a supporter of that,"
That philosophy is at the heart of the creation of this new league, which will bring together chess heavyweights, such as the world number one, the Norwegian
The 36 players will represent six different franchises that will compete in a two-round playoff from
Although the event unites players from more than a dozen different nationalities,
"He saw big alliances between what we do in our business and what we see as an opportunity with chess. Chess is also about knowledge. It's about thinking ahead to what you want our businesses to do, for our customers to do, so that they can think a few moves ahead to stay ahead in their business," Mitra said.
This venture into chess is the latest in a long series by the
The multinational, chaired by
Mitra points out that the symbiosis with technology and competitive sports has also been seen in other industries the group is involved in and several sports for some years.
That is the case of the
In addition, the business group, which operates in 22 sectors in more than 100 countries and employs more than 250,000 people, signed an agreement in 2020 to become an official partner of NBA franchise the
Its initial foray into the four major US sports leagues had come years earlier, however, when
Meanwhile, the group has in recent years concluded other deals with several other sports teams, such as the Mexican national cricket team, the Australian swimming team, and
Although none of them, Mitra points out, come close to Mahindra's endeavor to professionalize kabaddi, a sport that is highly popular in
Mahindra played the sport, which bears similarities to the children's game of 'catch', when he was young, as he states on his Twitter profile, where he is very active and sometimes issues challenges to his followers in exchange for gifts.
Forbes magazine has highlighted this social facet of
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