NAVI Expands to Chess by Signing Three Grandmasters
|
|
- NAVI signed grandmasters Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So, and Oleksandr Bortnyk.
- NAVI’s team will debut in the Cheesable Masters Online championship.
- Chess will be included in the 2025 Esports World Cup.
Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere (NAVI) has signed three grandmasters: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So, and Oleksandr Bortnyk. As of February 17, Abdusattorov ranks sixth in the world.
NAVI shared the news on Twitter, welcoming the new players to the team and stating “NAVI is expanding to chess.”
The NAVI chess team will be competing in their first Chessable Masters online championship, which has a prize pool of $150,000 (USD). This tournament began on February 16, and is separated into two phases: Swiss and Match Play.
The Chessable Masters online championship serves as one of two qualification events for the 2025 Esports World Cup, widely regarded as one of the year’s most significant esports tournaments. With the Esports World Cup Foundation recognized as an official founding partner of the Olympic Esports Games, numerous esports organizations have rushed to establish their own chess teams in hopes of participating in the Olympics.
NAVI esports was founded in 2009, and currently has teams across 11 different esports titles. These titles include Call of Duty: Warzone, Counter-Strike 2, DOTA 2, Valorant, Mobile Legends, and now chess. The organization’s most esteemed esport teams are its Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2.
