The inclusion of chess, the centuries-old board game, in the eSports tournament comes after a resurgence during the pandemic. Today, the game continues to thrive through competitions organized on online platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reichert said eight of the world’s top 10 players have signed with esports clubs, with Magnus Carlsen<\/strong> and Arjun Erigaisi<\/strong> both confirmed for this year’s tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prize pool, up from $60 million last year, will be shared among the winners of the games, as well as a $25 million fund for clubs to develop talent and support players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This funding could be crucial for an industry that has been rocked by financial instability, with several teams that gained popularity during the pandemic having suffered a loss of support since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Scopely, owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, bought the gaming division of Niantic Labs, the force behind the augmented reality game “Pok\u00e9mon Go”,<\/strong> for $3.5 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The eSports World Cup will take place in Riyadh with a record prize pool of more than $70 million, the organizers have announced, as Saudi Arabia continues its quest to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":184132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3079],"tags":[20475,18212,6415],"class_list":["post-184155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-esports-en","tag-esports-world-cup-en-2","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-valorant-en"],"yoast_head":"\n