Media Release – Nov 17, 2011

Firstpost.com gets its readers to play chess with the Grandmaster

Network18’s Firstpost.com, India’s first exclusive online news and views website launched an online chess championship for its readers today. This fortnightly event will see Vishwanathan Anand share some of his real-life chessboard experiences with online participants as a part of ‘Firstpost Battleboard.’

In line with Firstpost.com’s inclusive agenda, Firstpost Battleboard calls for audience participation. With a welcome video by Vishwanathan Anand readers are given an introduction to the game and are challenged to face actual challenges that the Grandmaster has faced in his career. Interactivity becomes the prime attraction of Firstpost Battleboard as the users figure out the best possible alternative to get ahead in the game and the Grandmaster elucidates the rationale behind every move by decoding the effectiveness of all the possible alternatives. Quintessentially a cerebral online offering, this game attempts to bring together chess enthusiasts from across the world.

Commenting on his association with Firstpost Battleboard, Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand said "When Firstpost approached me for an online, interactive platform to take chess to a wider audience I was quite excited to do it. The aim is to take the reader through the emotion and calculation in each game. Some decisions on the board are made by intuition and some by cold calculation. It is the human element of a game that a player mostly remembers. I hope the readers enjoy the series and we look forward to a lot of interaction."

Speaking on the launch of Firstpost Battleboard, Durga Raghunath, VP-Products, Web18 said, "Battleboard with Vishwanathan Anand is a content innovation we are very proud of. As Firstpost continues to educate and entertain and interact, Vishwananthan Anand is a perfect partner. We hope to reach out to new audiences through efforts like these"

For more details contact:
Saunak Ghosh
Senior Marketing Manager, Web18
saunak.ghosh@network18online.com
+91 98190 07363

About Web18

WEB18, part of the Network18 Group, is one of the largest players in the Internet space in India. It runs moneycontrol.com, which is India’s largest and most influential financial, business and investor platform with more than 7.5 million users. Apart from this, WEB18 runs

• in.com – India’s largest Indian Horizontal portal with over 29 million users Worldwide,
• bookmyshow.com – India’s no.1 ticketing service for movies, events and sports,
• ibnlive.com – India’s leading general news portal,
• commoditiescontrol.com – India’s leading source for authentic and real-time commodity information,
• poweryourtrade.com – a subscription-based service for investors and traders delivering expert advice, stock news and analysis,
• tech2.com – a leading personal technology website,
• cricketnext.com – India’s leading cricket website and
• compareindia.com – India’s leading online product comparison destination.

About Network18

Network18 [BSE: 532798, NSE: Network18] is one of India's leading full play media conglomerates with interests in television, print, internet, filmed entertainment, mobile content and allied businesses. Through its holding in Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV18) [BSE: 532299, NSE: TV-18], Network18 operates India’s leading business news television channels, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. It also runs one of India’s largest Internet players – Web18, as well as one of India’s leading real time financial information and news terminals - Newswire18. TV18 has expanded into print with Infomedia18, an entity following the acquisition of Infomedia, India's leading player in the special interest publishing and printing operations space. Through its holding in ibn18 Broadcast Ltd (ibn18) [BSE: 532800,NSE: ibn18], Network18 operates in the general news and entertainment space with leading general news channels CNN-IBN and IBN7 and has launched IBN Lokmat, a Marathi news channel in partnership with the Lokmat group. ibn18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom, called Viacom18 which houses the MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon channels in India – as also Studio18, the Group’s filmed entertainment operation and ‘Colors’, the country’s leading Hindi general entertainment channel. Additionally, Network18 holds the Group’s online & on-air home shopping venture, Homeshop18, its full spectrum events management venture, E18 and its sports management & marketing division, Sports18. In a pioneering foray, the group launched Forbes India, the nation's first local edition of a foreign news magazine title and the world’s most influential business brand, in collaboration with Forbes Media. For more information, log on to www.network18online.com.

• Vishy will be setting up a new challenge every fortnight and the solution the following week
• Each challenge will have a video and set up moves
• Watch the video and the moves carefully to understand the context of the game from vishy and his opponent's side
• When you are prompted to start playing the game, look at all three options
• Choose one option and press submit. Once you submit you cannot change your choice
• Complete the moves to get to a position where the opponent gave up
• Check back on Firstpost on Facebook for the announcement of the solution

• You can watch the video and play here