
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.
The Grandmaster has set you a challenge
How to play
-
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
