Grenke Bank wins FIDE World Corporate Chess

CHENNAI:

Grenke Bank

, with headquarters in Baden-Baden, won the first-ever

FIDE

Online World Corporate

Chess

Championship on Sunday. The German bankers came ahead of 288 other teams from 78 different countries, in an event that brought together 1,467 players. Among them, 36 Grandmasters, including the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who defended the first board of Kindred Group.

In a very close final, the Grenke team defeated the competition's overall rating-favourites SBER, headed by

Ian Nepomniachtchi

. The first match of their duel ended in a draw 2-2 after the teams exchanged blows on boards three and four. In the second match, they traded punches on boards two and three. It was Inna Agrest who brought Grenke Bank the title as she delivered a decisive victory against Maria Komiagina on board four. The other two semifinalists were Sberbank Trade Union of

Russia

, and the Indonesian Port Corporation.

Grenke has been a loyal supporter of chess, and every year since 2013 they have sponsored the "Grenke Chess Classic", an elite tournament held in the German cities of Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden.

In parallel with the "Classic", Grenke also organizes the largest chess open in Europe, with approximately 2,000 participants. Unfortunately, both events had to be cancelled in 2020, for obvious reasons.

Grenke was one of the only two teams in the entire competition that featured three women players: the International Master Alina Kashlinskaya, Hanna Marie Klek and Inna Agrest along with Georg Meier and Sven Noppes.