A unique opportunity for Bangalore to meet Vishy, Gukesh, Pragg and Vaishali | WACA celebrations 2024

by Sagar Shah - 17/05/2024

The city of Bangalore will be witnessing one of the biggest events in the history of Indian chess as team WACA will descend upon the city on 23rd of May 2024. In order to ensure that maximum people are able to attend the WACA celebrations in person, it will be held at the Good Shepherd Auditorium that has a capacity of more than 800 people. What is going to happen at the event and how can you attend? All of these details and more in the article below.

The best of Indian chess in Bangalore

The WestBridge Anand Chess Academy had its celebratory meeting last time in September 2022. It's been more than one and a half year and few of their mentees have performed extremely well. Gukesh has reached the World Championship, Pragg and Vaishali made it to the Candidates and much more. It is time for another celebration and this time it is organized on the 23rd of May 2024 in the city of Bangalore. Here are the key details.

Venue: Good Shepherd Auditorium

Timing: 6.30 p.m. (the event begins at 7 p.m.)

Who will be there: Vishy Anand, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali and Sandipan Chanda

Special prizes for audience: There will be a special quiz and the winners will get a signed chess set by Anand, Gukesh, Pragg, Vaishali and Sandipan

Program: Interactions, Quiz, Tandem simul and more. The program will last for 2 hours from 7-9 p.m.

The Good Shepherd Auditorium has a seating capacity of close to 800 people

Register for free to attend the event

Although the entry is free, you will have to register on the link above. It requires you to fill in the details and when the host approves it, you will get a QR code which you will have to show at the entrance to enter.

The chief guests:

How amazing it would be to see Vishy Anand in person! Five-time World Champion and the brain behind the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA). Not only will he be present but also his entire family with Aruna and Akhil being there.

The Candidates 2024 winner and the World Championship Challenger D. Gukesh

World Cup finalist, world no.14, Candidates player - The amazing Pragg

One of the top female players in the world and the pride of Indian chess R. Vaishali

WACA mentor and trainer of Vaishali in recent times Sandipan Chanda

Sandeep Singhal, the co-founder of WestBridge Capital and the co-founder of WACA along with Vishy Anand

There will be interactions with all the above mentioned personalities and more and then we will move on to the tandem simul.

The Tandem simul - Team WACA vs Bangalore

When would you get a chance to play a game against 2763, 2751 and 2747!

After interaction with all the guests there will be a tandem simul where Vishy Anand, Gukesh, Pragg, Vaishali and Sandipan will take on 15 talents. The time control is 30 minutes to Team WACA (on each board) and 15 minutes to the players. The idea is to have the most talented youngsters of Bangalore play against these top players and see what the score is at the end of 45 minutes.

A beautiful capture from the tandem simul that was recently held at the Warsaw leg of the Grand Chess Tour

In order to be eligible to be a part of the simul, you need to apply to the form given below. The last date to fill it is 19th of May 2024. We will be choosing the Candidates based on their talent, age, existing achievements and some other factors.

Fill the form to apply to for being a player in the tandem simul

IM Sagar Shah will be present there as the host of the event

The entire team of WACA back in 2022 at the WACA office in Bangalore.

A huge shoutout to the vision of these two individuals Sandeep Singhal and Vishy Anand. India has witnessed some tremendous performances in the world of chess in the last couple of years and WACA has played an important role in making them happen. Who knows, by the end of 2024, India might get a new World Champion!