S8UL has officially qualified for its third title at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 after Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram emerged victorious in the Road to EWC qualifier held at DreamHack Atlanta, becoming the first Indian player to secure qualification for the Chess main event at the prestigious tournament.
S8UL's Aravindh Chithambaram qualifies for Esports World Cup 2026
The qualifiers featured a group stage followed by playoffs, with matches featuring two games per series and Armageddon as the tiebreaker, all played at 10 minutes with no increment. The group stage consisted of two double-elimination groups, with the top four players from each group advancing to the playoffs. Aravindh advanced to the Upper Bracket (UB) semifinals from Group B after registering victories over Kyler Raines, Justin Liang, Oleksander Bortnyk, and Christopher Woo.
In the UB semifinals, Aravindh once again faced Woo and defeated him 2-1 after the opening two games ended in draws, clinching victory in the Armageddon game. He followed it up with another 2-1 win over Alexey Sarana in the UB Final to secure his place in the grand final, where he once again faced Sarana. The grand final was played in a double-match format, where a Lower Bracket (LB) win triggered a single Armageddon decider if required. After Sarana won the opening two games of the final from the LB side, Aravindh showcased immense composure under pressure, fighting back to win the Armageddon decider and come out on top in the qualifiers.
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With the victory, the 26-year-old secured USD 15,000 (~INR 14 lakh) in prize money and earned a coveted place among the eight players who have officially qualified for the EWC 2026 Chess main event, set to take place from August 11 to 15 with an overall prize pool of USD 1.5 million (~INR 14 crore). The qualification also marks S8UL’s confirmed entry into its third title at EWC 2026, following successful qualification campaigns in Fortnite and Honor of Kings.
Alongside Aravindh, fellow S8UL Grandmasters Nihal Sarin and Pranesh M also remain in contention to qualify for the EWC 2026 Chess event. A total of nine players will qualify through the Champions Chess Tour Leaderboard, where Nihal is currently in a qualifying position. Additionally, four players will secure qualification through the Last Chance Qualifiers closer to the tournament, while one final slot will be awarded through the India Rising event, scheduled to conclude on July 5.
Having been selected for the Esports Foundation’s Club Partner Program for the second consecutive year, S8UL earlier announced its most ambitious international esports campaign to date, competing across qualifiers for 13 titles including Apex Legends, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Call of Duty: Warzone, Chess, EA SPORTS FC, FATAL FURY, Fortnite, Honor of Kings, MOBA Legends 5v5, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, Street Fighter 6, TEKKEN 8, and Trackmania.
The EWC 2026, set to take place from July 6 to August 23, 2026, will bring together over 2,000 players from 200 clubs across more than 100 countries competing for a record-breaking prize pool of USD 75 million (~INR 720 crore).
