Merenzon says. Our goal is to make chess a pop culture event.- | Forum

SPOKANE, Wash. Justin Smoak Jersey . -- Gonzaga has signed California transfer Jordan Mathews to a financial aid agreement for the 2016-17 season.Gonzaga announced Matthews addition on Thursday. Mathews, a 6-foot-4 guard, is slated to graduate from California this summer, making him eligible to play for the Bulldogs immediately.Mathews addition is an immediate boost for the Bulldogs after losing Kyle Wiltjer, Eric McClellan and Domantas Sabonis from the team that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament last season. Mathews averaged 13.5 points per game last season for California and led the Golden Bears in made 3-pointers.Gonzaga coach Mark Few says Mathews is a proven shooter and scorer at our level. Brett Anderson Jersey . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. Roberto Osuna Jersey . 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NEW YORK -- The defending world champion is a 25-year-old Norwegian whos been named one of the worlds sexiest men.Magnus Carlsen is tops in an endurance sport that doesnt require him to move from his chair.Its called chess.Carlsen, the highest-rated player in chess history, again aims to win the World Chess Championship, the most eagerly awaited match in a generation, starting Friday in New York.Trying to wrest the title from Carlsen is the 26-year-old Ukrainian-born Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin.The prize purse of $1.1 million will be divided 60-40 between the men, who are treated like rock stars in their countries.Carlsen and Karjakin will play in a renovated building on the historic Manhattan waterfront, near Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.The championship has returned to the United States for the first time in 21 years; the last one was in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.In the U.S., organizers face a challenge: how to popularize a sedentary sport with little visible action in a society where most fans favor dynamic sports like football, boxing, basketball and baseball.Still, chess has its fervent American fans, including Jay Z, Jude Law, Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama.The International Olympic Committee classifies it as a sport, as do more than 100 countries. It requires not only brain acrobatics but also the physical stamina to sit as long as six hours at a time for three weeks.The board battle pits figures of medieval warriors, kings, queens, bishops and knights against each other in ever-changing plots as dramatic as the Game of Thrones.Electronic versions of the game register about 1 billion downloads a year of hundreds of apps, says Ilya Merenzon, the Moscow-based chief executive officer of Agon Ltd., which owns the marketing rights to the World Chess brand for the championships and the qualifying games leading up to it.There are an estimated 600 million players worldwide, Merenzon says.By contrast with the glitzy, high-tech championship, chess enthusiasts can be found playing in hundreds of New York outdoor public spaces, such as Central Park. Joe Carter Jersey. Some of these urban street players are homeless.Karjakin was 12 when he became the youngest grandmaster, and Carlsen was a grandmaster at 13.When I was young, I was used to winning games in a very aggressive style, and I would attack all the time and I was used to my opponents cracking, Carlsen said. But when I got to the highest level, then people defended better, so now Im more pragmatic. Whatever risks I take, I try to control the game.Carlsen has cashed in through sponsorships, his own chess app and modeling for ads. He appeared in G-Star Raws Spring/Summer fashion ad campaign along with actress and model Lily Cole.He also was selected by Cosmopolitan magazine as one of the sexiest men of 2013. Since then, hes also been the worlds No. 1 player.All 600 seats for Fridays inaugural game were sold out, starting at $75 apiece. Two games are played on consecutive days, followed by a one-day break, for a total of 12 games.Tens of millions of fans are expected to follow live online, free of charge through the worldchess.com website and affiliate partners. In addition, $15 via Pay-Per-View buys the game in virtual reality, allowing fans to experience the game as if they were there by wearing special goggles.For years, chess seemed to be played in a bubble, far from mainstream media.But it never grew out of style in Carlsens Norway, where TV programs are pre-empted for important games.This week, New York will host the first championship with two grandmasters of the smartphone generation -- a battle of two of the finest minds on the planet, Merenzon says. Our goal is to make chess a pop culture event.---This story has been corrected to show the companys name is Agon, not Agony, and the company does not control the games, just the commercial rights to the brand name. 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