Latest news with #GukeshDommaraju
News18
4 days ago
- Business
- News18
NODWIN Gaming Joins Hands With Chess.com And ChessBase India to Build future Of Chess Esports In India
The partnership combines NODWIN Gaming's expertise in production and broadcast, ChessBase India's grassroots network and global platform to revolutionise chess in India In a landmark move set to shape the future of chess in India, NODWIN Gaming, a leader in South Asia's esports and gaming sector, has announced a strategic partnership with the world's largest chess platform, and India's top chess media and grassroots organisation, ChessBase India. This collaboration brings together three major players from esports, content creation, and competitive chess to form a cohesive ecosystem that nurtures talent, broadens reach, and enhances India's presence on the global chess esports stage. This alliance combines the unique strengths of these leaders in the chess and gaming industry. NODWIN Gaming contributes its expertise in production, broadcasting, and commercial strategy. ChessBase India offers unparalleled access to India's vibrant chess community and grassroots networks. brings its extensive global platform, community, creator partnerships, and world-class tournament infrastructure. Together, they create a synergy aimed at developing and scaling original intellectual properties, delivering premium competitive formats, fostering deeper engagement across player and creator communities, and offering significant opportunities for brands to partner in the rapidly growing chess ecosystem. Akshat Rathee, Co-founder and Managing Director of NODWIN Gaming, stated, 'Chess is experiencing a cultural renaissance, from park benches and schoolrooms to sold-out esports arenas and creator streams. Chess has now become the fourth most-watched sport in the country, following cricket, kabaddi, and BGMI tournaments. This partnership is not just about supporting a heritage game; it's about facilitating its natural progression. By combining our unique strengths, we are creating a future-ready ecosystem that can elevate Indian chess from heritage to hype. It's time for our grandmasters to meet the energy of our digital generation." This visibility spike was evident during the World Chess Championship, exclusively streamed in India through the efforts of NODWIN Gaming, and ChessBase India. The final match between Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren, which crowned Gukesh as the World Chess Champion, garnered over 24 million views, with peak concurrent viewership reaching 200,000. India plays a central role in this surge, with cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai ranking among the top chess-viewing regions globally. Indian users primarily access content via mobile, with 80.9% of viewership on smartphones, and the largest age group being 18 to 34 years old, highlighting the game's strong connection with India's digital-native Gen Z and millennial audiences. Sagar Shah, CEO of ChessBase India, commented, 'This partnership isn't just a business alliance — it's a vision to grow the chess community in India from the grassroots to the grand stage. For the past decade, we've focused on building a robust chess culture in the country. Now, with NODWIN and by our side, we aim to create more opportunities for everyone involved in the chess ecosystem." Avadh Shah, Country Director of India, added, 'Chess has been one of the most dominant and fastest-growing sports in the last three years across India and the world. In terms of both participation and viewership, chess is achieving record-breaking numbers. Given the excitement around the sport, it's fitting that leading companies within the ecosystem collaborate to further its development and invite partners to join this journey." The partnership also aligns with the rise of chess as a recognised esports discipline. At the upcoming Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, chess will debut with a prize pool of $1.5 million. Leading Indian esports organisation S8UL will represent India in competitive chess at the Esports World Cup with its team of Grandmasters Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram, marking the first-ever representation of an Indian esports team in competitive chess on a global stage. Their involvement highlights the growing recognition of chess as a spectator-friendly, high-skill esport. As India prepares to make its mark on this new frontier, the alliance between NODWIN Gaming, and ChessBase India promises to build the foundational infrastructure needed for long-term growth, from top-tier broadcasts and influencer-led content to community tournaments and professional leagues. Together, NODWIN Gaming, ChessBase India, and aim to establish a robust ecosystem for Indian chess that honours the nation's legacy, empowers creators, and positions India as a global hub for online competitive chess. News18 Sports brings you the latest updates, live commentary, and highlights from cricket, football, tennis, badmintion, wwe and more. Catch breaking news, live scores, and in-depth coverage. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : Chess esports Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 18, 2025, 19:49 IST
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
World chess champion Gukesh is Sri Chaitanya's brand ambassador
World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Tollywood actor Adivi Sesh were announced as the new brand ambassadors for Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions (SCEI) on Tuesday. The duo was present at the institute's celebratory event in the wake of the IIT-JEE and NEET 2025 results here. 'Just like in chess, success in competitive exams like JEE & NEET requires strategic thinking, discipline, and mental resilience. Through this association, I am committed to inspiring students not only in academics but also in developing lifelong skills for success,' Mr. Gukesh was quoted as saying. Mr. Sesh, all praise for the institute's consistency in results, congratulated the 2025 toppers. SCEI directors Sridhar Yalamanchili, Sushma Boppana, and Seema Boppanna; staff, students and their parents were present.
The Guardian
13-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Chess: Carlsen stumbles at finish but wins sixth title in seven years at Stavanger
'Winning by half a point after a lot of results go my way doesn't feel like a statement,' was how Magnis Carlsen summed up the Stavanger tournament, where he finished just half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana. The centrepiece of the event was his second game with India's world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, in which Carlsen banged the table in frustrated rage when his winning position slipped away. Carlsen said that 'the Armageddon games were atrocious' but pointed out that he had scored plus two in classical and claimed that he had played the best chess. He did, with the glaring exception of round six and the table fist-pump. It was a moment that went round the world. Even the Paris Saint-Germain football team used Gukesh's shocked reaction to describe the feeling of winning the Champions League for the first time. After the tournament was over, Carlsen said: ' It definitely wasn't my finest hour, but I regret the moves I made more than the gesture, because that happened on the spur of the moment.' He noted that he was only upset at himself and revealed how great the impact had been: 'I was so out of it that I had to jump out of the car on the way back and compose myself for several moments.' For the world No 2, Hikaru Nakamura and Caruana, the world No 3, the target was a good result and, specifically for Nakamura, to keep his lead over Arjun Erigaisi in the race for the 2026 Fide Candidates rating spot. In the event, Caruana went close to winning the tournament in the penultimate round, while for Nakamura it was mission accomplished. Stavanger's classical time control is unique – 40 moves for the first two hours, then a cliff drop to 10 seconds a move, with draws replayed under Armageddon rules where a draw count as a black win. With three points for a classical win, that is a huge gearing for the cliff drop games, of which Gukesh v Carlsen was one, where the outcome changed 180 degrees between moves 40 and 50. Spectators in Norway and online loved it, but it is hard to imagine the players in a local club coping. There was another event in Stavanger with the identical prize money, $150,000, to the men's contest, but the many fans who commented freely on Carlsen, Caruana and Gukesh mostly ignored the women's tournament, won by Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk with the world champion, China's Ju Wenjun, relegated to fourth place. Anna, 35, and her younger sister and former world champion Mariya, 32, are the world's strongest chess playing sisters next to Hungary's more famous Polgars. They cooperate closely and, when one takes part in a tournament, the other acts as her second, a system which works well despite their different numerous classical games have all been drawn, although Anna leads 2-0 at blitz. Ju had won Stavanger 2024 with Anna Muzychuk runner-up, and led for seven rounds in 2025, but faded at the finish. Ju v Muzychuk in round nine, where the world champion miscalculated in an equal position at move 27 and was then outplayed in a long endgame, was the decider. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Chess fans often judge women players by their success against very strong male GMs, and by this criterion there are arguably few qualifiers – the Polgars, China's Hou Yifan who is still ranked world No 1 but is semi-retired, and Nona Gaprindashvili from half a century back. One could also add the first woman world champion, Vera Menchik, who was uniquely accessible as a Londoner who played a leading role in the capital's chess life as a player, teacher and writer until her tragic death from a German V1 rocket in 1944. In her day, the 'Menchik Club' was the name for the group of her master victims, led by Max Euwe, a world champion. Whereas the young Indians are the clear future of world chess, it is harder to single out their female equivalents. China's Lu Miaoyi is a possibility, but her progress has slowed lately. The most likely stimulus for a young female mega-talent is the Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield prize of $100,000 each for up to five US women who become grandmasters in the next five years. The best young US talent, 15-year-old Alice Lee, has declared herself up for it, and won her first round game in the traditional $250,000 Cairns Cup at St Louis this week. 3976 1 Bxf6!+! Rxf6 2 Rxh7+! and Black resigned. After 3 Qxh7+ Kxh7 4 Nxf6+ and 5 Nxe8 White finishes decisive material ahead.
Fox News
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen opens up on viral table slam, how much losing hurts
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen went viral last week when he slammed his fist in frustration after he lost a classical match against Gukesh Dommaraju in the Norway Chess 2025 tournament. Carlsen shook Dommaraju's hand and walked off in a huff. Carlsen appeared on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" and lamented his actions, explaining how he feels when he loses. "Part of me, honestly, when I had that loss, recently just felt it was so dumb and so unnecessary, and it made me feel so kind of washed and useless," he said on the podcast. "My thoughts for a few days were, 'Ugh, I'm sure why I'm doing this.' When I win, it's good. It feels kind of normal. And when I lose, it just, you know, for a moment, the world just falls apart." Carlsen said the losses feel a lot worse than the wins feel great. "Unfortunately, the sad thing about chess, as in life, is that negative feelings are kind of enhanced a bit," he said. "Like a really painful loss, like people might have seen from my last tournament, it hits a lot harder than the wins. "So, I'll have like, I'll be very satisfied about the win often when I win. I may not always show it, but the reaction to losing is unfortunately stronger still." Carlsen is one of the most well-known chess players in the world and has a marketing empire behind him to show for it. The Play Magnus app is one of the top chess apps on mobile devices. Carlsen still ranks first in standard, blitz and rapid chess, according to the World Chess Federation. However, he has no real interest in being the "bad boy" of chess. "I don't inspire to be a bad boy. Sometimes I think I'm in a position compared to some of my peers I can afford not to take s---," he said. "But, honestly, the moments I have like banging the table, I'm generally not going to apologize for outburst in the moment. As long as you realize after you are showing your opponent the proper respect. "I obviously wish I could've avoid that by winning the game. I honestly think that there should be room for that in chess as well. It is a little bit like smashing your racket in tennis as well. It is such an uptight sport to begin with that I think it is OK." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Chess grandmaster Carlsen slams table in defeat at Norway tournament
A seething Magnus Carlsen slammed his fist into a table after suffering his first defeat to world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a classical game on Sunday (June 1) in Stavanger, Norway.
