King's game: New world champion Gukesh to open up endorsement market for chess in India

Gukesh becomes youngest Chess champion. (Photo: PTI)

Newly-minted Indian chess grandmaster (GM) Gukesh Dommaraju, who is the youngest World Chess Champion, has cemented his position as the poster boy of the board game in India. Gukesh's feat, which was achieved by his compatriot and chess legend Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world champion, who had lost the title in 2013, will not go unnoticed by brands.

Sports talent managers not only cheered Gukesh's stellar win, but also said that it would open up the endorsement market for chess in India, which has had a solitary player breakthrough till date. Anand has endorsed an array of brands such as Parle Milk Shakti, Fincare Small Finance Bank, Vodafone, Crocin, among others.

Gukesh is expected to bag a couple of long-term endorsements, said Neerav Tomar, managing director (MD) of talent management agency IOS Sports and Entertainment, which manages hockey stars like Manpreet Singh and boxing champions such as Mary Kom, Lovlina Borgohain, among others.

He expects Gukesh to attract brand deals in the range of up to Rs 60 lakh.

"It's a great leg up for a sport when you have a world champion. His win puts India on the global map. Chess is a global sport. So, this is a huge achievement. Brands will first capitalise on moment marketing because the player is trending. The sport is trending. For instance, when Indian players won at Paralympics in Paris in 2024 it was all about moment marketing but no endorsements happened. But for Gukesh, I think, he would get more than moment marketing or the initial digital campaigns. Long-term endorsements may be a couple, but it will depend on how his team manages him," Tomar said.

He added, "No chess player is endorsing any brand right now. My team is also working to bring  something for Gukesh."

Indranil Blah, a sports and athlete brand management consultant, pointed out that any brand that is looking beyond cricket will be looking at chess especially due to the boom in the board game in India.

"How many world champions in global sports do we have in the country? We have Neeraj Chopra who won an Olympic gold in javelin throw and now we have Gukesh. It's a huge achievement, especially keeping in mind how chess has been booming in the last few years. It's a tremendous feat for Indian sport," he said.

Brand Gukesh

Every brand endorser looking at Gukesh's press conference after winning the World Chess Championship would have taken notes, such was the poise of the player, said Chandramouli, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TRA Research, a consumer analytics and brand insights company.

"For Gukesh, certainly his win will open up the endorsement market. "If Gukesh endorses, I suggest you buy as he will only endorse things that will matter," he added.

However, Blah noted that brand India would have to go beyond the traditional boxes of what metrics brands follow to get a brand ambassador. "It will need work. Brands will have to see it as a combination of nation building and brand marketing. Chess is not one of those sports that one follows every month or week so it will depend on his managers and how they keep his profile relevant for the next few months."

He also pointed out that not many chess players are signed up by sports talent agencies because the market is not there. "A lot of the players are quite young. They are not at all media savvy. But after Gukesh's win, all talent managers will be after him. He will get calls from all agencies to represent him."

Gukesh  is the 18th player in the world to win the prestigious World Chess Championship. Chandramouli said the title drought that ended after a 12-year wait wouldn't be missed by  brands.

"I cried looking at his win as well as when I was watching the press conference. Gukesh has played moves that have never been played in the last 40-50 years or first time-ever moves. Can you believe this for a game [sport] which has been played billions of times but then you see moves that one has never seen before?" he added.

It has been the year of chess, especially for India, with both the men's and women's teams clinching gold at the 2024 Chess Olympiad, making young stars like D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and R Praggnanandhaa popular. This year Indians also saw how Gukesh, 18, scripted history in Toronto, by becoming the youngest winner of the Fédération Internationale des Échec (FIDE) Candidates chess tournament and also the youngest World Championship Challenger.

Money matters

After the Olympiad wins, adman and chairman of advertising agency Rediffusion, Sandeep Goyal, had pointed out that sponsorship money has started to trickle in for chess players. Grand Master Arjun Erigaisi has signed a $1.5-million sponsorship deal with Singapore-based quantitative trading firm Quantbox.

With Rs 2-crore funding over two years, Pravaha Foundation will be supporting six women chess players including Savitha Shri Baskar, Shubhi Gupta, Vantika Agrawal, Saparya Ghosh, Charvi Anilkumar, and A R Ilamparthi.

Gukesh is sponsored by WACA (Westbridge Anand Chess Academy), while Praggnanandhaa is backed by Adani and IOCL; Ambit, Persistent and ONGC are backing Vidit Gujrathi; Aravindh Chithambaram is supported by the Murugappa Group; and Nihal Sarin is backed by Akshayakalpa.

Sponsorship money ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 12.6 crore ($1.5 million) for chess players in India.

Prize money is another major component for chess players when it comes to monetisation. The prize money ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35 lakh for local tournaments, while globally, it is $100 to $2.5 million.

Gukesh is estimated to have won around Rs 11.45 crore ($1.35 million) out of the total prize of $2.5 million (around Rs 21.21 crore), according to a report by Times of India. With each game victory winning Rs 1.69 crore or $200,000, Gukesh earned Rs 5.07 crore ($600,000) after winning three games. Gukesh's opponent Ding Liren is estimated to have won around Rs 3.38 crore ($400,000) after he won two games during the championship. The remaining $1.5 million was split between the two equally.