IILM: Magnus Carlsen and the finally sexy business of chess

A weekly newsletter that often deconstructs but always explains the business of sport from India

Hello Jigar,

Are you caught up with all the drama in Indian cricket? My word, what an absolute shitshow it’s turning out to be. It’s almost as if the protagonists of Indian cricket watched Amazon Prime Video’s highly sensational and trashy show Inside Edge and thought—meh, we can do better than this.

Anyway, I’m not going to talk about Indian cricket today. There’s enough coverage already in the Indian media. This week, let’s talk about chess, which has been in the news recently for multiple reasons—no less the world chess championship that concluded in Dubai last week, with the magnificent Magnus Carlsen winning his fifth title.

A shoutout to Moneyball reader Chandragupta Acharya for writing in and suggesting the idea. Cheers, Chandragupta!

Magnus Carlsen and the finally sexy business of chess

I’m ashamed to admit I can’t play chess. I had started playing when I was about seven or eight years old but never followed through. I barely remember the rules now. But I might be forced to pick it up again sooner than later. Because India is soon going to have an IPL for chess.

Earlier this week, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) announced that a new franchise-based chess league will launch in June next year. The Indian Chess League will be held over two weeks and will have six franchises. Each team will have two super grandmasters, two Indian grandmasters, two female grandmasters, and two Indian juniors.

“The idea is to not only draw the best players from around the world but also to provide India’s players a formidable platform to sharpen their skills,” says AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan. “The matches will be telecast live to draw more and more players to chess. We will announce the criteria for becoming a franchise owner shortly. We have already received a good response from corporates.”

AICF, which governs Indian chess, will be a busy federation next year. Apart from the Indian Chess League, it plans to host 13 international tournaments in 2022. And on the domestic front, AICF announced a Rs 76 lakh (US$99,750) hike in prize money earlier this month—across all national chess championships.