NODWIN Gaming has entered a strategic partnership with Chess.com and ChessBase India to broaden the footprint of chess as an esports self-discipline in India.
The collaboration goals to mix broadcast infrastructure, grassroots engagement, and world digital attain to assist aggressive codecs, group engagement, and industrial alternatives within the rising on-line chess sector.
The businesses plan to launch unique mental properties, skilled leagues, creator-led codecs, and model collaborations centered on chess. The initiative is positioned as a long-term funding in constructing infrastructure for Indian chess on each aggressive and industrial fronts.
The three corporations convey complementary capabilities to the partnership. NODWIN Gaming, a subsidiary of Nazara Applied sciences, gives experience in esports manufacturing and monetization. ChessBase India contributes a community of grassroots gamers and content material creators, whereas Chess.com presents a world platform with over 200 million customers and match operations infrastructure.
“Chess has now develop into the fourth most-watched sport within the nation after cricket, kabaddi, and BGMI tournaments,” stated Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming. “By combining every group’s distinctive strengths, we’re constructing a future-ready ecosystem that may take Indian chess from heritage to hype.”
In accordance with information shared by the businesses, Chess.com recorded 7.6 billion video games performed globally in 2024. The platform has over 9 million month-to-month energetic customers in India and provides round 550,000 new Indian customers every month. Viewership metrics present a pointy improve in engagement, with 925 million natural views globally—a 640% year-on-year rise.
The businesses collectively streamed the 2024 World Chess Championship match between India’s Gukesh Dommaraju and China’s Ding Liren. The published drew 24 million views and reached a peak concurrent viewership of 200,000. The vast majority of Indian viewership occurred on cell gadgets, and the 18–34 age group fashioned the biggest demographic phase.
“This partnership isn’t just a enterprise alliance—it’s a imaginative and prescient to develop the chess group in India from the grassroots to the grand stage,” stated Sagar Shah, CEO of ChessBase India. “With NODWIN and Chess.com by our facet, we hope to convey forth extra alternatives to all these concerned within the chess ecosystem.”
Chess can be set to function on the 2025 Esports World Cup with a $1.5 million prize pool. India will likely be represented by esports workforce S8UL, which is able to area Grandmasters Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram. This would be the first time Indian gamers compete in a world esports occasion underneath a proper chess class.
“Chess has been one of the dominant and quickest rising sports activities within the final 3 years throughout India and the world,” stated Avadh Shah, nation director of Chess.com India. “Given the joy across the sport, it is just becoming that the main corporations throughout the ecosystem collaborate to additional its improvement.”
