Chess looking for new audiences with Esports World Cup looming

PARIS – Chess is getting ready to make its foray into e-sports with teams recruiting top players ahead of this summer’s Esports World Cup (EWC),hoping to attract new audiences as the game continues to grow in spectacular fashion.

Sixteen players will compete for a US$1.5 million (S$2 million) prize pot in Riyadh from July 31 to Aug 3, with world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and top streamer Hikaru Nakamura expected to be among the contenders.

French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the 2021 blitz world champion, signed a one-year deal with European powerhouse Team Vitality, one of 10 e-sports teams to feature at least one chess player in their roster.

“I still prefer playing over-the-board chess as I’ve started playing like this, although I quickly started playing online,” Vachier-Lagrave told Reuters.

“Online chess has started to grow around 2005, 2006 with chess.com and the lockdown also played a part with more serious tournaments being taken online.

“At the beginning, I was not really into online tournaments. I did not have all my bearings, but with time it got better.”

One of the key elements with a rapid, 10-minute time control without increment, which is added time after every move, is mastering the mouse to play faster.

“To perform in a video game, you need to click faster and make quick good decisions. There’s a similarity with chess and we’ve been interested (in signing a top chess player) for a while,” Nicolas Maurer, the founder of Team Vitality, told Reuters.

Huge bump

Maurer was tight-lipped about how much Vachier-Lagrave would earn for his one-year deal with his team.

“It’s a competitive environment. We don’t share our players’ salaries, but it’s significant. Everyone is looking to know as much as they can about their rivals and it’s also a new market,” he said,