Checkmate with Viswanathan Anand

CHENNAI: It is the dream of every chess enthusiast to be mentored by a grandmaster. This dream of many Indian youngsters is about to come true as ChessKid, a US-based chess platform launched its Indian edition in Chennai, under the mentorship of grandmaster Viswanathan Anand on Thursday. 

“I wanted to take chess to the next level and to do that, it is very important to appeal to children,” said Viswanathan Anand. “Chess develops all sorts of useful skills but one of the things that chess needs to be is to be presented in a fun and accessible way where it is entertaining as well. I hope this will be an important tool that will get more children to play the game in a technologically friendly way where videos explain concepts which register much better.”  He said that such a platform helps in making the game to be played as per children’s convenience. 

“This way children have access to playing chess anytime,” he said. “When I started playing chess, I played in a chess club on Sundays and weekdays whenever possible. And while everything has changed since then, there is one thing that has not changed — you get better at the game as you keep playing. ChessKid will let children play chess as much as possible and the presentation of concepts is easy and entertaining...we are seeing younger and younger grandmasters and I hope we will have our 64th grandmaster by my 50th birthday.”  

Under the guidance of grandmaster Viswanathan Anand himself, ChessKid will release curated chess content and hold annual online competitions for India’s aspiring young players. India currently has 63 grandmasters — the highest title chess players can get — and ranks 8th in the world. In June last year, Tamil Nadu’s R Praggnanandhaa became the world’s second-youngest chess grandmaster at the age of 12 years and 10 months. 

ChessKid believes that chess is the one activity which teaches children the creativity of art and the logical reasoning of math while also teaching science, calculated risk-taking and sportsmanship — all of it in a fun manner.

Speaking about the new initiatives, Carey Fan, CEO, ChessKid said, “India is a rapidly rising chess country. There are 195 million elementary school-aged children in India and the education market is expected to grow to $40 billion by the end of 2019, up from $20 billion in 2015. There is a lot of scope for a chess platform like ours to flourish here. Also, we have Viswanathan Anand on board with us who is considered to be one of the greatest sportsmen in history.” 

He said that ChessKid stands apart because it is the only platform that combines the joy of playing, a vibrant online environment and rich content that keeps users engaged. “While there are many other chess platforms in the market, Chesskid.com is one of the few platforms that amalgamates the joy of playing a game like chess as well as offers some rich content that keeps users engaged,” Carey said. 

ChessKid aims to hit 2,000,000 paid subscribers in five years. Investments into business development, creative marketing promotions, technical development, and SEO will be part of the roadmap. It will also be targeting India’s growing Ed Tech market with specific products targeting children, parents, teachers and educational institutions. 

ChessKid will be offering a range of products to engage children and make them love the game. It will also provide the right tools to demystify the game and help teachers teach it in an easier manner. 
Mike Klein, the chief chess officer at ChessKid was also present at the event.