Nodwin shakes hands with gaming chess.com and chessbase India

In a historic step to redefine the future of chess in India, Nodwin Gaming, a leader in South Asia’s asports and gaming ecosystems, has announced a strategic partnership with the world’s largest chess platform, chess.com and India’s leading chess media and ground level organization, chess India. The cooperation brings three powerhouses together from the world of eSports, materials, and competitive chess to create an integrated ecosystem. This will nurture talent, expand access, and create India’s presence on the stage of global chess.

This strategic coalition unites the complementary strength of three leaders in chess and gaming ecosystems. Nodwin brings deep expertise in gaming production, broadcasting and commercial strategy. Chessbase India provides unmatched access to India’s rich chess community and ground level networks. Chess.com contributes to its huge global platform, community, producer partnership and the infrastructure of world -class tournament.

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Together, they create a unique synergy that will fuel co-creation and scaling of the original IP, distribute premium competitive format, increase deep engagement in both the player and manufacturer communities, and will provide great opportunities for brands to make partners in rapidly growing chess ecosystem.

Speaking on the announcement, Akshat Rathi, co-founder and managing director of Nodwin GamingSaid, “Chess is undergoing a cultural renaissance period, from the park bench and school room to Asports Arenas and Creator Stream. Chase has now become the fourth most watched game in the country after cricket, kabaddi and BGMI tournament. With this partnership, we are supporting a heritage game.

Chess is receiving a quick global attention, with more than 7.6 billion games played worldwide alone in 2024. The platform now claims over 200 million registered users, 9 million+ monthly active players in India, and an average of 550,000 new signups every month. The viewership has touched the sky with 925 million total organic ideas, which reflects the growth of year-on-year.

The increase in visibility was recently reflected during the World Chess Championships, which was particularly streamful in India through Nodwin Gaming, Chess.com and Chessbase India’s joint efforts. Gukesh Domraju-Ding Liran Final Match, in which Gukesh was crowned as the World Chess Champion, watched more than 24 million times, with the number of concurrent spectators 200,000.

India is central for this boom. Cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai rank in top chess-looking areas globally. Indian users are primarily mobile-first, with 80.9% viewers’ number on smartphones, and the largest age group between 18 and 34 years, which exposes the deep connection of the game with India’s digital-country gene z and co-millennium audiences.

Speaking on the alliance, Sagar Shah, CEO of Chesbase India, Said, “This partnership is not just a commercial alliance – it is a vision to increase the chess community in India to the ground stage at the ground level. For the past decade, we have focused on building a strong chess culture in the country, and now, with Nodwin and Chess.com, we hope to bring more opportunities for all those involved in the chess ecosystem. ,

Awadh Shah, Director of Country Chess.com India, Said, “Chess has been one of the most prominent and fastest growing sports in the last 3 years in India and the world. In the context of both partnerships and the number of spectators, Chase has been experiencing record-breaking numbers-more than all that we have ever seen. Looking at the enthusiasm around the game, it is only to carry forward its development to pursue this journey.”

The partnership also aligns with the rise of chess as a recognized ecoports discipline. In the upcoming ESPORTS World Cup (EWC) 2025, chess will start with a $ 1.5 million award pool. Leading Indian ESPORTS organization S8ul is set to represent India in the competing chess in the ESPOR Cup, with Grandmasters Nihal Sarin and Arvind Chitambaram’s own powerhouse roster, marking the first representation of the Indian asports team in a competitive chess on a global platform. Their participation underlines the increasing recognition of chess as a viewer-friendly, high-skilled esport.

As India prepares to make its mark on this new frontier, Nodwin promises to build the basic infrastructure required for long-term development to community tournaments and professional leagues to the community from the top-level broadcast and affected materials with the alliance, top level broadcasts and affected materials.

Together, Nodwin Gaming, Chesbase India, and Chess.com aims to build a strong ecosystem for the Indian chess, which respects the country’s heritage, strengthens the creators, and establishes India as a global center for online competitive chess.