Google Announced As Title Sponsor For Ding-Gukesh World Championship

Google will be the title sponsor for the 2024 FIDE World Championship Match between GMs Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju. Described as a “landmark collaboration,” the news was announced today by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF).

It is the first time that a world chess championship is connected to a major technology company since the Intel-sponsored 1995 PCA match between GMs Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand, and the first time for FIDE to be strongly connected to one after having been criticized for decades about its failure to bring in corporate sponsorship from absolute top brands.

The announced sponsorship might be a sign of the times. The popularity of chess as a result of the 1972 match between GMs Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky was never matched until recently, when the pandemic, the Netflix hit The Queen’s Gambit, the Carlsen-Niemann scandal, and the streamers revolution brought the game to new heights.

Signing up with Google, one of the world’s most valuable brands as part of parent company Alphabet Inc., is a major achievement for FIDE and the Singapore organizers and a potentially groundbreaking development for chess in general.

Google partnering with FIDE for the championship makes sense as its connection with chess isn’t new. It was Google DeepMind that was behind the revolutionary program AlphaZero, which heavily outperformed Stockfish back in 2017 and influenced the style of play of top players at the time. Afterward, DeepMind continued to use the insights gained from developing AlphaZero to move toward fields outside the chess world.

Google Chief Marketing Officer for Asia Pacific Simon Kahn said that his company is “excited to sponsor this historic event” as he pointed toward the long history between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chess, which goes back to the times of Claude Shannon, Alan Turing, and even Charles Babbage.

“Chess represents a profound intersection of human ingenuity and technological potential, and has always been a proving ground for AI innovation,” Kahn said. “In fact, some of our earliest AI breakthroughs came from mastering chess as a proof-of-concept. Through Search, YouTube, and AI, we are now delighted to enhance the championship experience for chess fans globally, celebrating the beauty of this game that continues to inspire and challenge us.”

Chess represents a profound intersection of human ingenuity and technological potential, and has always been a proving ground for AI innovation.
–Simon Kahn, Google Chief Marketing Officer for Asia Pacific

“FIDE is thrilled to partner with Google,” said Emil Sutovsky, the federation’s CEO. “It is a milestone for our sport. This collaboration brings a new dimension to the competition, blending the tradition of chess with the innovation of AI. The partnership is set to elevate the visibility of the World Chess Championship, taking the broadcast of the event to the next level and attracting new audiences globally.”

Today’s announcement was jointly done by FIDE and the Singapore Chess Federation. Kevin Goh, CEO of SCF and main organizer of the match, said: “It is the first time a global technology leader has sponsored the most important chess event. (…) Chess is all about problem-solving, and we are glad that Google’s special focus on deep learning resonates well with the game.”

It was Goh who made the initial connections with Google’s Asia Pacific department. When Singapore announced its bid to host the championship in early June of this year, the talks had already started. FIDE accepted the bid a month later, after the Singapore government had provided financial guarantees.

“This was done with the understanding that there was a lot of potential due to the possible cooperation with Google and other partnerships,” explained Sutovsky to Chess.com. “Eventually, we signed with Google in early September.”

According to Sutovsky, FIDE has been working with Google for two months now and will continue to do so until the first move is made on November 25 and beyond. As the title sponsor, Google is not just providing an unspecified financial injection—the second largest after that from the Singapore government, noted Sutovsky—but a lot of immaterial support as well to enhance the visibility of the contest (assisted by e.g. Google Search and other algorithms) as well as direct influence on the official broadcast.

“The broadcast will be partly interactive, with informational Gemini complied bits of information implemented in the coverage: about the game, what is happening, the opening, the players, their history, the history of the world championship, alongside more engaging ways to see the games,” explained Sutovsky.

In addition, the championship will be the main theme on Google’s Art And Culture page throughout November and December for extra promotion. And, apart from online activities, there will be things organized on-site as well such as a Google fanzone, AI-powered activities and chess and AI panels with leading people of Google and others as part of the broader program of the event.

“This way, Google both supports and benefits as presenting sponsor,” Sutovsky noted. Asked about a possible continuation of the cooperation beyond the title match, he remained cautious: “I would not exclude that if we start with a bang in this match, it could expand and could continue, but I would not guarantee or promise. It’s too early for that.”

The “FIDE World Chess Championship Presented By Google” will take place at Resorts World Sentosa from November 25 to December 13, 2024. It is a 14-game match with a classical time control and a $2,500,000 prize fund. The first player to reach 7.5 points becomes the world champion.