Gukesh Dommaraju's triumph heralds '83 moment' for chess
Gukesh Dommaraju's crowning as the World Chess Champion has propelled the sport's popularity to new heights in India-livestreams of matches on platforms like YouTube, ChessBase, Chess.com and Lichess.org are drawing record-breaking numbers of Indian viewers.
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«Chess in India is now having a 1983 moment,» said Akshat Rathee, managing director and cofounder of esports firm Nodwin Gaming, which along with ChessBase India exclusively streamed the World Chess Championship in the country. «It has now become the fourth largest watched sport after cricket, kabaddi and BGMI tournaments.»
The Dommaraju-Ding Liren tussle saw upwards of two million views with a peak viewership of 75,000, Nodwin Gaming said.
Some 500-odd people turned up in Mumbai's Habitat Club to view the match in-person, said Avadh Shah, country head of Chess.com, who was delivering the commentary with popular influencer Samay Raina. «Gukesh's historic victory as the youngest undisputed World Champion is an immense achievement for chess in India, and an inspiration globally,» Theophilus Wait, director of operations at France-based Lichess, told ET.
Lichess, a non-profit platform dedicated to play and study of chess, said the platform has seen an 1100% increase in engagement from Indian viewers in December.
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