The All India Chess Federation (AICF) signed a historic agreement with the MPL Sports Foundation for a sponsorship amount of Rs. 10,000,000 (approximately $132,860) for the Indian National Championships over the next five years, with a 20% increase every year.
The agreement comes soon after Indian women’s first-ever silver medal in the World Women’s Team Championship, and the bronze medal at the Online Olympiad won by the national team.
MPL Foundation, primarily associated with gaming, will hold the right to be the title sponsor for various National Championships across all formats starting from the U-7 age group.
For the time ever, a corporate sponsor has entered into a long term agreement with the AICF. The credit primarily goes to the new team that has been getting a lot of praise for its efforts.
The new team took over AICF in January this year and since then has compiled an impressive list of achievements, including:
1. Organization of Online Arbiter (Referee) refresher Courses and development of 500+ arbiters equipped to organize online and over the board events.
2. Training and certification of more than 1200 trainers for Chess in Schools program, conducted by Grandmasters and International Masters.
3. Organization of 28 national level championships online with participation of more than 15000 players.
4. AICF awarded prize money of Rs. 4,000,000 (roughly USD 53,200) in the national championships.
5. Creating a Covid-relief fund for chess fraternity involving such top Indian players like Anand, Koneru Humpy, D. Harika, Vidit Gujarati, etc. More than Rs. 1,300,000 (approximately USD 17,300) were distributed among 50+ beneficiaries.
6. Creating a welfare fund of Rs 5,000,000 (approximately USD 66,500) for players and arbiters for emergency assistance.
7. The Indian team participated in online Asian School championships & Western Asian Championships, winning 51 medals.
8. The Indian team participated in the Online World Youth Championships, winning four medals.
9. The Indian team captained by V. Anand took part in the Online Chess Olympiad and won bronze.
10. The Indian women’s team won the silver medal in the World Women’s Team Championship.
“This is a new era for chess in India, and we are committed to keep working for the betterment of the game and also to make India the number one chess-playing nation in the world”, said Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President of AICF.
AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan attributed this success to a selfless approach: “I am proud to say that we have people who are very committed to uplifting of the game; the game has grown many-folds in the last one year, and this is only the beginning.”
About MPL Sports Foundation:
MPL Sports Foundation(MPLSF), established in 2021, is the dedicated philanthropic arm of Mobile Premier League (MPL), India’s biggest esports platform, to steer all our community-based initiatives, going beyond mere corporate social responsibility. The Foundation supports meaningful activities and transformational change across various fields and works towards community service and nation-building.
The foundation aims to democratise sports, make it more accessible, diverse, equitable and inclusive, and support and strengthen the development of sports, sports-related ecosystem and sporting culture in India, with a special focus on esports.
Further information:
Bharat Singh Chauhan, AICF Secretary
E-mail: indianchessfed@gmail.com
Mobile: 9810000007
