Gukesh vs Sindarov World Championship venue and sponsor reveal ft. Emil Sutovsky

I'm joined here by the CEO of FIDE, Emil Sutovsky. Hello, Emil. It's a pleasure talking to you after quite some time.

Hi, Sakhar. Long time indeed.

You've been busy the last few months, and you've been working, I believe, extensively on the World Championship match. Is that right?

Yes, it is a very very complex project. It's more than just securing the match, it's securing the venue, the sponsorship, the organizational part, and it has been quite an effort. And in particular, this time where we managed to secure not just a sponsorship but something of a different magnitude.

Yeah, I'm very curious to know a few things, like for example, the match was announced I believe on the 28th of July, somewhere in that period. So it's been roughly one and like one month and few days now already. But there's no news of who is sponsoring the event and where is the venue of the event. So could you tell us why this lag between announcing the host city, which is the Geneva? Which is going to happen in Geneva and the venue and the sponsor?

Basically, it was related precisely to the big agreement which we signed, and the agreements of the kind require a lot of procurement with a company that becomes our partner, and we are talking about Salesforce.

Wow, so Salesforce is the sponsor of the match?

Not only sponsor of the match, we signed a 3-year-long sponsorship agreement which includes the World Championship matches '26 and '28, Women's World Championship match 2027, fan engagement and CRM platform for FIDE, Fidor rankings and ratings, which would be also delivered by Salesforce and many more. And that really was a big work to deliver this contract, which is by far the biggest standalone contract of Fidor with any private entity. Wow.

That's, I mean, there's so much to unpack here. Like, 3 years project, the biggest, I believe that the amounts are not possible to reveal, yes? What is the kind of sponsorship?

Well, I could reveal the monetary part which is $9 million.

Wow!

And there is in addition to that additional components of it, that's promotion and maybe most importantly the 2028 match which is planned And it should be reconfirmed yet, but planned to take place at Salesforce headquarters in San Francisco. Wow.

So that's looking at the next match that will happen in 2024.

Right. So it is indeed something that was worth the wait. And it's not from our part, it was not just waiting from our part, it was working on all the details. And I have to say that this is, we rely on this project pretty much in taking FIDE a step ahead because it's not only about money. Money is important and we are very happy about this spot, but also the platform which FIDE didn't have. And many criticize us for good reasons that really it was time to upgrade and to be, you know, in line with best practices and who could be the best partners on Salesforce, who are basically world's leading CRM provider. And also they have a lot of developments in terms of AI. Recently they have invested significant amount in Agentforce, their own AI, and it will be employed Both during the matches for the fan engagement system and all sorts of activations there around the match, but also for providing services for national federations, for ratings, for licenses, for players who could be better served on behalf of FIDE. And I'm proud that we managed to take this agreement to such a scale because it's not just something to sign and to get funds. For example, sponsorship for one match is nice, and you remember in 2024 we had Google as a title sponsor of the 2024 match, but that was a standalone project. We are grateful to Google for it to happen and to the Singapore Chess Federation who largely contributed to that, But here the magnitude is totally different, the scope is totally different, the level of cooperation is totally different. And I, you know, I'm happy that the 4 years of this term, of my term as a CEO, culminates in such a massive agreement.

Well, yeah, true. But you know, we are also on the edge of like the FIDE elections. And at this point, there are 3 people who are going to run for the FIDE presidency. And how does that look when, when such a big agreement is going to be signed? If you can throw light on that.

It did not have a particular impact. Maybe it just proves that the current management is working not that bad and capable of delivering. I actually sometimes can only look at disbelief at critics because FIDE keeps delivering time after time after time after time with all the new projects and championships and matches and bigger funds and better support. And of course, I cannot be praising ourselves in all regards, although I do now. But if we talk about the top events, I think the situation keeps improving, and these funds would enable also to work better in all other directions of work, including the work with federations, support for younger players, and so on and so forth. That's very important. As for other sponsorships, of course, I mean, we know that Timur Turlup, as a head of Freedom Holding, was supportive of so many events in the past, and They are also going to be co-sponsoring the event. Salesforce is— Right. Salesforce is the naming sponsor, title sponsor. But as you could judge by the amount I shared, if you divide it, it's insufficient to cover all the expenses for the match. So the match is co-sponsored. In approximately equal financial terms by Salesforce and Freedom. You know, Freedom has been supporting the World Championship in 2023 in Astana and a couple of World Rapid and Blitz and so on, and this is a continuation of our work, and I'm obviously grateful to them. There will be more smaller sponsorships, but these are 2 by far the biggest which we can announce now.

Amazing. Coming back to the Salesforce sponsorship that is there and the partnership that comes in, when you talk about the platform that FIDE is not updated or, you know, in that sense, what does that mean? Could you tell like our viewers, what is it that Salesforce would improve that would help FeedA function better? Also, you spoke about ratings and so on. So if maybe a little bit of clarity there would be helpful.

It's a work in progress. They're divided in 2 parts. One is related necessarily in connection to the match, and we are focusing on it right now. Because we want to deliver a fan engagement platform which would allow the fans to enjoy the match in different ways than it was before, with an emphasis also on all sorts of AI implementation, LLMs and so on, agent force being used and helping chess fans, wider chess public, to understand what's going on in this game, about the previous games, about the previous matches, Stats, all sorts of probabilities, all sorts of information around the match. It will include as well useful information. For example, what we anticipate that during the match you will have people who would be engaged by what's happening and will decide that they want to go and play. So you could basically, we will feed, we already fed the information to the agent for it. So wherever you are located, You can ask what's the closest to me, I don't know, classical chess tournament or rapid chess tournament, and immediately get information from there, like a concierge, if you wish. Ratings, as you noticed, we will be switching already to live updates, and that's important because what we've had in the past, publishing once a month, is already sort of—

Interesting.

you know, old practice which should not continue this way.

This is big news.

Yes, that's important news, yes. We still are uncertain and yet to be decided together with Qualification Commission how would we cut official ratings, because we could publish live ratings and that's already done already now, we started doing now on FIDE website, but about official ratings, whether it would be weekly like in tennis Or biweekly. We still have to see how it will work. I do not want to commit myself to any statements yet, but yes, it will be different from what it is now. In regards to federations, it's also important because you could— that's already next stage, which would be done afterwards when we'll have the CRM system, which will enable federations to better connect with us, to better get ability to download or to stream all sorts of educational materials, to engage better in terms of any possible projects, submission for development funds, submission of all the data which is needed to be shared. CRM, it's about the relationship with clients. So let's say federations basically can now address much easier in automated way to get better responses and to quickly find what they needed. Because up till now, most of the work is done in a way which was done 20 years ago. So you just sent an email, you inquire something, then somebody manually processes it. It's not how it should be in the future, right? So we thought about it and Salesforce is the best partner because it combines the CRM systems and AI, which is needed for that purpose so it can improve all the interaction. So in this regards, I think we found a very strong and very reliable partner and we will work on that and it can be combined basically with anything. It can be combined with educational patterns. It can be combined with, I don't know, with all sorts of tournament data. It can be processed and quickly shared around the world or around the continent. So it is basically best modern practice, and it is not a playing platform. It does not become, you know, a hub for those who came to play like Chess.com or Lichess. No, it's different. But it would obviously help federations, coaches, players, those who need to check ratings, those who need to get certificates, those who want to have some sort of educational courses. All that would be included in this partnership. Not in the partnership, but in the platform, which would create an ecosystem for the partnership.

Very interesting. And I think there are many things that will come along as this develops. Just the last question on Salesforce is how did this partnership begin or come about? And how did you decide to kind of— that, okay, because there's so many companies with whom you could have approached. How did Salesforce come about?

It was an agreement which was brokered by our agency, the agency which we basically engaged to, it was already a year ago, almost a year ago, P11, London-based agency which specializes in all sorts of sport marketing. Actually, half a year ago, so they brokered some agreement, sponsorship agreement for Magnus, and that was also one of— so they are feeling a potential for chess, and basically they were the ones who initiated the idea, and then the negotiations, it's a long process, you know, both sides have their ideas, have their interests, have their limitations, have their vision on how it should look. And that's why it took quite a bit of time. And then we had to come up with a venue because, again, it should have been suitable for us because we did not want to have a venue which would be non-neutral. Because, let's say, for example, India wanted to host it again, but we didn't want non-neutral venue. We also wanted to have it centrally located somewhere in one of the hubs because Geneva is known as one of the cities with a lot of, you know, diplomatic activities and a lot of companies being there. And for that matter, the opening ceremony is going to be staged at Palace of Nations, basically the UN headquarters, in the main room of Palace of Nations, just for you to— yeah, yeah, the very place where League of Nations was established many years ago, 100 years ago. So it is in a way very special place. And that would be a proper, I think, start for such a great competition, and we know that there will be many VVIPs attending and that raising the status of the match, and I have to say that we have already been connected both by Indian embassies there, And by other countries' embassies who are willing to participate, and maybe not only ambassadors, but also higher, let's say, officials of the country would be present. So yes, Geneva was a choice. And once we saw that this is a location which was both suitable for Salesforce and also We felt that it's a good place for the event and Freedom was also supporting the idea to host it there. Then we started working and thinking about the venue, the very venue for the event. And we have checked many options, but finally we decided to host it at a very unique place. Which is called Fondation Bodmer, which is one of the very unique, I would say. It hosts unique collections of rare old books and folios, and it's museum and library in very stylish old buildings which are situated 5 minutes by car from the very center of Geneva. Formally, it's called the Commune Colonie, which is also supporting the event, and its mayor, who is a grandson of the founder of this library, is also very supportive of the idea. And it's going to be very special, the old building, the premises. It would be a bit different because the venue itself is not as big, but it's very, very special. And of course, we'll have a big fan zone right next to the venue.

Oh, actually, the venue in itself looks very unique. You know, it's like feels like a bungalow or sort of a standalone building, you know, where— and I don't know how big it is, but at least from the video it looks as if, um, I don't know how many people— maybe it's just for the match there and then other things would happen in the nearby building. Is that true?

Uh, basically the match itself, the playing venue, they will play in the old library surrounded by books and very picturesque, I would say, very telegenic picture. Indeed, the entrance for spectators would be very, very limited. The VIP zone would be next to it and the fan zone would be also not far. And the fan zone is there where every spectator can come and watch and play and talk and communicate with the players. And the participants come to visit after that, a bit like what it was in Toronto, if you wish, if you remember.

Yes.

Yeah.

And like, how did this venue come about? Like, for example, we saw that matches have always happened in hotels, you know, like in Singapore.

Of course, the hotel is a natural choice, but It didn't feel special because let's say in Singapore, like in Asian countries, the hotels typically have huge halls, huge lounges where you can have it. In European countries, it's different. Typically the salons or the rooms there are not as big and not as numerous as needed. So we felt that of course it would be possible just to have it in hotel, but it wouldn't feel as special. Here the atmosphere would be special, the picture around it would be special. The library and the museum is indeed very, I would really say unique. I mean, everyone can find on Google what's unique about it. They have first editions of so many books, including Stefan Zweig's Schachnovelle. which is, yes, I think the manuscript, not the edition, but the manuscript of the book which was presented by Stefan Zweig himself before he departed for Brazil when World War II started. And many things of the kind, and it's really unique. And actually, I remember when we checked it among all other places, I liked it a lot, and it reminded me of one very special occasion when I was invited by Yoshiharu Habu, the meijin in shogi, in Japanese chess. He played the, let's call it, world championship match, although there were only Japanese players because they're by far the best in shogi. And he invited me to this venue when he played. And it was not a big room, actually much smaller than we will have here, but very unique, very specially decorated and very— and it was also the broadcast and so on. Because after all, let's be honest, chess is not exactly a spectator sport when you will have thousands of people arriving at the venue. Yes, you would have a couple of hundreds or something like that. But what's most important, I think, is the entourage, the picture, because we know that online would be watched by literally millions or maybe dozens of millions. And also, it is, I think, as a part of a story, it's nice to have it in a very special building and not just in a hotel lounge.

Amazing. Yeah, thank you, Emil, for sharing all of these things related to the match. One more question that I have is, you've been the CEO of FIDE now for The last 4 years for sure. I guess it's been 8 years, right? That you, from 2018.

Right. I mean, I mean, technically for the first 4 years I was Director General and for the last 4 I was CEO. Yeah.

So how do you see with the FIDE elections coming up and just in case if you want to share your thoughts about it, what are your feelings? Would you, what would change for you and what is it that you are looking forward to?

First of all, I don't think I should comment on that because as I'm— I should probably keep as neutral position as possible. But I have to say that my task is and was to keep things running no matter elections or no elections because Now we will have, no matter what, we will have new president. And what, I mean, if I stay or if I don't stay, I mean, the onus is on my team or FIDE management team to prove that we have finished our term, we delivered and we delivered in several directions. Now, then the new president will decide on the new team. But anyways, we have to deliver. We have to actually execute and show that this work was properly done. Because the worst thing could be, as happened in the past, when there is some sort of transitional period where nobody knows what's going on. Remember what a mess it was in 1990s when it was very unclear. Kampomanis left, Kirsan is coming. Nobody has an idea how it will look and so on and so forth. And that also at the time was accompanied by a division of world championship cycles and so forth. So my task was very simple. We have to deliver what we have. And in this case, with this partnership with Salesforce, We overdelivered, if I may say, because that lays a foundation for chess, for FIDE, for national federations to grow, no matter who will be the president, because that's an excellent start and they could basically inject the funds they're talking about or they're offering, but not on the ground zero, but already on a very, very fertile soil.

Well, thank you for sharing all these, uh, very important information in the world of chess. Uh, thank you for giving us your time, and also, uh, a huge congratulations to you for, uh, the partnership with Salesforce. I believe, uh, it's, it's a new chapter for chess and for FIDE.

Uh, I definitely believe it's very Very important news. Once again, there is a lot of things which remain to be seen how they would work out. Because when you start these partnerships, you have, let's say, a broad idea, but there are a lot of details to work out. And I'm sure that there will be many hurdles still because, you know, when you plan things and implementations, that doesn't always It's not always convertible for everything, but it looks promising indeed. And what's important, we prove that chess remains attractive for really huge companies. That's another validation of the path FIDE undertaking, and that's another validation for the work our management team has done. And the one thing which I want to stress, I mean, from time to time there are successful organizers who manage to attract here and there sponsorship, but it's only FIDE who managed to do so in a sustainable way, and that's the most important from my part, because signing one very good agreement is great. But managing to, you know, time after time to deliver on such a variety of events and very costly events is something that both very demanding but also very satisfying when you manage to deliver on it. And I'd like to thank the entire team which was working on that. I'd like to thank Vishri who was backing it in his role of interim FIDE president. I'd like to thank the council because they were very supportive and gave me basically a mandate to work on that. And of course, the agreements with sponsors which were passed via council, they reviewed it, they asked very concrete questions, and I supplied them with details. And of course the team which is doing the match, because there are many people who often are not seen but they're doing such immense work and should be praised. Let's say someone like Pavel Tregubov, whose role is absolutely huge, and he will be the match director in Geneva as well.

It's amazing. Well, before Geneva there's also the FIDE Olympiad, there is There will be the Total Chess World Championship. So, the amount of chess is huge that's going to happen in the year to come.

Indeed, the Olympiad. The Olympiad is— we didn't talk about it, but the Olympiad itself is absolutely huge, and I am looking forward to it and looking forward to see you there.

Thank you, Emil, and thank you for your time.

Thank you.