I am at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. But this was too important of a news happening in the world of chess to not be covered. I sent a zoom link to the CEO of FIDE Emil Sutovsky and the next 30 minutes, I sat down and listened to him attentively!
The biggest sponsorship deal for FIDE
Sagar Shah (SS): I'm joined here by the CEO of FIDE, Emil Sutovsky. Hello Emil, it's a pleasure talking to you after quite some time.
Emil Sutovsky (ES): Hi Sagar, long time indeed.
SS: You've been busy the last few months, and you've been working, I believe, extensively on the World Championship match. Is that right?
ES: Yes, it is a very complex project. It's more than just securing the match - it's securing the venue, the sponsorship, the organisational 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.
SS: I'm very curious about a few things. The match was announced, I believe, on the 28th of July. So it's been roughly a month and a few days now. But there's been no news of who is sponsoring the event and where the venue is. Could you tell us why there was this lag between announcing the host city, Geneva, and announcing the venue and the sponsor?
ES: Basically it was related precisely to the big agreement which we signed. Agreements of this kind require a lot of procurement work with the company that becomes our partner - and we are talking about Salesforce.
SS: So Salesforce is the sponsor of the match?
ES: Not only sponsor of the match. We signed a three-year-long sponsorship agreement which includes the World Championship matches of 2026 and 2028, the Women's World Championship match in 2027, a fan engagement and CRM platform for FIDE, FIDE rankings and ratings which will also be delivered by Salesforce, and many more things. It really was a big piece of work to deliver this contract, which is by far the biggest standalone contract of FIDE with any private entity.
SS: Wow. There's so much to unpack here a three-year project, the biggest ever. I believe the amounts are not possible to reveal?
ES: Well, I could reveal the monetary part, which is $9 million. And in addition to that there are additional components - promotion, and maybe most importantly, the 2028 match, which is planned - it should be reconfirmed yet, but planned - to take place at Salesforce headquarters in San Francisco.
SS: So that's looking beyond the next match, which happens in Geneva.
ES: Right. So it is indeed something that was worth waiting for. And from our side it was not just waiting - it was working on all the details.
I have to say that we rely on this project quite a lot in taking FIDE a step ahead, because it's not only about money. Money is important and we are very happy about this part. But also the platform, which FIDE didn't have - and many criticised us, for good reasons, that it really was time to upgrade and to be in line with best practices. And who could be a better partner than Salesforce, who are basically the world's leading CRM provider? They also have a lot of developments in terms of AI. Recently they have invested a significant amount in Agentforce, their own AI. It will be employed both during the matches, for the fan engagement system and all sorts of activations around the match, and also for providing services to national federations - for ratings, for licences, for players who can be better served on behalf of FIDE.
I'm proud that we managed to take this agreement to such a scale, because it's not just something to sign and get funds. Sponsorship for one match is nice - you remember in 2024 we had Google as the title sponsor of the match. But that was a standalone project. We are grateful to Google for it, and to Singapore and 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'm happy that these four years of my term as CEO culminate in such a massive agreement.
Elections and the timing of the deal
SS: True. But you know, we are also on the edge of the FIDE elections, and at this point there are three people who are going to run for the FIDE presidency. How does that look when such a big agreement is being signed? If you can throw light on that.
ES: It did not have a particular impact. Maybe it just proves that the current management is working not that badly and is capable of delivering. I sometimes look with disbelief at the critics, because FIDE keeps delivering time after time after time - with all the new projects and championships and matches and bigger funds and better support. Of course, I cannot be praising ourselves in all regards, although I am doing it now. But if we talk about the top events, I think the situation keeps improving. And these funds will enable us to work better in all the other directions too, including work with federations, support for younger players and so on. We know that Timur Turlov, as head of Freedom Holding, has supported so many events in the past.
And they are also going to be co-sponsoring the event. Salesforce is the naming sponsor, the 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.
Freedom has been supporting the World Championship in 2023 in Astana, and a couple of World Rapid and Blitz events and so on. This is a continuation of our work, and I'm obviously grateful to them. There will be more, smaller sponsorships, but these two are by far the biggest which we can announce.
SS: Amazing. Coming back to the Salesforce partnership - when you talk about the platform that FIDE doesn't have or isn't updated, what does that mean? Could you tell our viewers what it is that Salesforce would improve that would help FIDE function better? You also spoke about ratings, so maybe a little clarity there would be helpful.
ES: It's a work in progress, and it's divided into two parts. One is connected to the match, and we are focusing on it right now, because we want to deliver a fan engagement platform which would allow fans to enjoy the match in ways that weren't possible before, with an emphasis on AI implementation, LLMs and so on. Agentforce will be used to help chess fans and the wider chess public understand what's going on in the game, in the previous games, in the previous matches - all sorts of probabilities, all sorts of information around the match.
It will include useful information as well. For example, what we anticipate is that during the match you will have people who get engaged by what's happening and decide that they want to go and play. So you can feed in the information - we have already fed the information to Agentforce. Wherever you are located, you can ask what's the closest classical chess tournament or rapid chess tournament to me, and immediately get the information. Like a concierge, if you wish.
SS: And ratings?
ES: Ratings - as you noticed, we will be switching to live updates. That's important, because publishing once a month, as we had in the past, is already an old practice which should not continue this way.
SS: This is big news.
ES: Yes, that's important news. We are still uncertain and it is yet to be decided together with the Qualification Commission how we would cut official ratings. We can publish live ratings, and that's already being done now - we started doing it on the FIDE website. But as for official ratings, whether it would be weekly, like in tennis, or bi-weekly, we still have to see how it works. I do not want to commit myself to any statements here, but yes, it will be different from what it is now.
With regard to federations, that's the next stage, which will be done afterwards, when we have the CRM system. It will enable federations to connect with us better, to download or stream all sorts of educational materials, to engage better on any possible projects - submissions for development funds, submission of all the data which needs to be shared.
CRM is about the relationship with clients. So federations can address us much more easily, in an automated way, get better responses and quickly find what's needed. Because up till now, most of the work is done the way it was done 20 years ago. You send an email, you enquire about something, then somebody manually processes it. That'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 system and the AI which is needed for that purpose, so it can improve all the interaction. In this regard I think we found a very strong and very reliable partner.
It can be combined with basically anything - with educational patterns, with all sorts of tournament data. It can be processed and quickly shared around the world or around the continent. It is basically the best modern practice. And it is not a playing platform. It does not become 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 educational courses. All that would be included - not in the partnership, but in the platform which creates an ecosystem for the partnership.
SS: Very interesting, and I think many things will come along as this develops. Just the last question on Salesforce - how did this partnership come about? There are so many companies you could have approached. How did Salesforce come about?
ES: It was an agreement brokered by our agency, the agency which we engaged. It was really almost a year ago - P11, a London-based agency which specialises in all sorts of sports marketing. About half a year ago they also brokered a sponsorship agreement for Magnus. They are sensing the potential for chess, and basically they were the ones who initiated the idea and then the negotiations.
It's a long process. Both sides have their ideas, their interests, their limitations, their vision of how it should look. That's why it took quite a bit of time.
Venue for the World Championship Match
ES: Then we had to come up with a venue, because again, it had to be suitable for us - we did not want a venue which would be non-neutral. For example, India wanted to host it again, but we didn't want a non-neutral venue. We also wanted it centrally located, in one of the hubs, because Geneva is known as one of the cities with a lot of diplomatic activity and a lot of companies based there.
For that matter, the opening ceremony is going to be staged at the Palace of Nations - basically the UN headquarters - in the main room. It's the very place where the League of Nations was established many years ago, a hundred years ago. It is, in a way, a very special place. That would be a proper start for such a great competition.
We know that there will be many VVIPs attending and raising the status of the match. We have already been contacted both by the Indian embassy there and by other countries' embassies who are willing to participate - maybe not only ambassadors, but also higher officials of these countries.
Once we saw that Geneva was a location which worked beautifully for Salesforce, and we felt it was a good place for the event, and Freedom also supported the idea of hosting it there, we started working and thinking about the venue itself.
We checked many options, but finally we decided to host it at a very unique place called the Fondation Martin Bodmer. It hosts unique collections of rare old books and folios. It's a museum and library in very stylish old buildings, situated five minutes by car from the very centre of Geneva. Formally it's in the Commune of Cologny, which is also supporting the event. Its mayor, who is the grandson of the founder of this library, is also very supportive of the idea.
It's going to be very special - the old buildings, the premises. It will be a bit different, because the venue itself is not that big. But it's very, very special, and of course we'll have a big fan zone right next to the venue.
SS: The venue does look very unique. It feels like a bungalow, a standalone building. I don't know how big it is, but at least from the video it looks as if maybe it's just for the match there, and other things would happen in the nearby building. Is that true?
ES: Basically, the playing venue - they will play in the old library, surrounded by books. Very picturesque, I would say, a very telegenic picture. Indeed, entrance for spectators would be very limited. The VIP zone would be next to it, and the fan zone also not far. The fan zone is where every spectator can come and watch and play and talk, and the participants come to visit after the game. A bit like it was in Toronto, if you remember.
SS: Yes. How did this venue come about? We've seen that matches have always happened in hotels, like in Singapore.
ES: Yes, the hotel is the natural choice, but it didn't feel special. In Singapore, like in Asian countries, hotels typically have huge halls, huge lounges where you can host it. In European countries it's different - typically the salons or rooms are not as big and not as numerous as needed. We felt that of course it would be possible to just have it in a hotel, but it wouldn't feel as special.
The atmosphere will be special, the picture around it will be special. The library and museum is indeed very - I would really say - unique. Everyone can find on Google what's unique about it. They have first editions of so many books, including Stefan Zweig's Schachnovelle - the manuscript, actually, not the edition. The manuscript of the book, which was presented by Stefan Zweig himself before he departed for Brazil when the Second World War started. Many things of that kind, and it's really unique.
Actually, I remember when we checked it among all the 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 what we can call the World Championship match - although there were only Japanese players, because they are by far the best in shogi. He invited me to the venue where he played, and it was not a big room, actually much smaller than what we will have here, but very unique, very specially decorated, and there was the broadcast and so on.
Because after all, let's be honest - chess is not exactly a spectator sport where you have thousands of people arriving at the venue. You have a couple of hundred or something like that. But what's most important, I think, is the entourage, the picture, because we know that online it will be watched by literally millions, or maybe dozens of millions. And I think as part of the story, it's nice to have it in a very special building and not just in a hotel lounge.
SS: Amazing. Thank you, Emil, for sharing all of this about the match. One more question - you've been the CEO of FIDE for the last four years for sure. I guess it's been eight years in all, right?
ES: Right. Technically, for the first four years I was Director General, and for the last four I have been CEO.
SS: So with the FIDE elections coming up - and just in case you want to share your thoughts about it - what are your feelings? What would change for you, and what are you looking forward to?
ES: I don't think I should comment on that, because I should probably keep as neutral a 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, no matter what, we will have a new president. Whether I stay or I don't stay, the onus is on my team, on the FIDE management team, to prove that we have finished our term, that we delivered, and delivered in several directions. And then the new president will decide on the new team. But anyway, we have to deliver. We have to execute and show that this work was properly done.
Because the worst thing could be what happened in the past, when there was a sort of transitional period where nobody knew what was going on. I remember what a mess it was in the 1990s, when it was very unclear - Campomanes is leaving, Ilyumzhinov is coming, nobody has an idea how it will look, and so on. And that was also accompanied at the time by a division of the World Championship cycle 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 FIDE and for national federations to grow, no matter who will be the president. That's an excellent start, and whoever comes can inject the funds they are talking about in their offers not at ground zero, but already on very, very fertile soil.
SS: Thank you for sharing all this very important information for the world of chess. Thank you for your time, and a huge congratulations to you for the partnership with Salesforce. I believe it's a new chapter for chess and for FIDE.
ES: I definitely believe it's very, very important. Once again, there are a lot of things which remain to be seen in terms of how they work out. 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 there will be many hurdles still, because when you plan things and then implement them, not everything is convertible. But it looks promising indeed.
And what's important is that we prove that chess remains attractive for really huge companies. That's another validation of the path FIDE is undertaking, and another validation of the work our management team has done.
The one thing I want to stress is this: from time to time there are successful organisers who manage to attract sponsorship here and there. But it's only FIDE who has managed to do so in a sustainable way. And that's the most important thing from my part. Signing one very good agreement is great. But managing, time after time, to deliver on such a variety of events - and very costly events - is something that is both very demanding and very satisfying when you manage to do it.
I'd like to thank the entire team which was working on that. I'd like to thank Vishy, 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 the mandate to work on this - and of course the agreements with sponsors were passed via the Council, they reviewed them, they asked very concrete questions and I supplied them with the details. And of course the team which is doing the match, because there are many people who often are not seen but who do such immense work and should be praised. Someone like Pavel Tregubov, whose role is absolutely huge - and he will be the match director in Geneva as well.
SS: Amazing. And before Geneva there's also the Olympiad, and there will be the Total Chess World Championship. So the amount of chess in the year to come is huge.
ES: Indeed. We didn't talk about the Olympiad, but the Olympiad itself is absolutely huge, and I am looking forward to it - and looking forward to seeing you there.
SS: Thank you, Emil, and thank you for your time.
ES: Thank you.
Key takeaways
Salesforce is the title sponsor of the FIDE World Championship 2026 in Geneva, in a three-year agreement worth $9 million in monetary terms - by far the biggest standalone FIDE contract with a private entity.
The deal covers the 2026 and 2028 World Championship matches, the Women's World Championship 2027, a fan engagement platform, and a CRM system for FIDE and its federations.
The 2028 match is planned (pending reconfirmation) at Salesforce HQ in San Francisco.
Freedom Holding co-sponsors the Geneva match in roughly equal financial terms.
Live ratings are already being published on the FIDE website; the frequency of official rating lists (weekly or bi-weekly) is still to be decided with the Qualification Commission.
The opening ceremony will be at the Palace of Nations (UN Geneva); the games will be played inside the Fondation Martin Bodmer library in Cologny, with a fan zone alongside.
