How Group e4 began
Group e4 started in 2022 with a phone call. Satya Prabhakar called Viswanathan Anand to congratulate him on becoming an advisor to the Tamil Nadu Board of Education. Anand told him that many talented players from modest families struggle to pay for coaching, tournament travel and even a laptop to train on. After hearing this, Satya offered to raise some money from his friends and colleagues, and Anand was ready to back the idea.
Group e4's player selection is handled by Viswanathan Anand, Aruna Anand, Satya Prabhakar, GM R.B. Ramesh and WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy. They consider each player's current rating, progress over the past year, long-term potential and financial need before deciding whom to support. Read the full Group e4 story here.
Satya Prabhakar attended the 1st Chola Chess GM tournament in Chennai and made the ceremonial first move in Round 4. Devansh Singh from our team caught up with him to discuss Group e4's work and his thoughts on the Chola Chess initiative.
Here is the transcript of the interview:
Devansh: Sir, you have supported Indian chess in a very big way. First of all, can you tell us about Group e4?
Satya Prabhakar: Group e4 is a collection of about 200-plus families and firms from around the world who are very excited about Indian chess. They have all contributed close to Rs. 2.5 crore to support 20-plus chess prodigies in India. Of the 20, half of them have become either Women Grandmasters or Grandmasters, and they have progressed extremely well. Our players have helped India win medals in the Chess Olympiad. Initially, we supported Gukesh, who is now the current world champion, and Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali, and several other well-known players. We have been grateful and delighted to have been of some help in their chess journey.
Devansh: Many of the players are taking part here. Pranesh is here, Ilamparthi is here, Ethan Vaz, Mayank, and Leon. Recently, the Under-15 national champion Advik was also supported by Group e4. It is a great initiative, and a big help for Indian chess.
Satya Prabhakar: We are very grateful to our chess icon, Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, his wife Aruna, WGM Aarthie, and GM R B Ramesh. All four of them are quite involved. They have helped in choosing the players, and they give them encouragement and mentorship to rise in the world of chess.
Devansh: I think this initiative started back in 2022, when you were talking with Anand. What was the starting point, when you thought we needed to do something to support Indian chess?
Satya Prabhakar: The way it began was, I was reading that many Indian chess players who are eminently qualified and skilled did not even have the resources to buy a chess laptop. I was talking to Anand and asked him if there was any way we could help these kids, and the idea came from there. He said it would be a great help and valuable for the chess players to get some support. So I reached out to some friends, who were delighted to support the cause. What helped is that Anand is involved, Aruna is involved, Aarthie ma'am is involved, and Ramesh is involved. It gave a lot of credibility to the initiative.
From the start, we made it a point to say that 100% of the contributions from these 200-plus families and firms will go entirely to the players. There is no leakage and no administrative fee. It is also eligible for a tax exemption. There is no minimum amount. You can pay Rs. 5,000 as a minimum amount, and one family has contributed Rs. 15 lakh. What we also decided is that, while there is no minimum or maximum amount, what each family or firm has contributed remains undisclosed to everybody else. So all contributors are on the same footing, and the entire 100% goes to the players. In the last three years, because of this help of close to Rs. 2.5 crore, these 20 chess players have skyrocketed in terms of their achievements.
Devansh: Vaishali recently won the Candidates and qualified for the World Championship match. Gukesh is World Champion and Praggnanandhaa is India's number one right now. How does it feel? Does the achievement feel personal to you?
Satya Prabhakar: I have been leading this group in terms of coordination. There are three legs on which the success of Group e4 rests. One is the kindness and generosity of these 200-plus families and firms that have given Rs. 2.5 crore. They gave it without asking exactly where the money is going. We do not say who gave how much, but we always tell them the total amount, and that this year this amount is going to these players for this. That is the first leg: people who are ready to contribute very generously to the cause. The second is the advice and input from Viswanathan Anand, Aruna, Aarthie and Ramesh who are extremely qualified to advise on the initiative and who give credibility to the organisation. More important than these two points are the players. The 20 players who have done this with a small amount of resources. They have worked so hard, and their families have made tremendous sacrifices in time, money, effort and energy to encourage them. So the contributors, the advisors and the players are the primary reason Group e4 has done so well. I am just a facilitator, so I cannot take any of the credit. The credit goes to these three groups of people who have come together so nicely to make a real, tangible difference to the world of Indian chess. The encouragement and excitement have gone off the charts thanks to this initiative.
Devansh Singh: Now, coming to the Chola Chess initiative. Since last year, 2025, it has been running many camps, and all the top Indian players and young prodigies have been working with Chola Chess. Now Chola Chess has started this tournament as well. Recently, they finished three closed tournaments, and this is the first time a tournament of this scale is happening in India. The average rating is 2412, 86 players are titled, and they kept a strict criterion for strong players. How does it feel to see Chola Foundation doing something like this for chess?
Satya Prabhakar: What Chola Chess is doing is truly astonishing. One firm, Chola Finance, the Chola group of organisations, with the energy and drive of their chairman and managing director, Mr. Vellayan, and his wife, Mrs. Kanika, and with the help of our Chess Gurukul, which is run by WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy and GM R B Ramesh, is doing something absolutely remarkable for Indian chess. There is money involved, of course, but more than money, it is the sheer excitement and enthusiasm they bring to the world of chess that makes the difference. That inspires a whole community of chess players, their parents and their families.
I was reading somewhere that in the last 15 to 20 years other countries like Russia have produced 10 to 15 grandmasters. India has produced 50-plus grandmasters! It is an astonishing accomplishment. There is a sizzling atmosphere of excitement and accomplishment around the game in the whole country. The country that invented chess is finally claiming supremacy in the sport. You can see it even here at Chola Chess, where young kids are playing against grandmasters. There are no words to describe this culture of chess excitement building in the country. We are glad Group e4 has played a role, and Chola Chess is playing a role, and so are media organisations such as ChessBase India, including Sagar Shah, who is tirelessly travelling around the world and creating that enthusiasm to say chess is cool. He is a good friend, and I am impressed with his mission and the unwavering zeal with which he has promoted chess. All of these inputs are coming together to create an exciting engine of chess growth in India.
Devansh: Thanks for your time, sir, and a big thanks for helping build this ecosystem and being a big part of it!
Satya Prabhakar: Thank you so much!
Check out the full video interview here:
More articles on Group e4
Group e4 - Vishy Anand's initiative to support young talents financially
Group e4 raises Rs. 1.2 crore for Indian chess talents in last 3 years
How 200 families came together to raise Rs. 2.3 crore for 20 chess prodigies
