Viswanathan Anand onboard ChessKid's India edition to mentor kids

Viswanathan Anand and Carey Fan (r)

It is the dream of every chess enthusiast to be mentored by a Grandmaster! This dream of many Indian youngsters is about to come true! chesskid.com, US-based chess platform launched its Indian edition under the mentorship of Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand on July 11 in Chennai.

Under the guidance of Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand himself, chesskid.com will release curated chess content and hold annual online competitions for India's aspiring young chess players. chesskid.com enters India at a time when the popularity of the game is growing rapidly. Indian chess has risen consistently in the last three decades. India currently has 63 grandmasters - the highest title Chess players can get - and ranks 8th in the world. In June last year, Tamil Nadu's R Praggnanandhaa became the world's second-youngest chess grandmaster at the age of 12 years and 10 months.

chesskid.com believes that chess is that one activity that teaches children the creativity of art and the logical reasoning of math while also teaching science, calculated risk-taking and sportsmanship - all of it in a fun manner.

Currently, there are digital chess platforms that are great when it comes to the fun element, but they mostly fall short in providing deep, enriching content or live play with other kids. There are also platforms that are excessively serious, complicated to use and do not have easily accessible online content. chesskid.com stands apart because it is the only platform that combines the joy of playing, a vibrant online environment and rich content that keeps users engaged.

India provides the perfect setting for a platform like chesskid.com with more and more parents liking the idea of introducing their children to chess much earlier than before. Schools are playing a key role in identifying young talent and nurturing it. India's digital edge has also helped with its chess proficiency where players are exposed to styles all over the world.

In this background, a platform like chesskid.com has a wide scope to transform the landscape for the game in the country. With ambitious growth objectives and the aim to hit 2,000,000 paid subscribers in five years, chesskid.com has plans for smart investments into business development, creative marketing promotions, technical development and SEO. It will also be targeting India's growing Ed Tech market with specific products targeting children, parents, teachers and educational institutions. chesskid.com will be offering a range of products to engage children and make them love the game. It will also provide the right tools to demystify the game and help teachers teach it in an easier manner. It will present parents with productive enrichment activities at par with other STEM-related activities.

Speaking about the new initiatives, Mr Carey Fan, CEO, chesskid.com said, "India is a rapidly rising chess country. There are 195 million elementary school-aged children in India and the education market is expected to grow to $40 billion by end of 2019, up from $20 billion in 2015. There is a lot of scope for a chess platforms like ours to flourish here. Also, we have Viswanathan Anand on board with us who is considered to be one of the greatest sportsmen in history. While there are many other chess platforms in the market, chesskid.com is one of the few platforms that amalgamates the joy of playing a game like chess as well as offers some rich content that keeps users engaged."

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