The World Chess Federation has "sold worldwide licensing and marketing rights" to American entrepreneur Andrew Paulson and his company, Agon, in the "hope that he will become the game’s white knight, able to monetize chess where past efforts have flopped," according to Matt Richtel of the N.Y. TIMES. Paulson "wants to turn chess into the world’s next mass-market spectator sport." Paulson said, "Do you realize there are more people in America who play chess than tennis and golf combined?" Paulson lived in India for "several months in advance of the chess world championship," which concluded Friday, and during that time he "talked the ear off any Indian advertising buyer or media executive who would meet with him." He told them that chess is a "chance to pair with a brand associated with strategy, intellect, creativity and winning." Paulson "turned to India in part because his initial efforts in Europe to gain corporate sponsorship didn’t take." He "faces many obstacles, like a governing chess body widely considered to be strange, some top chess players who think that his efforts to popularize the sport are lowbrow, and the fact that he is promoting slow-motion entertainment in a world of short attention spans."
OBSTACLE COURSE: Paulson's first "big tournament, in September 2012, had to be moved at the last minute to London from Russia because of an internal dispute among chess authorities, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars." But his "next big event, in March, was a relative hit." Paulson said that about five million people "watched online, while a few hundred spectators in the London auditorium where the match was held listened to commentators and followed the play on tablets donated by Samsung." This is "what he calls 'chess casting,' and it’s his big idea." It "involves technology that streams multiple images, including video of the game being played, data showing in simple terms who is ahead, and another image of the game controlled by commentators who break down the action and show potential moves." He "envisions providing viewers with readouts of the pulse and eye movements of the players, to show how they are digesting the board." Still, no "big sponsorships followed the London match, and now chess-casting is temporarily on ice." Paulson has invested $1M of "his own wealth, and things are generally not going well." He said, "The view from on high is that I'm failing." The view of Paulson in chess circles beyond FIDE "seems hopeful, impressed with his vigor and ideas, but so far unimpressed by the results." Paulson also "seems dissatisfied with his lack of success and with his unfinished narrative" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/24).
KING ME: YAHOO SPORTS' Martin Rogers wrote many believe the victory by Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the world chess championship will "revolutionize the game." With "enough mainstream appeal to have secured a modeling contract and various endorsement deals, Carlsen is seen as the poster boy for a new era in chess, which has long been stuck with an image that was anything but dynamic" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/22).
