Exclusive: 'Chess is already a brand in India,' says Abhijit Kunte as India successfully hosts FIDE World Cup 2025

India was back on the map in Chess as the nation successfully hosted the FIDE World Cup 2025. Back after 23 years in India, the FIDE World Cup in India’s Goa has been a success story with 206 Grandmasters competing for the third most important chess tournament. While the tournament is still on, WION exclusively caught up with Abhijit Kunte, Tournament Director for FIDE World Cup 2025, as he gave some insights about the tournament.

Question: So, when did the idea of hosting the FIDE World Cup come to mind and what was the thought process?

I think it was the first week of March when there were serious talks about organising the World Cup in India. And I think AICF had to work with our offices and the potential destination to host the event. But then, of course, I think nothing can beat Goa and here we are in Goa hosting it.

Question: How can you compare the FIDE World Cup with the Championships you represented during your playing days?

Well, I played the event in 2000 in India when it was hosted in Delhi. And that time it was a World Championship. The format of the World Championship changed, but this time, it is a knockout format; there is only one opportunity in the knockout stage. And this is like, I call it WWF, you know, like the last player to stay. It's very tiring for the players, one World Cup game. And it can show that not even the best of the best players can survive this.

Question: What was the set of challenges you faced while organising the FIDE World Cup 2025 and what was the role of the government?

I think we must thank the government of Goa and the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for supporting this event wholeheartedly. And of course, the Government of India, which helped, you know, like every player gets a reason, because there were 83 countries participating. Of course, there are some visa issues that are there in many countries. Sometimes they don't have enough time to apply to stipulate in time.

But the Government of India and the Government of Goa helped a lot. I must thank the AICF President Nitin Narang for making sure that everything falls in place. As well as securing the sponsorships.

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Question: What were the logistical challenges you faced during the FIDE World Cup 2025?

We have two grandmasters here, but there are many other places which have more chess players. So, of course, it was a great challenge to have the maximum number of people come up. But we had a lot of people coming from outside Goa. In the initial round, there was another problem because we could not accommodate many people in the venue, since there were 208 players and they were playing chess and a live board.

So, there were different challenges. So, in the initial rounds, there were very few tickets available. But somehow, now we are in a situation, it is worthless. And we have a bigger hall to accommodate more people.

Question: Can you speak on the role of AICF and how it is helping groom the next generation of chess stars?

We have started a scholarship for 42 youngsters who are in the top three. We are paying about Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 per month. This will help them to train and participate in national and international tournaments.

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Then we have distributed very handsome prize money to the Olympia team, which is about Rs 3 crores. For Gukesh, Arjun, Divya and others, about Rs 2 crores later on. So, the government, AICF, is supportive in every step possible. Now, the state governments are also supportive. So, we are hopeful that now we don't have to sell chess to anyone because it's already there and it's a brand.

So, we just have to see how quickly we can progress it, how quickly the chess game itself can be used as a tool to help society.