Arjun, Murzin Become First Chess Stars Signed for Esports World Cup

The rising stars of the Chess world, Grandmasters Volodar Murzin and Arjun Erigaisi, have become two of the first players to join major esports organizations in preparation for the 2025 Esports World Cup (EWC).

Chess is going to make its first-ever appearance in the Esports World Cup - the world's largest gaming and esports festival which will be happening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on July 31 to August 3. As this marks the first time a chess variant of the game would be part of the event's gaming titles.

Top players will battle for a spot in the EWC through two major online events in the 2025 Champions Chess Tour, starting with the USD150,000 Chessable Masters on February 16. This qualification process has sparked fierce competition among esports organizations, each racing to sign the best talent for their rosters ahead of the summer showdown.

World number four, Arjun, has become the first major star to be signed by a leading sports organization. Gen.G, also known as Generation Gaming, revealed the signing in a tweet on Wednesday.

Gen.G revealed the partnership in a stunning AI-generated video on X/Twitter, describing the Indian grandmaster as "the most interesting Chess player alive." Arjun expressed his excitement to his fans.

This deal marks Arjun's second since he signed a USD1.5 million contract with the Singapore-based quantitative trading firm Quantbox in 2022. Meanwhile, Eighteen-year-old Murzin, who made waves in the chess world by shockingly claiming the title of World Rapid Champion in New York, has now joined the Vietnamese Chinese esports organization, AG Global.

The young grandmaster is currently competing in the Al-Beruniy International in Uzbekistan, before heading to the Djerba Chess Festival, a prestigious 10-player round-robin event in Tunisia. "Volodar is happy to join such a strong team and organization," his mother, Ekaterina Murzina, shared her opinion.

"There are many strong online tournaments, but the Esports World Cup will be something special in chess. I hope that will help chess to rise to a new level," she said.

Further she added, "It will be a new experience for Volodar."

While it has not come to public knowledge what the deals are, esports salaries range from five figures to multimillion-dollar contracts for the top players. The prize pool for the Esports World Cup is reportedly USD 60 million, out of which chess gets an allocation of USD 1.5 million.

Arjun and Murzin are following in the path of GM Hikaru Nakamura, who partnered with esports organization TSM in 2020 before transitioning to Misfits Gaming in 2022. Other prominent creators like WFM Alexandra Botez, WFM Anna Cramling, and WGM Nemo Zhou have also secured deals with esports organizations.