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It is probably well known that Magnus Carlsen is sponsored by Arctic Securities. An example of a tournament sponsorship is the Annual Rilton Cup sponsored by the Rilton Foundation. What are the benefits of sponsoring and becoming a partner of a chess player, team or tournament? Additionally, can you think of any more examples of sponsorships in the present and past?

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How about this benefit?

It is probably well known that Magnus Carlsen is sponsored by Arctic Securities.

Being well known is the benefit. One minute ago I had not even heard about arctic securities. And now I know, as well as may be thousand of other people watching/reading about the game. Why Vodaphone or whatever is sponsoring football? Do they care, do they have any connection to football? - No.

The idea behind sponsorship is always the same - let people know about you or see your sign.

Answer to Rauan's comment:

I do not want to disappoint you, but there is nothing unique about sponsorship in chess. In business all that matters is money / revenue / stock prices / public awareness.

Why did IBM gave half a million in 1996 to Kasparov for a match with a machine? They did not care about chess, they cared about advertising and stock market price. That's why they cared so much about the rematch in 1997 giving $1.1M for it and offering $0.7M to a winner. Not a lot of chess players who know about the matches, know how this ended up for IBM

IBM estimated it received $500 million of free publicity from the match, and IBM stock prices went up over $10 to reach a new high for the company.

I think this is one of the best money investments.

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  • Spreading the word about your trademark through sponsorship, yes, makes sense! :) But that could be true for any sort of sponsorship. Isn't there anything more, something unique when sponsoring chess?
    – user2001
    Mar 21, 2014 at 19:43
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    @RauanSagit the answer is modified to answer you follow-up question.
    – Salvador Dali
    Mar 21, 2014 at 21:50
  • I totally agree. I will have to think a bit more about how to formulate a question in order to get the answer I am "fishing for". Firstly, that certain companies are probably more willing to associate their brand with chess. Secondly, that chess players and enthusiasts form their own "customer audience" that could indeed be a nice one to target.
    – user2001
    Mar 27, 2014 at 23:17
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    @RauanSagit But it is better to ask a new question, because may be after reformulating my answer will be completely off-topic. Sure - IBM wants to be connected with chess because it is computing and intelligence. And also people who likes chess are mostly more intelligent than people who like football. There is a certain entry barrier. There are millions of people who watch football/boxing without knowing how to play/never been in sparing and think that they know what a team/boxer should do without even knowing the rules. You can hardly find situations like these in chess.
    – Salvador Dali
    Mar 27, 2014 at 23:22
  • My conclusions so far is that a sponsor is indeed interested in a return on investment. When it comes to chess, as in any other competitive sport, it is easier to find this at the very highest level (top players, top teams).
    – user2001
    Nov 9, 2014 at 22:30

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