The Venue of the 2026 WCH will be a Library, the venue of the 2028 WCH may be a Corporation. • page 1/1 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

World Championship 2026 venue and title sponsor revealed ft. Emil Sutovsky

New Sponsorship

FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky sat down with Sagar Shah to reveal what has been keeping him busy for the better part of a year: the biggest standalone sponsorship contract FIDE has ever signed with a private company. Salesforce comes on board as title sponsor of the Gukesh vs Sindarov World Championship match in Geneva, in a three-year agreement worth $9 million.

ES: ...And who could be a better partner than Salesforce, who are basically the world's leading CRM provider? They also have a lot of developments in terms of AI. Recently they have invested a significant amount in Agentforce, their own AI. It will be employed both during the matches, for the fan engagement system and all sorts of activations around the match, and also for providing services to national federations - for ratings, for licences, for players who can be better served on behalf of FIDE.

Playing Venues

ES: ...We checked many options, but finally we decided to host it at a very unique place called the Fondation Martin Bodmer. It hosts unique collections of rare old books and folios. It's a museum and library in very stylish old buildings, situated five minutes by car from the very centre of Geneva.

ES: Basically, the playing venue - they [Gukesh and Sindarov] will play in the old library, surrounded by books. Very picturesque, I would say, a very telegenic picture.

ES: Well, I could reveal the monetary part, which is $9 million. And in addition to that there are additional components - promotion, and maybe most importantly, the 2028 match, which is planned - it should be reconfirmed yet, but planned - to take place at Salesforce headquarters in San Francisco.

**[World Championship 2026 venue and title sponsor revealed ft. Emil Sutovsky](https://chessbase.in/news/fide-world-championship-2026-venue-and-sponsor-reveal)** ## New Sponsorship >FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky sat down with Sagar Shah to reveal what has been keeping him busy for the better part of a year: the biggest standalone sponsorship contract FIDE has ever signed with a private company. **Salesforce** comes on board as title sponsor of the Gukesh vs Sindarov World Championship match in Geneva, in a three-year agreement worth $9 million. >ES: ...And who could be a better partner than **Salesforce**, who are basically the world's leading CRM provider? They also have a lot of developments in terms of AI. Recently they have invested a significant amount in **Agentforce**, their own AI. It will be **employed** both during the matches, for the fan engagement system and all sorts of activations around the match, and also for providing services to national federations - for ratings, for licences, for players who can be better served on behalf of FIDE. --- ## Playing Venues >ES: ...We checked many options, but finally we decided to host it at a very unique place called the **Fondation Martin Bodmer**. It hosts unique collections of rare old books and folios. It's a museum and library in very stylish old buildings, situated five minutes by car from the very centre of Geneva. >ES: Basically, the playing venue - they [Gukesh and Sindarov] will play in the old library, surrounded by books. Very picturesque, I would say, a very telegenic picture. --- >ES: Well, I could reveal the monetary part, which is $9 million. And in addition to that there are additional components - promotion, and maybe most importantly, the 2028 match, which is planned - it should be reconfirmed yet, but planned - to take place at **Salesforce headquarters** in San Francisco.

lizani

A step up from the Kramnik v Leko match sponsored by a cigar company. And a less controversial location than Anand v Shirov playing in Tehran.