Fans Have To Bet On Chess Overcoming Its Latest Controversy

Posted: October 8, 2021

Updated: October 11, 2021

New Sponsorship Deal Lambasted As Sexist
Bet365 Has All You Need To Bet On Chess
Carlsen Should Get A Comfortable Win Tour

Now obviously many of you who like to bet on sports in the UK at Bet365 will not consider chess an apt choice. We have horseracing and football, so why would you bet on chess? It’s hardly exciting. However, what it lacks in frenetic action during the games it more than makes up for off-board controversy. Indeed drama stalks the world of chess at every turn. From the corporate rivalries of the men’s game to the manifest misogyny on display in the women’s. Magnus Carlsen will cruise to victory in the Meltwater Champions Tour. You can put money on that. Sure, Nakamura has a chance, but he seems distracted. After all, he has a business to run. They both do. Carlsen owns Chess24 and Hikaru Nakamura Chess.com. So, sometimes, this battle on the board resembles a board meeting. Two CEOs duking it out. Each of them a brand in their own right. Thus you can bet on chess moving beyond its recent issues. They’ll ignore them. It is not in their interest to rock the boat, and indeed they cooperate when it suits their business needs. The two obviously colluded to rush some games to a draw just so Hikakru could go play on his site. Business, is, apparently, even here, still business. Just how much of a farce this makes chess is debatable. Like all sports it has to survive in the modern world. So you can bet on chess needing to change, and to become more visible at online betting sites in the UK like Bet365.

Don’t Bet On Chess Losing Its Sexist Image

So you’re likely to see an ever growing integration of corporate interests in chess. Much as the Cold War invested so much national pride in the game all those years ago. Unfortunately, as we all know, not all unions of business and sport work out. Sometimes the interests of the sponsor conflict with the fan’s desires. Sometimes they’re just wholly inappropriate. Which is something you can now bet on chess authorities understanding a little better than they did a week ago.

Chess World Championship Odds 2021

Bet On Ian Nepomniachtchi – 14/5

Bet On Magnus Carlsen – 1/6

Fida is the world chess governing body and they perhaps took this a little too literally. Seeking a sponsor for the women’s game they signed a record-breaking contract for the next season. Just a shame then they selected as a partner a breast enlargement firm. In a world of woke, of #metoo and Greta Thunberg, Fida shows exceptionally poor judgement here. Anyone in the UK gambling laws of common sense would have seen this idea dismissed out of hand should think again.

Bet On Chess — Nepomniachtchi in '16 - Image source: Flickr

Bet On The Chess World Championships 2021 At Bet365

Alas Fida need the money and thus will have to weather the storm. Numerous female players are already vocally criticizing the deal as misogynistic. Others called it gross and degrading. Not that everyone is against it. Some top female players understand the need for money might have to put their qualms on hold for a while. You can bet on chess fans to watch in wonder to see who is right. Time will tell. Fida denies it’s inherently sexist by agreeing to this deal, but is that true?

“I’ve already seen comments online from people saying that they hope prizes for women’s events will now include breast enlargement.”

Anonymous Female Chess Player

Why does chess have a division between men and women? Surely, board games are unisex. So why are they separate? Is it because these business-owning stars don’t want to get beaten by a girl? Looks like it from here. Everyone knows online sportsbook sites in the UK like Bet365 will provide odds on chess, but you can’t bet on Sheila Barth Stanford playing either Carlsen or Nakamura professionally. Perhaps Fida will need to stop being sexist if it wants to claim it isn’t.