Karnataka Chess Body Partners With AI Startup to Digitise the Sport

Karnataka's chess administration is getting a technology upgrade. The Karnataka State Chess Association has named Chessworld AI as its official technology partner, a move meant to bring the sport into the digital age across the state.

Chessworld AI is a startup that grew out of Elevate, the Karnataka government's flagship programme for supporting new businesses. The company will now build and run a digital platform meant to serve everyone connected to competitive chess in the state, including players, coaches, match officials, tournament organisers and casual enthusiasts.

The planned platform covers several practical needs. It will handle tournament registration and management so that organising events becomes easier and less paperwork-heavy. It will also digitise games played on physical boards, turning them into digital records that can be studied later. On top of this, the platform will use artificial intelligence to analyse games and offer personalised learning tools, helping players understand their strengths and mistakes in a more structured way.

This is not the startup's first attempt at building such a system. According to founder Damodar Mundrikeri, winning a grant under Elevate's Unnati scheme in 2025 gave the company the resources to build an early prototype. That prototype was tested during the Karnataka State Under-13 chess championship, which saw more than 150 players register through the new system. The successful trial run convinced the team that the technology could be expanded into a full platform for chess across the country, not just Karnataka.

The partnership has also drawn attention from the state government. Priyank Kharge, who holds charge of the Home, Information Technology, Biotechnology and E-Governance portfolios in Karnataka, described the development as proof of the strength of the state's startup ecosystem. He pointed to it as an example of local startups using technology to modernise sectors that have traditionally relied on manual processes.

For Karnataka's chess community, the shift matters because it could make organising and playing in tournaments far more efficient. Coaches and arbiters may find it easier to manage large events, while players get access to AI-driven insights into their games that were previously available only through expensive private coaching or specialised software.

The collaboration is also a small but telling example of how government-backed startup schemes are meant to work in practice. Elevate provided early funding and validation, and that support has now translated into a real-world partnership with an established sporting body. If the platform scales successfully in Karnataka, it could serve as a model for other states or sports associations elsewhere in India.