One of the world’s top grandmasters, Sergey Karjakin, has signed a personal contract with one of the world’s top online trading companies, alpari. That was revealed today at a press conference in Moscow’s Holiday Inn Lesnaya Hotel. 

Report by Evgeny Atarov

The sponsorship contract was concluded beneath the ambitious slogan, “We’ll return the chess crown to Russia!” Why Karjakin? alpari's President Gleb Petrov described Sergey as the most promising young chess player in Russia, and he also noted his human qualities and rare determination.

“For our company this is a pure PR move,” noted Petrov. “We’re not expecting a concrete financial return from the project, or at the very least not in the short term… We simply want to provide a chance for Sergey, who we put enormous hopes in. And in future, perhaps, the name of our company will be associated with Karjakin!”

“I’m very glad that such a strong and thoughtful company has entered chess,” Karjakin said when it was his turn to speak. “As chess players we aren’t spoiled for attention from the financial community – it’s not football, hockey or tennis. I hope our cooperation with be long-lasting and successful. On my side I’ll do everything I can. I’ll try to post results that justify the faith placed in me…”

Karjakin and Petrov both said they considered there to be a lot in common between chess and online trading. In both fields you need a serious analysis of the situation, on the basis of which you come to a decision and decide your strategy and tactics. In both cases you need to take the decision to a tight schedule and there’s no going back on it afterwards.

Sergey and his mother

But if the president of alpari took a serious interest in chess in his childhood and was a fan of Spassky, Karpov and then Kasparov, the grandmaster… hasn’t once tried his hand at the foreign exchange market. “Well, at some point I’ll certainly have a go!” Karjakin promised. “We’ll certainly help!” was how Petrov supported the initiative.