World Chess Expands Berlin Presence After Leaving Russia

BERLIN, GERMANY - MAY 07: Chess grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk (C, in grey jacket), looks on as fellow championship participants Nana Dzagnidze (L) and Elisabeth Paehtz play a warm-up game of chess during the women's week of the Armageddon Championship Series at The World Chess Club Berlin, a cafe and bar geared towards chess enthusiasts, on May 07, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. The club is part of the new Berlin home of World Chess, a company seeking to raise chess to a mass market sport by hosting international tournaments of top players broadcast live from its Berlin studio through partnerships to 30 countries. World Chess was previously based primarily in Moscow, though Russia's military invasion of Ukraine forced the company and a staff of 40 to move abroad, mostly to Germany and Georgia. "We didn't want to validate the war with our presence," said World Chess CEO Ilya Merenzon, who also described how the company's logo became popularly adapted in Russia as a peace symbol, leading to the scrutiny of authorities. Today World Chess boasts over 600,000 members and is currently hosting the Armageddon Championship Series. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)