The founder of the Technonicol corporation and Rybakov Foundation Igor Rybakov has invested $6 mio in World Chess.
World Chess is a company that works in partnership with the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Rybakov believes his investment will help increase the popularity of chess in Russia and ultimately contribute to the development of the country’s intellectual potential. The first steps have already been planned – next summer, World Chess with its new investor will organize the Armageddon Series chess tournament (it will be streamed live on Match TV and Eurosport). There are also plans to start a regular chess league and even to make an interactive film about chess (talks are already underway with a major American film company).
“Chess is a sport for intellectuals, and develops strategic thinking,” says Igor Rybakov.
Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and other successful world-class technology entrepreneurs are attracted to chess. Therefore, Rybakov thinks its popularization will also contribute to the formation of a special intellectual community, which may unite thousands of entrepreneurs around the world in the future.
Investment group PRYTEK is a co-investor in the project; this business integrator from Israel entered the Russian market in 2018, and Igor Rybakov became its key partner in Russia. As PRYTEK Managing Partner Andrei Yashunsky explained, the group’s participation in the project will offer various innovative solutions from a business integrator to entrepreneurs interested in chess in the future.
“Strong entrepreneurs interested in intelligent technologies are the core of PRYTEK’s audience: we help them find the most promising technology business cases from leading start-ups around the world, in which we invest and launch them in their countries,” Andrei Yashunsky said.