Revolutionizing Chess Technology: The Story of CircleChess and Caissa

The chess world is abuzz with excitement as young prodigies from India continue to make waves in the international arena. The recent victory of 17-year-old Gukesh at The Candidates Chess tournament has left even the legendary Garry Kasparov in awe, who referred to them as the ‘children’ of Vishy Anand on the loose.

Gukesh, a student of the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy founded by India’s first grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand, broke a 40-year-old record held by Kasparov himself. This achievement highlights the rapid growth of chess talent in India, which now boasts of 84 grandmasters.

However, amidst the success of young players, the technology surrounding the sport has not seen much development. Recognizing this gap, Bengaluru-based start-up CircleChess, founded by chess parents Kumar Gaurav and Swati Agarwal, is aiming to revolutionize the way chess is learned and played.

Kumar Gaurav, a two-time founder and former CTO at WakeFit, was inspired to create CircleChess after his own sons struggled to improve using traditional methods of learning chess. The start-up’s first product was a tool that incentivized players to correct their mistakes and improve their skills, resulting in significant rating improvements for Gaurav’s sons.

Expanding their scope, CircleChess developed a WhatsApp bot to address the challenges faced by offline professional chess players, such as tournament discovery and registration. The bot now serves as a one-stop solution for chess players, providing notifications, tournament information, and even coaching services.

The core of CircleChess is an AI personalized chess coach named Caissa, which analyzes a player’s games across different platforms, identifies strengths and weaknesses, and creates a customized training plan. With input from top coaches and players like Praggnananda, Gukesh, and Arjun, Caissa aims to guarantee improvement for players of all levels.

CircleChess is breaking the monopoly in online chess held by U.S.-based platforms like Chess.com and revolutionizing the way chess is learned and played in India. With a focus on aiding coaches and providing affordable coaching solutions, the start-up is set to launch Caissa globally in July, promising to change the game for chess enthusiasts worldwide.