WorldChess.com to offer copyright free articles to boost chess coverage

Agon, the company that organizes the World Chess Championship cycle, is to offer media organisations around the world free articles from worldchess.com.

The editorial initiative is designed to boost coverage of chess in mainstream media. Ilya Merenzon, Chief Executive of Agon, said: “Our mandate is to boost the popularity of chess around the world. To that end, we are going to provide copyright free articles from worldchess.com to any media organisation that can’t afford to create their own chess content.

“We want to get back to a situation where regular articles on chess are common to all media websites – not just the remaining few that have the resources to directly employ expert chess writers.”

Initially worldchess.com will provide a copyright-free weekly column from editor Dylan McClain. Dylan is the former chess columnist of the New York Times and one of the best known chess journalists in the world.

His weekly column will provide unique insights into the latest developments in the world of chess. The Huffington Post has signed up to feature McClain’s column with the first appearing last week.

Despite the drop in chess coverage in mainstream media outlets, the sport has never been more popular. Over 600 million people worldwide play chess and hundreds of thousands of games are played online every day.

Media organisations that are interested in publishing the regular column from WorldChess.com should contact Andrew Murray-Watson, Communications Director at Agon at andrewmw@agonlimited.com.