MAHABALIPURAM: IN April 2022, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) struck an important deal with the Scheinberg family. It said they would sponsor one blue-riband FIDE event every year till 2026. It was a major coup for the organisation to retain this relationship as it had cut its ties with Russian sponsors in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
A little bit of history of the Scheinberg family, with respect to how they made their wealth. Isai Scheinberg came up with the idea of PokerStars more than two decades ago. It became an internet behemoth before the family cashed out, selling to Amaya Gaming for roughly $5bn. On the surface, this would seem to be the only link between poker and chess.
But start scratching the surface and the links are endless. Decision trees, predicting the future, patience to remain in your seat without getting frustrated, having an extremely strong memory, a penchant for bluffing, reading body language of the opponent and keeping the long-term view in mind... they are all part of high-stakes poker and chess. There are a lot of transferable skills and players, well aware of it, have not been shy of swapping kings and queens for a king of spades and queen of hearts.
So, it's not a surprise to note that they have tried their hands at poker. The most recent example of crossing this divide was Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world chess champion. In April, he took part in the Norwegian Poker Championship, finishing a creditable 25th out of 1050. He wasn't done. In July, he made the trip across the Atlantic to participate in the World Series of Poker, the game's holy grail. The 31-year-old didn't do all that on the green felt but it was another instance in a long list of elite players trying to take their board skills to the poker table.
The best men's player across both categories right now is Russia's Aleksander Grischuk (Elo rating 2745), a top-20 chess player. He has pocketed a cool $47,000 playing online WSOP (2020 figures).
England GM, David Howell, agrees to the similarity of both games. "Possibly (Is poker and chess linked?)," he tells this daily. "I mean, Magnus is probably the better person to answer (smiles). He seems addicted to poker these days. Some of the decision-making, some of the psychology, how to read opponents, all the top players are good at that. Whether it's with bluffs, style of play, style of decision-making, I guess that kind of carries over. When Magnus played the Norwegian Championship a few months ago, he came back and said he had already done some research on players, he knew what to expect, how some of them thought. He was able to bluff a few hands. Knowing yourself, knowing your strengths, knowing your opponents, so yeah (there are some transferable skills)."
Now, the skills aspect of both games are pretty important. But the other part that drives them to the poker table is the money aspect. If you are not a GM, making a living out of the game can be pretty challenging. RB Ramesh, captain of India's B side, opines that money is a crucial element for this crossover. "There is more money in poker than in chess," he explains.
There are two examples to illustrate Ramesh's point. Ylon Schwartz and Jennifer Shahade. The former was a chess player who had a peak Elo-rating of over 2400. He soon left chess to become a professional poker player, where he has had good success with career earnings totalling more than $5mn. Shahade, a woman grandmaster and two-time national US champion, is currently a MindSports Ambassador at PokerStars where her role revolves around explaining how games like poker and chess help people make better decisions (her current Elo-rating is 2322 and she has accrued substantial earnings playing poker). She is also one of the few chess players to have done a live poker and chess simul, showing off her multi-tabling skills in the process.
Now, not all chess players become good at poker. Only people who know they are good at cards take the dive. This is where tournament chess -- meets like the Olympiad, for instance, -- is handy. Ramesh explains. "Typically, when players are not preparing during tournaments, they play cards among themselves. So, some of them are introduced to poker. When they realise they are good at it and there's a lot of money involved, they take it more seriously, first as a hobby before getting into it."
He supports Howell's argument about the transferability of skills across the two. "There are many transferable skills," he observes. "Logical thinking (for one). In chess, you have to predict what could happen in the future, it can go multiple ways, which way could it go, this way or that? We (chess professionals) can anticipate things better and remember. Which cards have been discarded, all these things. Many of these skills can be used in poker as well."
Curiously, this trend, either as recreation or to make money, is largely limited to Western players. "It's largely a western concept," says Srinath Narayanan, the captain of India's A team in the Open category. One thing they do, though, is wind down their practice by playing cards like other teams.
The principal concept of playing cards also contributes to the poker culture, in the eyes of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, World No 11 according to ELO. He, in fact, argues that sportspersons across different fields use cards as a way to decompress. "I think that in general, it is not only chess players but a lot of sportspersons. When we talk about high level, there is, above all, a need to decompress after such intense activities... that's why we play poker."
When the Scheinberg family signed that deal with FIDE in April, chess' biggest selling point now -- Carlsen -- was indulging in a bit of fun and games. Will he, like several others before him, start to do both at the same time?