Nepo will pull on the blue and white for Aurora at several upcoming tournaments.
Russian chess grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi is the latest player to sign on with an esports organization, joining Aurora Gaming, as the greatest board game of all time will appear at several big-name events in 2025.
Nepomniachtchi links with Aurora Gaming, a Russian organization with teams in Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Apex Legends, and will represent the org at this year's Champions Chess Tour (CCT) and the Esports World Cup.
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Nepomniachtchi joins Aurora as chess prepares for massive EWC debut
Aurora announced the 34-year-old as its latest "esports" acquisition on Feb. 19. Nepo is no stranger to the world of esports; he has famously dabbled in Dota 2 both as a player and commentator, and has even streamed Dota matches on his Twitch channel.
"After appearing at the EWC, chess may become a real esports discipline. I hope that the new entertaining format will help to attract a new audience," Nepomniachtchi said on joining Aurora's chess arm.
"I've been into computer games for a long time and actively follow esports, so I'm pleased to join the Aurora Gaming squad: it's a well-known and ambitious project."
Nepomniachtchi is one of several big names to link up with esports orgs this week. World number one Magnus Carlsen joined Italian-American GM Fabiano Caruana at Team Liquid, while Ukrainian org Natus Vincere added Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So, and Oleksandr Bortnyk on Feb. 15.
Team Falcons picked up Hikaru Nakamura on Feb. 18, while sisters Alexandra and Andrea Botez previously linked up with Team Envy and OpTic Gaming.
Esports orgs are scrambling to sign top players ahead of EWC 2025, where chess will debut for the first time alongside traditional esports. It's an effort to grow the game by capturing a younger audience, according to EWC CEO Ralf Reichert. “Bringing chess, the mother of all strategy games, to the Esports World Cup is a truly exciting moment,” he said.
Crucially, the winners will help contribute to their org's total points in the hunt for the EWC Club Championship, which was won by Team Falcons and was worth over $7 million USD.
For more chess news, stay tuned to esports.gg.
