Fans can now play a game of chess against tennis superstar Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard became the first big-name athlete from the sport to feature as an online chess bot on the renowned platform Chess.com. He had previously talked about his love for the game, which he shares with rival Novak Djokovic.
Chess.com is an online platform for chess enthusiasts and learners. Alcaraz joined a long list of celebrities with bots modelled after them and their personalities. In addition to content creators like MrBeast and Pokimane, the site also has a handful of athlete bots. American soccer player Christian Pulisic and NBA stars Luka Doncic and Jaylen Brown are some of the high-profile names Alcaraz will follow.
The Alcaraz bot will have an ELO rating of 1000 and an active playing style, as per Chess.com. The description further states that the bot will display the versatility and resilience the World No.2 shows on the court. He reacted to the announcement post on X (formerly Twitter) with a bunch of emojis.
The top two men’s tennis players share a love for chess. Djokovic has praised the game and the lessons it teaches, a sentiment Alcaraz echoed. In an interview with Vogue early this year, he professed his admiration for chess. He compared it to tennis, saying the concentration and strategy required is very similar.
“I love chess. Having to concentrate, to play against someone else, strategy—having to think ahead. I think all of that is very similar to the tennis court.”
He said one has to anticipate the opponent’s move beforehand in both sports. The Spaniard said he frequently plays chess since it’s so similar to tennis.
“You have to intuit where the other player is going to send the ball, you have to move ahead of time and try to do something that will make him uncomfortable. So I play it a lot.”
For someone vocal about matching up to Djokovic, actively playing the game advocated by him seems fitting. With the Alcaraz bot, fans will get a taste of how elite tennis players play chess.
Novak Djokovic’s great relationship with chess which Carlos Alcaraz will want to emulate
Novak Djokovic has a long-standing association with chess. It is a part of his identity now, so much so that a graphic celebrating the eight participants at the 2023 ATP Finals showed him playing the game. The Serb was introduced to chess by former coach Boris Becker. He worked with Djokovic from 2013 to 2016 and one of the first things he did was make him play chess regularly. The latter also shared a photo in 2014 of the duo playing chess.
The partnership may have ended, but the virtues of chess were not lost upon Djokovic. When Holger Rune onboarded Becker as a coach in 2023, the World No.1 observed that the German introduced chess to the youngster as well. He said it is great for focus, mental clarity, and strategy and will greatly help Rune (via ATP Tour).
Djokovic’s tryst with chess does not end there. Recently, Indian GrandMaster D. Gukesh labelled the World No.1 as his idol. The 17-year-old became the youngest player ever to cross an ELO rating of 2750 and hailed Djokovic’s Wimbledon 2019 final win as inspirational. Carlos Alcaraz will hope getting a bot on Chess.com sets the foundation for a long, fruitful relationship with chess, like Djokovic.
