Team Apex Gaming has signed Vidit Gujrathi, confirming the grandmaster as the organisation’s first chess player two days after a teaser that kept his face hidden. TAG posted on X at 12:36 UTC on 9 November that “every great game needs a Grandmaster”, and welcomed Vidit Gujrathi by name. Vidit replied about three hours later, writing “Happy to be part of @Team_ApexGaming” and “Let’s kill it”. By the following morning, the announcement had passed 43,000 views, while his reply had drawn more than 18,000.
The signing confirms what the first teaser had strongly suggested. As we reported on 7 November, in our breakdown of TAG’s “national treasure” video, the clip named nobody but fitted Vidit more closely than any other grandmaster. Neither TAG nor Vidit has yet said what his role will be, or whether he will compete under the TAG banner, create content for it, or both. The organisation has not disclosed the length or terms of the deal either.
The 91-second announcement video follows the style of that teaser, with a dark chessboard scene and the logo of Kick, TAG’s live-streaming sponsor, in the corner. One Hindi subtitle line, “Aankhon pe patti hai, fir bhi itna sukoon”, translates roughly as “a blindfold over the eyes, and still so calm”. It appears to nod to blindfold chess, the format in which players hold the whole position in their heads. Neither post revealed when Vidit will first appear on TAG’s channels.
Why Vidit Gujrathi is a big signing for Team Apex Gaming
On the board, Vidit brings one of the strongest records of his generation. He became a grandmaster in 2013, won the FIDE Grand Swiss in 2023 and beat Hikaru Nakamura in both of their games at the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto. He has also won two Olympiad gold medals with India, the second in Budapest in 2024, at the team event run by FIDE, the sport’s world governing body. His reach goes well beyond results, however, with more than 140,000 followers on X and a large audience for his streams and YouTube videos.
He has been branching out in other directions too. His X bio now reads “Now also building AI things”, and in June he launched Kibitz, a model built to predict the human moves players are likely to make during broadcasts. His launch post has been viewed more than 680,000 times, and he said he trained the model on an Nvidia RTX 5080. That mix of elite chess, streaming and technology makes him an unusual fit for an organisation built around creators.
For Vidit, the move also offers another way into esports after a near miss this year. He reached the final of India Rising, the qualifier for the chess event at the Esports World Cup 2026, but lost to Dutch grandmaster Benjamin Bok in an Armageddon decider. Our report on the India Rising finals covered that match in Mumbai. The defeat cost him a place at the main event, where Magnus Carlsen went on to retain his title.
Where TAG goes next after signing a grandmaster
Chess is the latest step in a fast expansion for Jonathan’s organisation. TAG launched on 12 April, starting with BGMI before adding Free Fire. Its Free Fire team has since reached Phase 2 of the Free Fire World Series, after a win on the third day of Phase 1. On 7 November, it moved into EA FC Mobile by signing DeMYSTeRIO and HaloZeus. It also counts Kick and Red Bull India among its sponsors.
The timing also suits Jonathan’s own profile, after he passed 8 million YouTube subscribers earlier this month. Vidit brings a following that sits largely outside mobile esports, which could widen TAG’s reach beyond its BGMI and Free Fire fans. That following was built largely through his own streams and YouTube channel, which matches the creator-first model TAG grew out of.
A grandmaster also gives TAG a possible route into the Esports World Cup, where clubs collect Club Championship points across every title they enter. In chess, TAG now joins S8UL, which became the first Indian organisation in chess esports when it signed Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram in April 2025. The Korean organisation Gen.G has fielded Arjun Erigaisi since February 2025. Neither TAG nor Vidit has yet named the first event he will play in TAG colours.
