Online Chess Betting Bookmakers operating and taking bets on chess games and tournaments are popular these days and are likely to grow even more. A chess game is considered a sport that may come as a surprise to you and there are plenty of chess tournaments that are held throughout the year that allow real money betting.
Chess Betting Sites
Despite the sport being new to the online gambling industry, a few chess betting sites are available online. We cover the best sports betting sites to bet on when it comes to chess matches and the betting options if you would like to place a bet on a chess match or chess tournament.
Best Chess Betting Sites List
We’ve listed the best chess betting sites below, and also if you don’t currently have an account with any of our recommended list of betting sites, what bonus is available should you decide to sign up as a new customer/
bet365
Bet £10 Get £30 In Free Bets
888Sport
£30 Free Bets + £10 Casino Bonus
Betway
£30 FREE BET BONUS
NetBet
£10 Free Bet Refund Weekly
Ladbrokes
Bet £5 Get £20 In Free Bets
Unibet
£40 MONEY BACK BONUS
Coral
Bet £5 Get £20 In Free Bets
Betfred
Bet £10 Get £50 in Free Bets
Betfair
BET £10 GET £30 FREE BET
William Hill
Bet £10 Get £30 Free Bets
Betting On Chess Tournaments
Chess can’t and doesn’t give many betting markets, so don’t go to the online bookmaker expecting to put a complex wager on because it’s impossible to find what you’re looking for without at least asking for a bet.
There are several foreign Chess competitions held throughout the year, and players from around the world participate. Unfortunately, most sports betting websites cover only the world’s top chess tournaments, so there are extended periods when there are no chess betting matches on these websites.
What Chess Events to Bet On
Chess has a vast following and is played around the world, but not all chess events are available for betting. We’ve listed below the chess betting events that are available with our recommended chess bookmakers.
Chess World Championship Betting
The Chess World Championship is the most anticipated chess event of the year. The former Chess World Champion has defended their title against a challenger, the event lasts two weeks, and over 12 chess matches are played.
The Chess World Championship is not always between the best players; however, given the event’s profile, it’s followed and watched by millions of people throughout the world.
The Candidate Tournaments are also available to bet on with most bookmakers. These are held before the World Championship.
The Candidate Tournaments are used to seed a pool of potential champions with the number one candidate to face the current world champion.
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is perhaps the biggest chess team event in the world. It’s competed in by teams from all over the world, with the winning team being crowned as champions.
The Chess Olympiad features both women and men’s teams with a chess team consisting of 4 players who all compete against another team. The results from each player are scored, with the winning team having the best results.
Other Tournaments
The four Majors, the US Masters, USPGA, US Open, and British Open Championship and you will find that all the major betting sites cover these.
The betting companies also cover some of the tournaments: the Tata Chess Steel Masters, European Individual Chess Championship, Zurich Chess Challenge, London Chess Class, and Grand Slam Masters Final.
There’s also plenty of chess betting options available when events like the FIDE Grand Prix and the Gibraltar Masters going on.
Betting Options On A Chess Game
The first move with chess betting online is to find a reputable chess betting site.
Online betting on chess isn’t the most popular activity on UK online bookies, but it’s as simple as wagering on, say, football or rugby. Besides, you don’t even need to grasp how the game itself works to have a flutter; the gap between the best players in the world is so low that upsets are relatively standard in chess!
Like other sports, chess includes an overall winner, draw and championship winner, and you’ll be familiar with them if you’re used to betting on other sports.
As chess is played in a knockout tournament format, you can place quite a few different bets, with the most common being a bet on which player will win any tournament.
If you look at a match or tournament and fancy a winner, the closer to the event or match, the worse the odds will get. As betting options with chess are limited, it pays to place your bets early to secure the best odds.
Chess Betting Strategy
Chess isn’t a simple game; some of the moves and strategies are pretty complex, it remains straightforward in terms of betting and analyzing.
One of the most lucrative bets for beginners is the outright tournament winner, mainly as odds vary wildly from when the match or tournament is announced to when it begins, allowing for a more significant profit margin if you get into the action early.
Other than that, the match bet or heads-up bet is the cheapest and easiest bet to make, but you won’t make a big profit as the odds reflect the teams’ skills.
Match Betting
Like many sports, it’s commonplace to bet on the winner of a particular match. For example, you usually want to bet on one of three things when making a wager on a chess match:
- A home player will win
- An away player will win
- Draw
Some bookmakers may offer you the ability to bet on handicapped matches, like a team being a game down before the game starts.
It isn’t much more complicated than that, though the variations on who will win and how they will win are numerous.
Live Betting
Which Chess Players To Bet On
As you may know, chess skills vary dramatically from player to player.
Specifically designed to rate the skill levels of different players in competitive games, the Elo rating system is often used in other sports as well, apart from chess.
This is worth looking at as it will give you an insight into player ratings.