The Best Chess Betting Sites in India

Chess is an individual sport that has different formats, but most of them are broadly classified into Classic, Rapid, and Blitz. One aspect we consider when assessing the breadth of a betting site's coverage is the number of events in each format.

Each format is different and comes with its own set of rules that influence how the game is played. This, in turn, can impact how successful a player might be. For example, a player who excels in the Classic format may not be as effective in, say, Rapid, which features fast-paced gameplay.

So, any betting site with extensive coverage of the game is said to offer several events from all three formats, allowing you to pick and choose what you want to wager on.

Another important factor for us is to check if the betting site has a good mix of both international (FIDE, Grand Chess Tour, and the like) and domestic tournaments where the national stars compete.

The range of chess betting options available also influences how a betting site is rated. Some betting sites offer some of the best markets for other popular sports in India, but none for a game like Chess. In fact, a few of them have no chess section at all.

We examine each betting site, paying particular attention to the breadth of their markets. And that involves figuring out whether the bookie offers outright, pre-match, and in-play markets.

Based on our experience, most chess betting platforms in India provide only the standard markets. However, some extend their offerings to include a few unique ones like Rajabets, which offers odd/even markets for total moves, and for the occurrence of special events like the Checkmate.

This forms the basis of our evaluation of betting sites in general, and it is no surprise that it applies to the criteria we used to assess chess betting sites, too.

When there's little to distinguish between the sites in terms of market selection, we look at how competitive the odds are. We compare and contrast the odds listed for different events from different leagues to see if any site consistently emerges as the top choice.

The nature of the sport means anyone could beat anyone on their day. Gukesh Dommaraju's victory over Magnus Carlsen at the Norway Chess tournament is the perfect example: the former world number one led for a long time but ultimately lost due to a blunder in the end.

With the odds changing rapidly in real time and players conceding their dominant positions, live betting markets for chess offer a lot.

We evaluate each site to determine if it's suitable for live betting by examining whether it provides engaging in-play markets, offers competitive odds, features an intuitive interface that gives insights into the match's progress, and is user-friendly and fast enough to let you quickly add bets to your slip.

This ensures you don't fail to capitalise on the right betting opportunity when it comes along.

Some betting sites in India might lack a wide range of betting markets or offer less competitive odds. Still, they could provide better value through sign-up and promotional offers across the board with cashback, rebates, free bets, deposit bonus and more, for new and existing players.

However, while some sites provide a broad range of markets with highly competitive odds, their promotional offers may not be as good.

Therefore, we evaluate the performance of each site individually in these aspects and as a whole, before we provide any recommendations.

This involves betting on the outcome of a chess game: Win or Lose or Draw. It's quite simple: you predict the winner (choose the player you believe will win the game) or select the draw option if you think the match will end in a stalemate, which is a fairly common outcome in competitive chess.

This market allows you to select a winner but does not offer a draw option.

This unique market involves selecting a player based on their chances of winning or drawing the match. In other words, you choose a player who is less likely to lose, so your bet wins if they either win or draw the game.

As with any other sport, handicap in chess betting levels the playing field for both players, especially if one is significantly stronger than the other.

To even out the competition and reduce the skill gap between players, the underdog will be given a slight advantage, either by granting them extra moves or by removing a piece, such as a pawn, from the favourite.

Chess also features its fair share of Odd/Even markets, some of which are quite popular, such as the Total Number of Moves in a game. With this market, you predict whether the total moves at the end will be odd or even.

Over/Under is another common bet type for chess games. This market involves predicting whether the total number of points will be over or under a line set by the bookmaker.

As the name indicates, this market involves predicting the specific move by White in a match. Where do you think the player will move a piece to?

Prop bets in chess usually involve things like the number of pawns taken, the number of checks, or how many times a player castles during a game or tournament.