Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has become a high-profile investor in a new global chess circuit, throwing his support behind an ambitious project designed to transform the sport’s reach, prestige and commercial power.

The Norway international is partnering with Norway Chess, the Stavanger-based organisation that has grown into one of the world’s leading elite chess events. Together they are launching the Total Chess World Championship Tour, a season-long series intended to create a clearer, more spectator-friendly narrative around top-level chess.

The tour is planned to feature four major tournaments each season, staged in different cities across the globe. Unlike traditional world championship cycles that focus primarily on classical chess, the new circuit will crown an overall champion based on performance in three formats: classical, rapid and blitz. Organisers say this structure is designed to reflect how modern fans consume chess online, where faster time controls attract huge audiences on streaming platforms.

The International Chess Federation has endorsed the project, describing it as one of the most significant structural innovations in the professional game. A pilot event is scheduled ahead of the full launch, allowing organisers to test broadcast formats, fan engagement tools and competitive regulations.

Each season will carry a minimum prize fund of 2.7 million dollars, a figure that would place the tour among the most lucrative properties in the chess calendar. The financial scale is intended both to reward the world’s best players and to make the sport more attractive to sponsors and broadcasters.

Haaland, known for his analytical approach on the pitch, said chess appeals to him because of its emphasis on strategy, pattern recognition and rapid decision-making under pressure. He believes the new tour can help turn elite chess into a more compelling live and broadcast product for a global audience.

The move further consolidates Norway’s influence in world chess. The country is already home to Magnus Carlsen, the long-time world number one who has dominated multiple formats and helped spark a surge of interest in the game. With Haaland’s backing and Norway Chess’s organisational experience, the Total Chess World Championship Tour aims to build on that momentum and position chess as a modern, media-savvy global sport.