A founder's pace,
in a public institution.
Nitin Narang is the President of the All India Chess Federation (AICF), elected unanimously in March 2024 for the 2024–2027 term. He is the youngest-ever president of the AICF and the first from Haryana to hold the office. He is the Founder & CEO of The Ideaz Factory, Co-Founder of Jist News, Founder of Future Shift Labs, owner of The Laugh Club (Chandigarh) and the producer of the Comedians Cricket League. He is also the Founder of Khabar Gaon (Hindi news, via TIF Multimedia Private Limited), on the board of InstaPe (digital payments) and is publicly associated with HearClear India (Narang-family hearing-care network) and the Khaao Aur Khaane Do F&B brand. He has invested in over twenty companies. Earlier, he served as Vice President of the Haryana Chess Association.
Nitin Narang is the President of the All India Chess Federation, the national governing body for chess in India. Elected unanimously in March 2024, he leads the federation for the 2024–2027 term and is the youngest-ever national president of the AICF. He is the first administrator from Haryana to hold the office.
A second-generation entrepreneur from Karnal, Haryana, Nitin is the Founder & CEO of The Ideaz Factory, a strategy and communications firm established in 2013 with public-affairs and consumer-brand clients across India. He has strategised major state elections and is publicly reported to have invested in over twenty companies across digital media, consumer technology, payments, F&B, live entertainment and emerging policy-tech. He is Co-Founder of Jist News, a digital news platform founded in January 2023 with Rishi Pratim Mukherjee and Sattvik Mishra that has crossed five million followers; Founder of Future Shift Labs, a global think tank on AI governance, policy and digital statecraft; owner-operator of The Laugh Club, Chandigarh's premier live stand-up venue; producer of the Comedians Cricket League, India's only annual cricket-meets-comedy property; and is publicly listed as Co-Founder of HearClear India and on the board of InstaPe. He is also associated with the homegrown Khaao Aur Khaane Do casual-dining brand from Chandigarh.
In chess administration, Nitin previously served as Vice President of the Haryana Chess Association, where he supported grassroots development and state-level tournaments. As AICF President, he has introduced a multi-year development blueprint titled 'Checkmating Challenges for Chess Development in Bharat', announced an INR 65 crore development budget, structured monthly contracts and annual retainers for promising and elite Indian players, and laid out plans for an AICF-led national rating system aimed at one million registered players. India hosted the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Goa under his tenure, the event's return to India after twenty-three years. A landmark tripartite MoU between FIDE, the AICF and KIIT University was signed in Goa to promote chess in education across India, Asia and the world.
Nitin is widely associated with the 'GenNext' transition in Indian sports administration — a younger, professionally-trained cohort stewarding India's sporting institutions at a time when the country is emerging as a global chess powerhouse, headlined by Gukesh Dommaraju's 2024 World Championship victory and India's double-gold performance at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
Leadership journey.
Founds The Ideaz Factory
Establishes a strategy and communications firm in Chandigarh.
Vice President, Haryana Chess Association
Begins formal chess administration at the state level.
India hosts the 44th Chess Olympiad
India's debut as Olympiad host, in Chennai.
Elected President, AICF
Unanimously elected for the 2024–2027 term. Youngest-ever AICF President.
INR 65 cr blueprint · Comedians Cricket League · HPCA Dharamshala
Unveils 'Checkmating Challenges for Chess Development in Bharat'; produces Season 2 of the Comedians Cricket League at HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala.
India wins double gold at Chess Olympiad
Indian open and women's teams claim gold in Budapest.
Gukesh becomes World Champion
D. Gukesh becomes the youngest World Chess Champion in history.
Founds Future Shift Labs · AI policy paper
Future Shift Labs publishes 'AI's Impact on Elections' with Columbia Business School and ISB Mohali.
FIDE World Cup hosted in Goa
The World Cup returns to India after 23 years; 206 players from 82 countries. AICF, FIDE and KIIT University sign a landmark MoU.
Chess Mahakumbh · KIIT University
AICF, FIDE and KIIT co-host the three-day 'Chess Mahakumbh' international conference on social and educational chess at Bhubaneswar.
CHESS+ nationwide school programme launched
AICF partners with the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to roll out 'Championing Excellence in Sport Skills' — a structured chess curriculum starting in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across Haryana, UP and Delhi.
TNPSS · ₹42.3 lakh in quarterly stipends
First quarterly disbursement under the Top National Players Stipend Scheme — 42 young Indian players supported.
Chess diplomacy · PM Modi & Uzbekistan
Prime Minister Modi presents Javokhir Sindarov's 2025 World Cup final scoresheet to Uzbekistan President Mirziyoyev; Narang calls it 'chess diplomacy, quite literally'.
Chess Olympiad Torch · India → Uzbekistan
Alongside FIDE Deputy President Viswanathan Anand, Nitin Narang formally hands the Chess Olympiad Torch — a tradition begun by PM Modi in 2022 — to World Championship Challenger Javokhir Sindarov, en route to the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand.
Milestones in public office.
Youngest-ever President, All India Chess Federation
Unanimously elected in March 2024 for the 2024–2027 term — the youngest national president in AICF history and the first administrator from Haryana to hold the office.
Indian chess wins double gold at the Chess Olympiad, Budapest
India's open and women's teams claim gold under his AICF tenure — a generational moment for Indian chess.
D. Gukesh becomes the youngest World Chess Champion
The new World Champion is congratulated by the AICF President; Haryana's Chief Minister publicly lauds the federation's leadership.
FIDE, AICF and KIIT University · tripartite MoU
Landmark MoU to promote chess in education across India, Asia and the world — signed at the FIDE World Cup in Goa.
FIDE World Cup 2025, Goa
The World Cup returns to India after 23 years — 206 players from 82 countries. Opening declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recorded address.
'AI's Impact on Elections' policy paper · Future Shift Labs
Future Shift Labs publishes a flagship AI-governance policy paper with Columbia Business School and ISB Mohali — covered globally via Business Wire.
Top National Players Stipend Scheme (TNPSS) launched
AICF rolls out quarterly stipends for young Indian players from U-7 to U-19 — the federation's first India-wide financial-support programme for age-group talent.
Chess Mahakumbh — international conference at KIIT University
Co-hosted with FIDE at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar — a landmark convening on social and educational chess (Jan 14–16, 2026).
CHESS+ nationwide school-chess initiative launched
The AICF-Government partnership introduces a structured chess curriculum in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across Haryana, UP and Delhi — India's first federal-scale school-chess rollout.