Chess was invented in India in the 6th Century with the Queen being the most powerful piece on the board. However today in the 21st century, the real queens i.e. a vast majority of Indian women are not even powerful enough to get access to basic rights of education.

Infact, 20 million girls are denied education in India each year due to the deep-rooted misogyny in Indian society.

The core objective of the campaign was to drive donations towards the education of underprivileged Indian girls and raise awareness about how educated women help society. We created the world’s first chess game with a powerless queen. In the ancient game of Chess the queen is the most powerful piece on the board, we changed the rules and took away her power making her immovable & powerless. In this version of chess, those who took the challenge played with a powerless queen against the computer which had a powerful queen. This was rolled out as a #PowerlessQueen challenge online and offline across India, challenging people to try and win. As people lost, we prompted them to share the message and also donate to the cause of girl child education so as to empower them.

The idea showcased how difficult it is to win in chess and as a metaphor in society as well when the queen (Women in society) is a powerless one. Hence proving how societies cannot win if its queens (women) are not empowered.

We wanted to reach out to an audience who could not only donate to the cause but also influence others and attract the attention of a larger audience. To ensure that we reach the right audience, we brought in India's #2 Chess Player & Woman Grandmaster 'Tania

Sachdev'. She invited people and fellow chess players to take the Powerless Queen Challenge. Once they played the challenge and lost, they were prompted by a call-to-action inviting them to donate to the cause.

Many renowned personalities accepted the challenge but lost and that is how the campaign managed to reach many people in and around the world.

The campaign results:

#PowerlessQueen became a trending topic in India

Donations of 40,000 hours of education for underprivileged girls

1.1 Million Views on video

300 Million Organic Impressions with India's national TV channel DD news covering it along with NDTV.

52,000+ Game Plays

International Chess Grandmasters organically got involved and endorsed the campaign and they were:

- World Rapid Chess Champion 'Viswanathan Anand'

- Hungarian Woman Grandmaster ''Anna Rudolf'

- Hungarian Woman Grandmaster and Ambassador of Chess and Education & UN Planet 50-50 Champion 'Judit Polgar'

- Two-time United States Women's Champion 'Jennifer Shahade'

- Four-time Dutch Chess Champion 'Anish Giri'

- Five-time Danish Chess Champion and current coach to World number one Magnus Carlsen, 'Peter Heine Nielsen'

IMPACT:

School students from across schools participated in a Powerless Queen Challenge organized by The Chess School of India and The Coach Crew.

A chess club in France hosted a #PowerlessQueen challenge.