Max Verstappen plays chess in an Oracle commercial

F1 World Champion Max Verstappen plays chess in an Oracle commercial. Oracle joins the long list of companies that use chess for branding, and Verstappen joins the list of sports celebrities to get associated with chess.

More: Carlos Alcaraz is using chess to up his game / Novak Djokovic plays chess with Boris Becker / Ronaldo and Messi play chess / Keanu Reeves is an avid chess player / Sting: Kasparov is one of my heroes / Sachin Tendulkar invites everyone to follow the Chess Olympiad 2022 / Diego Simeone plays chess with his son / Real Madrid hosts the chess legend Judit Polgar

World champions Oracle Red Bull Racing rely on OCI to make the right race-day decisions and pile up the wins. Could Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez use it for more than racing?

— Oracle (@Oracle) August 21, 2024

But the commercial comes with a twist. #chesspunks fan Selfmate Man says, “The makers do not know what a checkmate is. Max kicks the king off the board at d8”

In the commercial of Oracle plays Max Verstappen chess, but the makers don’t know what checkmate is. Max kicks the King off the board at d8.#checkpunks pic.twitter.com/Z513tRCGGp

— Selfmate Man (@JWvCChess) August 22, 2024