Sports event promoting company Agon sparked off a huge furore on Wednesday after releasing a suggestive and rather bizarre logo for the World Chess Championships, which will be held next year in London.

The logo, which looks like two people sitting in a mating position with a chess board separating them, drew plenty of sniggers on Twitter, prompting many to ask what Agon was thinking when they conceptualised it.

Established yesteryear names such as Susan Polgar and Nigel Short also panned the design. There were some who thought it was highly “racy”, “sexual” and “inappropriate”, there were many who indulged in wordplay, almost starting a contest of sorts. “Pawnographic” may have just taken the cake.

Before the championships, there will be a double round-robin candidates tournament in Germany with eight players, which will decide who will progress to the 12-game match in London. The challenger will then face reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen for the trophy.