What is the future of chess? Not like this, says Magnus Carlsen.

For more than ten years, Magnus Carlsen and his manager, Espen Agdestein, dreamed of revolutionizing the sport of chess. 2020 was the year it happened.

Briefly about the case

• The crown pandemic and Magnus Carlsen have taken chess seriously into the digital age.
• Carlsen and his team believe that chess will continue to live on digital platforms when the crown pandemic ends.
• This Christmas begins the second tournament of the new Champions Chess Tour super tournament, which many believe is the new standard in the chess world.
• Champions Chess Tour airs on NRK every day from 2:45 PM to January 3.

Almost 11 years ago, but Espen Agdestein still remembers it well. Magnus Carlsen had just turned 19 when he reached the top of the world chess rankings for the first time on January 1, 2010. Suddenly, Carlsen went from being a completely normal child to becoming a Norwegian national celebrity. But phones from all over the world also rang for a “Mozart chess” piece. Suddenly, she was also a model for the international clothing brand G-star. Everything happened fast.

But gradually fewer and fewer international numbers called the manager Agdestein. And the other chess players? Did they get any media attention or sponsorship income?

– We work with the sponsorship market. But the challenge was that, unlike golfers and tennis players, for example, Magnus was not on television. The discussions became difficult, because you didn’t have a stage where the audience saw you more than every two years at the World Cup, says Agdestein.

The ten year dream

Ten years ago Agdestein and Carlsen began to dream. They talked about how chess had to capture more of the audience than in the World Cup. There had to be chess on television almost every week, there had to be sponsors and it had to be attractive to the audience.

– We have always known that the interest in chess is great, and that many are interested and play chess. But we have never managed to become a television sport. It has hampered the development and attraction of chess business partners, says Agdestein.

In Norway, NRK and VGTV showed what could be done by involving large spectators in the championships and not least in the immortal “arrow”. But when the World Cups ended, all was silent, also here in Norway.

– With the success of NRK and VGTV, we realized that it is possible to achieve it. This is something we thought was possible, but we had not seen how it would go.

Because there was no one who did not have enough money and commitment to create something that would attract viewers internationally outside of the World Cup. For now.

And it is the Carlsen team itself that has done it. To achieve this, they have been inspired by electronic sports, tennis and golf.

The year chess could have changed

It has been just over a year since the Play Magnus team told how they wanted to play electronic chess in the future. They then organized a tournament with a total of $ 50,000 in prizes.

– We visualize professional tournaments online. We knew it would be important, but then it accelerated, says general manager Andreas Thome at Play Magnus.

2020, the Corona Pandemic and the Netflix series Queen’s gambit Everything has contributed to the fact that online chess has grown enormously. Play Magnus has also benefited from this. In May, they launched the “Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour”. Four tournaments with $ 1 million in prize money were to be played. The chess world had never seen anything like it, neither in prizes nor in format.

The tournament was a success, both for the players and the number of spectators. The second season was quickly announced. A whole year of big “major” tournaments, inspired by golf and tennis, and a total prize pool of $ 1.5 million.

– We believe that this tournament will be the most important for the sport of chess in the future. You have an arena where players can show off. Now we attract attention every month, says Agdestein.

– What we do is make chess a real sport worldwide, he says ambitiously.

What happens when the world becomes normal?

Carlsen and Agdestein’s dream is really about to come true. There are great sponsors for tournaments. The cash prizes are bigger. They have built an international television studio and the rights have been sold to various actors. International players also report increased interest from sponsors and the public.

But what will happen when the world returns to normal and the crown is history? Will chess remain an electronic sport in which players use data and not a board?

– We saw that this came even before the crown. In Norway, there are 4,000 members, but 400,000 have a user on a chess website. Chess has gone digital and it will be a lasting change, predicts Agdestein.

Therefore, Play Magnus has already started gradually planning the third season of the tournament. And yes, the plan is for them to play against each other on computer screens.

– But we can pick them up. So they are together but playing on the PC. The audience experience is most intense when you see the faces on the screen. You see the emotions and you live with the players in a different way than in physical chess, says Agdestein.

To achieve this, Play Magnus has hired many people with business experience. Some chess enthusiasts are skeptical of Carlsen’s direction and the team is playing chess.

– Some will say that it will be commercial and that it is stupid. But cross-country skiing, biathlon, and all other sports are commercial. If they are not, then they will not be relevant. Popularizing chess allows children to have role models in chess. This is something Magnus has wanted, says Espen Agdestein.