Jan Buettner on Freestyle Chess seeing a historic shift with US $12 Million Funding
The chess world is set to witness a historic shift after the announcement on Thursday, 25th July: ‘Magnus Carlsen raises $12 Million for Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.’ This project promises to bring high-level, exclusive chess tournaments to the global stage. While the format was initially introduced in February 2024, certain developments will make it exciting for players, fans, media, organizers, sponsors, and everyone involved. Jan Buettner is the co-founder of this project along with Magnus and in a candid interview with ChessBase India, he shares his journey of starting Freestyle Chess to raising US$12 million!
What is Freestyle Chess?
Freestyle Chess is an exciting way to play chess that scrambles the pieces on the last rank. Freestyle Chess allows for a more creative and unrestricted style of play, unlike conventional chess. Chess theory is thrown out of the window and players are on their own right from the first move. This makes the games more interesting and fun to watch. This concept was first popularised by Bobby Fischer in June 1996. And that's why it is also known as Fischer Random chess or Chess960.
Jan Buettner is a successful entrepreneur who has been involved in many successful projects. In February 2024, he launched the Freestyle Chess format with Magnus Carlsen and the first tournament took place in Weissenhaus, Germany. Now after 9 months since this first event, Jan has raised US $12 million (Rs.100 crores) for the Freestyle Chess League with Left Lane Capital.
In this interview with Sagar Shah, Jan speaks about how the funds were raised, and what is the future of Freestyle Chess.
Sagar Shah: Congratulations! It’s a huge thing that you and Magnus have raised $12 million for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam. This was your aim and now that it had finally happened… how does it feel?
Jan Buettner: Totally amazing! Interestingly, it’s been 9 months since I got together with Henrik and Magnus in Qatar. We discussed this idea on 20th October last year. So, it’s like the birth of a child after nine months! (Laughs) You have been with us through this pregnancy journey, you remember back in February in Weissenhaus? After a long journey of talking to many good and bad people, we finally found the right partners and perfect friends. Now, we have a great setup and, a perfect connection between Magnus and the partners of Left Lane Capital. They are of the same age. They are in their mid-thirties.
I met with the team Left Lane in Brooklyn and then we flew together to Nashville to meet Magnus. Magnus has started playing golf. Jason is a very good golfer. So, they went golfing together in Nashville. Harley and I said that it was the first time we really regretted not playing golf! It would have been great to join those guys. We established a strong connection and a great spirit among us. We all believe in integrity, and honesty and we are all friendly in nature as you don’t see many of those people in the world (Laughs). We have coordinated our press strategy with our team and Left Lane's professional media teams in New York and London. I am obsessed with numbers. So, I thought 24-7-24 was the perfect date for the announcement, for our newborn child.
SS: I believe the journey from hosting the first event at Weissenhaus in February to finding your partners and investors has not been easy. Could you share with us this journey and how Left Lane Capital came together with you and Magnus?
JB: You are the firsthand witness of everything. Nine months ago, Henrik, Magnus, Holly, my wife, and I got together and discussed this idea. We also integrated Holly’s father, Torsten, who is great at marketing and media agencies that operationally put everything together for the event in Weissenhaus.
In October, after we made an agreement with Magnus and Henrik, we called Torsten and said we had four months to put together the best chess tournament the world has ever seen with the greatest chess players of all time. He replied, "We have only three months because of Christmas and holidays. But we can do it. It’s okay." In those 12 weeks, we were in execution mode from zero to what we accomplished. As everyone saw, we did very well and delivered good-quality results. Magnus and I didn’t have a contract at that time, but we just agreed to do the best we could. It was crazy that the tournament had one billion impressions and views! The excitement continued to build every day throughout the tournament.
So, I thought we definitely have to do it again. We are going to have another tournament in February. I thought we should expand this tour. Because of ChessBase India’s great coverage, we received a lot of interest from India. So, we wanted to organize a tournament in India. Some potential parties did contact me. But instead of sponsoring the event, they all laid back and said let's see what this guy is doing. Maybe he will come to India, maybe he will spend US$ 2 million. I didn't want it to work this way. I didn't want to rent a hotel in India and do the same setup which is much harder for Torsten and team. And so I said if nobody comes forward, we will do India at a later date.
Then we got interest from the US which was the next good market for such a tournament. I have been living in California for 15 years and have a background in Venture Capital. I had some contacts in this industry. We looked for those who would be interested in being our financing partners. We came across Left Lane Capital, a major venture fund managing $2.5 billion in assets. Their strategy was to create new leagues like the King's League in football which was very successful, the Women’s League, and many more. They started in Spain, currently focusing on South America and their future plan is to be active in North America.
Our aim is to make every tournament profitable in itself. So, we are looking for sponsors. But we have broad shoulders because we don’t really need them. If we don’t find any sponsors, we have enough money to organize a tournament by ourselves. Also, apart from the $12 Million we have raised, we have another $ 3 Million already committed from other people. When you start something, people are very skeptical about the results, but when you see good results, more people want to join you. We saw Left Lane’s ambition and thought that the freestyle chess idea would fit perfectly into their strategy. It was like a match made in heaven. Holly and I spent time with their team on the weekend in East Hampton at Harley Miller's house. We all got along very well and it felt like a family.
SS: This is perhaps one of the first times that someone is investing in a chess format with the aim of a sustainable business model. Are you confident about this entire venture? How do you see it panning out, and how is the money going to be made?
JB: I am extremely confident; otherwise, I wouldn't be investing my time. I am going to turn 60 in six weeks, and I have had a lot of success in various industries. So, I don't need a job or money, but I am always excited about breaking new ground and doing something that has never been done before. Left Lane Capital wouldn't have committed all this capital if I hadn't agreed to stay on for at least two years. Holly suggested I could pass it on to someone else, but Left Lane insisted they needed to know who would be responsible. So, I agreed to be the CEO for two years without taking a salary because I have enough money. During this time, my goal is to create a great platform for tournaments and ensure that all of them turn out to be profitable.
Our aim is to host high-level tournaments in exclusive locations. Our next tournaments will be in New York and Cape Town, South Africa. We are looking for venues with a certain stature. We would prefer high-profile connections. I would rather have five billionaires connecting than thirty millionaires if you know what I mean! We want to create an environment where people meet their peers.
We are also thinking about organizing events with themes. For example, the political theme for a tournament in New York with top political leaders meeting us and chilling. In another location, we might focus on economics, culture, or arts, inviting people from those industries. Our platform will feature the best players in the world. Our focus is to put the players in the front seat. Out of the $12 million raised so far, 30% will go directly to the players, which is unheard of in the chess industry. For the three tournaments: Weissenhaus in February, New York in the summer, and Cape Town in the winter, we will have a prize fund of US$750,000 each and then from 2026 onwards we will pump up the prize fund of each event to US $ 1million.
SS: This is almost three times more than the prize money we saw at the first event in Weissenhaus.
JB: Almost four times! Except for the World Championship itself, there is no other tournament where players can earn this much money. The winner will receive US $200,000. We have allocated 85% of the prize fund to the 10 participants. The remaining 15% of the prize fund will go to the 15 players in the Players Club who are not playing. So, even if the player is not playing, but he/she is a part of our member base with an ELO of at least 2725, then they can still earn. If their ELO drops below 2725 for 12 months, then we might terminate the club membership. For those who are not a part of the 10 players, they can still make an average of $7,500 per tournament without playing. If we have four tournaments a year, that's US$30,000 just for being a part of the club.
SS: That's the benefit of being in that exclusive club of 25 players, right?
JB: Yes! We have this system established that out of the 10 players who will take part in each event, 5 players will always be the top 5 players of the last tournament. So, now for the next one, they will be Magnus, Fabiano, Levon, Nodirbek, and Alireza. In addition, we have four places which we select based on criteria out of the club like relevance for the local market. For example, in Germany, Vincent Keymer will be there. We also consider performance and importance in the chess world. So, of course, we will have Gukesh again because he is now an important player. Basically, we will have the same crew as last time for these reasons. We are still in talks with other players to fill the remaining two spots. If someone is ranked low within our club but has a big fan base and an outgoing personality, they have a higher likelihood of being picked for the next tournament. Once they end up in the top five, they will always be in. It's an elite within an elite within an elite group. We are in talks with two players at this point, so I don't want to reveal it as it is not been decided. So now we have 9 players and for the 10th spot, we will have an open tournament where anyone can qualify. There will be some online tournaments worldwide, and the final round will be in person to avoid any cheating. The winner of this tournament will get the 10th seat at this tournament. I think this provides a good incentive and players will be attracted to play and be in the club.
We are already in talks with FIDE and chess.com, to ensure that we don't disrupt the system. We will coordinate the dates to make sense for everyone so we can plan in advance. We are also discussing with Kevin (Goh Wei Ming) in Singapore and with FIDE about potential collaborations during the World Championship Match to show our friendly coexistence.
We are also in talks with external tournament partners. If anyone wants to organize a tournament, I ask them to do it with a different approach by following McDonald's model. This way, they will pay us a license fee, and we will provide all the materials, marketing, and support. But they have to handle the organization. This is the model which will lead to the 4th and 5th tournaments next year. The prize fund for these external tournaments will be $1 million for the players. I always want to push for the players first.
We are also setting up a marketing agency for the players because we want them to have the same status as other sports stars. I have always wondered why Magnus Carlsen doesn't have the same status as top players in golf or tennis or top sprinters in athletics. We will offer all our club members a marketing arm, and I am in talks with experts to run this. We will look for personal sponsors for them.
SS: You were very keen on having something like the ‘Drive to Survive’ series in chess. A lot of themes were of Formula 1 at the first event itself. Is that going to be part of this?
JB: The success we received for the idea of having colored jackets for players was overwhelming. It can happen that people might not know the player’s name, but they recognize the colors. So, they might say ‘the guy in the orange jacket’ referring to Alireza. A lot of clothing companies, some very big brands, who want to produce these jackets contacted me.
We are also doing title sponsorships because my idea is to have a title sponsor for each tournament. Let's say a sponsor provides a million dollars for prize money, then we will market it as ‘Prize money provided by Company XY’. We have different categories for sponsorships: clothing, cars, beverages, watches, and so on. Many companies can benefit from this, similar to Formula 1.
Regarding "Drive to Survive," of course, that’s the goal. Netflix has been incredibly successful with that series. But Netflix typically gets involved after you have already achieved success. So, a series like ‘Drive to Survive’ is possible in a year or two if we achieve real success. It would be great if Netflix saw the potential early and covered us from day one, but even if they did, the season would not come out for a year or two. If we succeed by then, it will be without Netflix, and if we don't, Netflix would not have saved us. So, Netflix is a nice idea but not essential. We are definitely expanding into media beyond just streaming, looking at general television. We are working with FIDE as well; there is plenty of room in this market for collaboration.
Currently, we are talking to several media outlets about a series we are calling ‘The Hunted King.’ The concept is that Magnus, the king, is hunted by the nine challengers wanting to kick him off. We are pitching this and hope it will be successful soon.
SS: Can you tell us about your experience working with Magnus over the past nine months? Will Magnus participate in Freestyle Chess exclusively now with regards to Classical time control, considering he owns some part in this venture?
JB: First of all, I must say that the entire Carlsen family is incredible. I felt very bad after knowing about Sigrun’s death. It's such an awful loss. I lost my mother when I was 55. But it’s different when you lose your mother at 33. Sigrun was there in Weissenhaus.
Magnus, of course, is such a humble person. With all he has achieved, he could easily be arrogant, but he is the opposite. Even though he owns some part of this venture, he should not be worried about the business. Our goal is to provide him with a platform where he can focus solely on playing. Although we are close and have many things to coordinate, we don’t talk daily. Usually, I discuss matters with Henrik, and we involve Magnus only when we have to make any decision.
Left Lane’s condition was that I personally commit to this project for at least two years and Magnus should be fully committed. During our meetings with Left Lane in Nashville, Magnus stated that this is the most important thing in his life right now. But we know that he has other tournaments and engagements, like Norway Chess and the Global Chess League, and we don't want to restrict him from participating in these tournaments. However, for Left Lane and us, it was important that he commits to this project because we are building the whole league around him. It was basically his idea to play Fischer Random at the highest level with standard thinking time. So, this league is designed for him. In the future, he might become the commissioner of the league. It’s something for his future especially when he is no longer actively playing. When he will not be the hunted king anymore, but perhaps the retired king, this venture will still be important for him!
SS: That's amazing! There are so many elements that have come together: your time, Magnus being involved, and Left Lane's investment. It truly feels like something amazing is happening in the world of chess. I think everyone is going to be very excited about how things are progressing.
JB: We are just going to have so much fun! We love life, and we love everyone being friends and having a great time together. What could be better than taking on all this responsibility and having the obligation to create the best events in the best places on the planet? It’s a fun and exciting journey!
SS: Everyone's eyes will be on freestyle chess to see how it evolves. I learned from you how to do big things with the ease of doing something on a daily basis. You made huge announcements with such ease, and everything came from your heart. This genuine passion is evident as this project progresses to the next level. I wish you all the best for your venture!
JB: Thank you, Sagar! I look forward to seeing you a lot in the future. I love all the involvement from India. We are going to do a lot of things together. I am very happy that now we have the platform to make that happen. Thank you so much!
Magnus Carlsen on the development of US$12 million funding
We interviewed Magnus at the end of the World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan and this is what he had to say about this development, "I was very excited about the first tournament that took place in Weissenhaus earlier this year and I think a lot of people liked it - both players and others. And now to have the funding for tournaments is really a good development and we will have some great events now!"
Important Links:
ChessBase India playlist for Freestyle Chess in Weissenhaus
