Discover Freestyle Chess, a thrilling new take on chess backed by Magnus Carlsen, blending strategy and unpredictability to reshape the future of the game.
There is a football tournament in Spain called the Kings League, founded by former center-back Gerard Piqué and famous streamer Ibai Llanos in late 2022. To date, the tournament has raised more than $65 million for global expansion. Unlike traditional 11-a-side football, Kings League teams consist of only seven players.
Freestyle Chess is essentially the chess equivalent of the Kings League. It is based on Chess960, a variation introduced by former world champion Bobby Fischer decades ago.
In Chess960, the initial setup of pieces on the first and eighth ranks is randomized, with certain constraints: the king must be placed between the two rooks, and the bishops must be on opposite-colored squares. This results in 960 possible starting positions. Before each round, organizers randomly select one of the 959 alternative setups (excluding the traditional chess arrangement).
At the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Weissenhaus, Germany, in February 2025, a female model was invited to draw from 959 balls before each round to determine the starting position.
Big Investments and High Ambitions
Both the Kings League and Freestyle Chess share a common financial backer: the American investment fund Left Lane Capital, which has invested tens of millions of dollars into the project. The fund currently owns a third of the Freestyle Chess shares, the same as Buettner. The remaining third belongs to Carlsen and other investors.
Buettner played chess as a child but did not pursue it deeply. Instead, he became a serial entrepreneur, launching and selling multiple startups, some for billions of dollars. At 60, he decided to return to his childhood passion—chess. Through his chess teacher, German Grandmaster Niclas Huschenbeth, Buettner arranged to meet Carlsen in Dubai, UAE.
Carlsen advised Buettner to invest in Chess960. While Buettner agreed, he felt the name “960” sounded like a pharmaceutical drug. He eventually settled on “Freestyle Chess,” aiming to move away from the traditional chess mindset, which he described as “boring.” “We wanted the new project to be stylish and sexy,” Buettner added.
Carlsen’s Shift in Focus
Buettner approached Carlsen at a pivotal time, shortly after the Norwegian relinquished his World Chess Championship title. Carlsen had won the title five consecutive times (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021) but chose not to defend it in 2023 against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
The world championship final lasts about three weeks, with 14 classical games, each taking four to five hours. Preparation can take months, focusing primarily on openings, which often extend to the first 20 moves.
For example, the 2024 World Championship match between Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren averaged 46 moves per game. This means players can memorize nearly half a game’s worth of moves before even reaching the board. This increasing reliance on opening preparation, assisted by computers and secondaries, has made classical chess less appealing to Carlsen.
After five world championship victories, Carlsen lost motivation to defend his title. He proposed changes to FIDE, including incorporating rapid and blitz games into the championship format, but was rejected. This led to a strained relationship between Carlsen and the governing body.
Recently, Carlsen has played fewer classical tournaments, favoring rapid and online events. Over the past 14 months, he played only 20 classical games compared to 69 in the previous 14-month period. He has focused on online tournaments, including the Champions Chess Tour, which he founded.
Interestingly, Carlsen does not dominate Chess960 as he does in classical, rapid, and blitz chess. He has held the world number one ranking for 14 consecutive years but finished third and second in the two most recent FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championships (2019 and 2022).
Why Chess960?
Chess960 minimizes the impact of deep opening preparation, as there are 959 possible starting positions. World number three Fabiano Caruana once stated that if he played four games of Chess960 per day for two years, he could memorize every possible opening. However, memorizing more than 10-20 moves in a single Freestyle Chess game is virtually impossible.
In traditional chess, where players often follow pre-memorized sequences for half the game, excitement can wane. The more players mimic computer engines, the more balanced the games become, leading to frequent draws. Fans, however, prefer decisive results.
Freestyle Chess forces players to think from move one, leading to more mistakes, fewer perfect computer-like moves, and a higher win-loss ratio. At the recent Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Germany, the decisive game rate was 54%, compared to just 45% in the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
Beyond Chess: A New Entertainment Model
Buettner, a self-proclaimed Formula 1 fan, believes F1 races can be dull since cars follow predictable laps. What excites him are the off-track events—music shows, driver interactions, and exclusive car exhibitions. He wants to bring a similar entertainment-driven approach to chess.
Like F1’s surge in popularity following the Drive to Survive series in 2019, chess saw a boom thanks to The Queen’s Gambit in 2020. Buettner believes FIDE missed an opportunity to capitalize on this momentum. He is now working on a new series, The Hunted King, featuring Carlsen as the reigning champion being “hunted” by nine rivals.
The Future of Freestyle Chess
Freestyle Chess currently includes 25 players with a standard Elo of 2,725 or higher. Each tournament features only 10 players, but the remaining 15 still receive thousands of dollars in financial support.
Buettner claims Freestyle Chess has raised over $20 million so far, with more investors interested. The event will be free to watch on streaming platforms, with sponsorships as the primary revenue source. The goal is to cover 50% of costs by 2025 and achieve full financial sustainability by 2026.
Buettner also envisions hosting Freestyle Chess matches inside a glass cage, allowing thousands of spectators to watch live. One such tournament is planned for Las Vegas, USA, this year.
According to FIDE, there are over 600 million chess players worldwide, a number surpassing the 450 million basketball players estimated by FIBA. Buettner’s ultimate ambition is to transform Freestyle Chess into a billion-dollar industry.
“When I do something, it has to be perfect, no matter what,” he said. “I want to create the biggest tournament system in chess history. If it’s not perfect, I won’t do it.”
I’m Xuan Binh, the founder of Attacking Chess, and the Deputy Head of Communications at the Vietnam Chess Federation (VCF). My chess.com and lichess rating is above 2300, in both blitz and bullet.