The first dates for the new Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025 with Magnus Carlsen have been set: The elite of chess will initially meet from 7 to 14 February in Weissenhaus in northern Germany. The second event is planned for 17 to 24 July in the USA. In December 2025, the event will then move to South Africa, where it will be played from 1 to 8 December. The specific venues will be announced later.
Later the press release noted,
Thomas Harsch, who was appointed Managing Director of Freestyle Chess Operations GmbH on 1 September, added: "The opening tournament this February in Weissenhaus, Germany, has already received an overwhelmingly positive response from players, fans and the media around the world. Chess interest in the USA is traditionally very good, and in Africa, there is huge untapped potential that we now want to realize."
Harsch's LinkedIn page tells us,
Chief Operating Officer
Freestyle Chess : Full-time
Aug 2024 to Present : 4 mos
Berlin, Germany
Freestyle Chess is a sports and media company with the goal of bringing chess into the mainstream through more thrilling gameplay, avant-garde storytelling and world-class production quality. Freestyle Chess organizes a global tournament series across all continents where the world's top 25 players compete for the title of the best player in the world and prize money between $750k and $1m per tournament. Freestyle Chess is co-founded by Magnus Carlsen and Jan Henric Buettner and is backed by Left Lane Capital.
The same LinkedIn page points to a German language article from late July, Schach Turnierserie mit Magnus Carlsen: Finanzinvestor steckt 12 Millionen Dollar ins Profischach (manager-magazin.de). Google translates the title to 'Chess tournament series with Magnus Carlsen: Financial investor invests $12 million in professional chess', then continues,
Chess icon Magnus Carlsen and German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner want to popularize the special Fischer Random Chess with a worldwide tournament series. The financial investor Left Lane Capital believes in it – and is generously financing it.
That's all very good news indeed. As for the second part of the 'Multi-Millionaires' post, which promised a Saint Louis Chess Club 9LX event, it ended too late for this current post. More news next month...
