Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen's celebrity status. A grand master at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming all made Norway's Carlsen a household name. Plus, only legends like Russia's Garry Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his name recognition, and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport. "I am in a different stage in my career," he tells the AP. "I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess." He adds that "I still want to play, but I don't necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game."
Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. "It will be a chiller vibe," he says. Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November's World Chess Championship tournament between China's Ding Liren and India's Gukesh Dommaraju. He won't be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023. Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modeled against his own gameplay.
The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around $80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world's largest chess website. Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, the CEO of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, find filters for explaining different elements of each game, and get light-touch analysis will scoop up casual viewers put off by the sometimes rarefied air of chess. The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetize it. "That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis," says Kristiansen. Whether chess can continue to grow without the full professional participation of its biggest celebrity, however, remains to be seen. More here.
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