Chess.com acquires Play Magnus Group, announces unified tournament circuit

The consolidation in the online entertainment space continues in the world of chess as well as chess.com officially closed out its acquisition of the Play Magnus Group, picking up properties like Chessable, Chess24, the Meltwater Chess Tour and the not-at-all-insignificant personal brand of Magnus Carlsen as well. The deal, which was initially announced on August 24, officially closed on December 16, the same day chess.com passed the 100 million user milestone.

With the acquisition complete, Chess.com will become the dominant player in the online chess space as two of the largest commercial online entities joined forces under their banner. The Play Magnus Group accepted an offer of purchase from their one-time rivals as, despite a wide variety of acquisitions, they failed to turn a sustainable profit on anything other than Chessable, with chess24 long lagging behind its rivals in terms of playability and userbase.

The move also means that Magnus Carlsen will become a brand ambassador for chess.com and a regular presence in their tournaments once again, likely leading to many more exciting encounters like his epic run to the Speed Chess Championship finals. The world champion was interviewed as part of the announcement stream. Here’s what he had to say about the acquisition:

I think it’s going to be great for both fans and players, as simple as that, that now it will be easier for all the best players to compete in the same events and it will be easier for the fans to follow. That’s really an exciting prospect for me as well, to be competing with the best in the world online even more frequently than I used to.

“For me as a chess player, that’s certainly the motivation, but I’m of course a shareholder as well in the Play Magnus Group, and for that it’s also exciting all the new possibilities that we have both with our apps and Chessable, the new possibilities for integration there. It’s going to be fun to see, and hopefully generally just great for the chess fans.”

Magnus Carlsen

The PMG pickup also marks a sea change in the online chess tournaments. Previously, Chess.com’s slate of competitions split the viewership with PMG’s Meltwater-sponsored Champions Chess Tour: going forward, the two series will merge into a new format, streamlining the tournament calendar in the process. The new event will feature six “majors” and an end-of-year final.