Magnus Carlsen in complicated situation after his start-up attacks biggest chess platform: 'It’s in conflict with...'

Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen has found himself in a complicated situation after his startup Take Take Take made a bold move to get into the territory of one of the biggest chess platforms, Chess.com.

The Norwegian star is a co-founder and major shareholder in Take Take Take, which recently announced its expansion into online play and learning tools, the same areas that Chess.com serves. However, the move has created tension due to Carlsen’s existing commercial agreement with the platform.

Why it's "not a great situation" for Carlsen 

Magnus Carlsen is the brand ambassador of Chess.com and has obligations towards the company. Now that his own start-up has taken up a direct fight with the platform, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Take Take Take CEO Mats Andre Kristiansen has admitted that the situation is far from ideal.

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"Because my co-founder and the biggest shareholder is Magnus Carlsen, and he ​is also an ambassador for Chess.com... there are limitations to how Magnus can then promote Take Take Take because it’s in conflict ​with the agreement with Chess.com," Kristiansen told Reuters.

"It's not a great situation to be in for either us or Magnus. I think for Magnus, it’s frustrating because he’s super excited about what we’re building," he added. Take Take Take has partnered with Lichess, a popular free alternative to Chess.com, for this new pivot. It earlier focused on just chess viewing and making content.

Carlsen is expected to stay away from promoting the new tools for playing and improving at chess by Take Take Take, which had earlier been warned by Chess.com against entering this space.

"My first meeting with Chess.com was in 2023... literally the first thing he (CEO and co-founder Erik Allebest) ever said to me was, never enter play and never enter learn. That’s ours. And I found that quite intimidating," Kristiansen said.

"I think also Magnus has ​tremendous respect for ⁠Chess.com and the agreement and is going to honour their agreement, and that’s why he’s pulling out of ... the promotional stuff for us. It’s hard to sort of silence Magnus Carlsen," he added.

Meanwhile, Take Take Take were forced to delete their promotional content on social media that featured Carlsen's picture. They shared a new post after removing the old one, accompanied by a disclaimer: "Repost with replaced photo." This could probably be due to objections from Chess.com.