Flick Gocke Schaumburg has advised German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner on the investment by U.S. venture capital fund Left Lane Capital in Freestyle Chess, a company he co-founded with chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. The $12 million investment will be used to drive the development of Freestyle Chess, organize the Grand Slam Tour, and expand the game’s global reach.
The first Freestyle Chess Summit will take place in Singapore on November 21 and 22, 2024, featuring Magnus Carlsen, the world’s No. 1 chess player since 2010, and Fabiano Caruana, the current world No. 2.
The dates for the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour across five continents have already been set:
- Germany: February 7–14
- USA: July 17–24
- South Africa: December 5–12
Additional events on other continents are in planning stages.
Advisors to Jan Henric Buettner: Flick Gocke Schaumburg
Dr. Christian Pitzal (Tax), Mathias Bülow (Private Equity/M&A); Associates: Dr. Golo Meven, Leonard Pellet (both Private Equity/M&A), Stefan Schulz (Tax)
Freestyle Chess retains the core elements of traditional chess while introducing greater variety by randomizing the starting arrangement of pieces on the back rank. This variation, also known as Fischer Random, offers new strategic opportunities and unpredictability to the game.
Freestyle Chess was co-founded in 2024 by Buettner and Carlsen. Its inaugural event, the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge, took place in February at Buettner’s Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort on Germany's Baltic coast.
Jan Henric Buettner is a seasoned entrepreneur, best known for founding and leading AOL Europe in the 1990s. Magnus Carlsen, a former chess prodigy, became a grandmaster at the age of 13 and has consistently held the top spot in the FIDE world rankings since 2011. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players in history.
Founded in 2019, Left Lane Capital is a New York and London-based global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in hyper-growth Consumer and SMB businesses with enduring customer relationships. <<<
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