Digital Social Hour
Jan Henric Buettner: Why a $10B Founder Came Back to Build a Chess Startup at 60 | DSH #1640
25 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What is Freestyle Chess and how does it work?
The way we see this chess aesthetic, the chess aesthetic before is not so much. You know, I'm always referring to analogies like Formula One when I said from the beginning. So the same as we want to apply to chess, we want to have chess being interesting for normal people and not for chess players in Formula One.
And then you have all the personality stories and you have the color codes, you have the red Ferrari and the green Aston Martin and so on. and so we applied that that model as well so all the players they have the different color jackets and so everybody can be distinguished also by the fans even although the names might not ring a big
Chapter 2: Why does Jan Henric Buettner compare chess to Formula 1?
Okay, guys, Jan-Henrik Buettner here today. Hopefully I pronounced that right. Oh, perfect. Freestyle chess. Yes. Big week for you in Vegas.
Oh, absolutely, yeah.
Chapter 3: How does AI influence the future of chess?
You've been busy, huh?
Yes, very much so.
Chapter 4: What role does luck play in chess and business?
Past three days having events and you got four more days, right?
Five more days, yeah.
Chapter 5: How does Jan view building companies with an exit strategy?
Five more days. We have a five-day tournament and we had a one-day pre-tournament with the Chesterville. Yesterday was a day off.
Chapter 6: What is Jan's evolving relationship with money?
Today is a media day. Then we have the five-day tournament. We actually turned it down from eight days.
Chapter 7: Why is Freestyle Chess designed to attract a mass audience?
It was before, now it's five days. Wow.
What was the inspiration for this? I know you started this with Magnus, and it's a really unique concept, right?
Yeah, I mean, the whole idea came out of my head, like a lot of things in my life, and then somehow it escalates, you know?
Chapter 8: Where can people watch Freestyle Chess events?
So it was just an idea to improve my chess, and here I am now doing all these tournaments.
Yeah. And it's a very unique. So basically, could you explain it? You start with a randomized board, right?
Yeah. So the way actually it started is basically I just turned 60 last year. And I started my career in the 80s with mobile communications. And then I went on to online services and venture capital. And then I went back to Germany 20 years ago. And I lived in California for 15 years. And
Then I went back to Germany and restored a complete rotten village to a beautiful private nature luxury resort over 20 years, the last 20 years. And also I built a beautiful music studio, a production studio, like really, really high end for music production. And I talked to some grandmasters that I was actually learning some of my chess. I invited them to the studio party and so on.
And they said, well, great. Why don't we do a chess tournament here? I'm like, okay, I have no idea what a chess tournament is. Explain it to me. And they said, yeah, you can follow us online. It's like we play here, there, everywhere. So I looked it up and I found a perfect sleeping pill, as I always say. It's so boring watching two people play chess.
And at the same time, Holly, my wife, and I, we were following Formula One. circus like on the paddock clubs and I thought the distinction was so big between the chess players and the Formula One drivers, the way they are treated and the way it's all be seen. And I thought like, okay, maybe we can do a better chess tournament like that.
And so I connected with Magnus because obviously for the greatest chess tournament that you can do, you need the greatest chess player of all time. And then I met with him in Qatar in October 23. And he then said, okay, after we got to know each other, we spent quite a time with his family, my wife and family a little bit together.
And then he understood that he could basically select his own tournament. And he said, if I can select a tournament, I want to play Fischer Random 960 on the highest level with normal thinking time against the best players of the world. and I looked at him and I had no idea what he was talking about. Fisher Random 960.
I always said as a joke, it's like something, is that Fisher Random for my pharmacy? Against my cold, something like that. So he explained it to me. So the way it works is basically you randomize the back rank. It's something that Bobby Fischer has kind of promoted. This is why it's called Fisher Random.
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