Chess.com bids for Play Magnus, a move towards monopoly?

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A merger between the two biggest major chess sites is imminent after US-backed chess.com announced it would bid for playmagnusgroup.com, named after world champion Magnus Carlsen. The offer, which values ​​PMG at approximately $82 million, has been accepted and will take approximately two months to complete.

There have been rumors of problems with PMG for some time. Earlier this year, some staff in Oslo were laid off and the main website, chess24.com, removed the tournament commentary in French and German, leaving only English and Spanish. PMG listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in October 2020, but earnings have not grown as expected and the share price has halved from its peak. The high-end business model of providing quality chess24 commentary at top tournaments doesn't seem to generate enough subscribers. There's also no question that Online Meltwater's generous prize pool for the Grandmaster who attends his Tour of Champions is overpriced. His course of study is his most profitable area.

Chess.com, by contrast, was primarily focused on providing a competitive playing field, but in spectator events he had 5/1 and 3/1 Blitz and he had 1/1 Barrett's formula for success. I have. Its prize pool is lower than his Chess24, but like the current Women's Speed ​​his championship, it's enough to attract the best players, and the half-retired No. appeared infrequently. Chess.com also offers a very popular platform for chess streamers. The most famous of them is Hikaru Nakamura, who has well over 1 million followers. Chess generally has a low number of women, but not streaming, where about 25% are women.

Whether the merger will work in the long term remains to be seen. Optimists paint a golden future where Carlsen regularly faces off against former rival Nakamura, while pessimists see his No. 1, who has already announced his retirement from the world title. But that means he's taking steps toward further reducing his commitments.

The elite Sinkfield put in a strong performance in his Cup this week in St. Louis and much could depend on whether Carlsen's current target of a record 2900 his rating can be revived. So far this year, the 31-year-old Norwegian has failed to replicate the level of performance he had before the 2019 pandemic.

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