Carlsen flexing influence in Norway

by André Schulz
6/28/2019 – The Norwegian Chess Federation is facing a democratic dilemma. The betting company Kindred Group, registered in Malta and Gibraltar with offices in Stockholm, has offered the federation a sponsorship agreement worth about five million euros. The deal is controversial and the association wants to vote on the matter on July 7th. Magnus Carlsen is in favour of the deal and has now set up a chess club to gain direct influence on the vote.
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Carlsen founds his own chess club

In Norway, discussions around potential sponsorship from bookmaker Kindred Group have been going on for some time and could now be finalized with the approval of members of the Norges Sjakkforbund (NSF — the Norwegian Chess Federation) at their annual congress on July 7th, in Larvik, a coastal town southwest of Oslo. The deal would bring in roughly 5 million euros, spread over five years. 

But there is disagreement with the federation as to whether it is kosher to accept this offer, given that it comes with strings attached. Namely, it would be incumbent upon Norwegian chess body to lobby for the repeal of the gambling monopoly in Norway currently enjoyed by Norsk Tipping and Rikstoto, which would open the market to other bookmakers. The Norwegian supervisory board governing lotteries warned the chess federation against signing a contract.

The deal has unusually strong backing from World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who argues that the money would boost chess in Norway. Stavanger and Oslo had been considered possible venues for the next World Championship title bout, but recently dropped out.

The financial burden for a World Championship match is estimated at about 5 million euros. In the aftermath of the renegotiation of FIDE's agreement with Worldchess (Agon) the costs of the organization and the prize fund is open once again to a bidding process. The Austrian Chess Federation, which would have liked to see the next World Championship match in Vienna on the occasion of the federation's 100th anniversary, but previously dropped out in the face of expectations for the Norwegian bid.

Prior World Championship matches organized by World Chess only guaranteed the minimum sum of 1 million euros for the players, far lower than matches in the past. The backing of Kindred, whose stable of brands includes Unibet, a minor sponsor of the 2018 London match, could have helped to raise the players' take the next time around. But, citing opposition from Carlsen towards playing the match in his home country, the Norway Chess organisers in Stavanger announced yesterday they are no longer considering bidding.

2018 match

Carlsen shakes hands with Caruana in front of Unibet logos | Photo: World Chess

Nevertheless, in a strategic move, Carlsen now has set up his own chess club and attracted 1000 members by offering free membership. That makes the World Champion's club not only by far the largest chess club in Norway, but would also yield 40 votes at the congress on July 7th. The whole Norwegian Federation has a total of only 4000 members. This move is not without costs — the new chess club because it still has to pay the annual fees to the NSF (about €50 crowns) for each of the 1000 members. But Carlsen evidently considers that a small price to pay. It's not clear whether the chess club will hold any activities following the congress or if it is merely intended to exist on paper and conceived for political purposes.

On the website of the "Offerspill Sjakklub established 2019" Carlsen makes his pitch in a video (in Norwegian):

Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson

Update 17:48: This story has been updated to indicate Norway's World Championship bid is in doubt.

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Topics: Magnus Carlsen, Norway, politics, Unibet
André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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Korneliusss Korneliusss 9/25/2022 09:21
Hver av oss bør prøve å planlegge handlingene våre på en slik måte at alt er perfekt, eller bare bra.
James Satrapa James Satrapa 7/2/2019 09:26
Leveraging gambling? Surely not.
fons2 fons2 6/30/2019 06:55
The Norwegian government doesn't want gambling. This is a totally reasonable stance.

(But as with all vices, it's hard to control, so therefore they organize it themselves (to a certain degree): this satisfies certain people's desire to gamble without letting the gambling scene get out of control.

This is a strategy that has proven to work well with other vices as well, for example drugs & prostitution. Instead of outright making it illegal and allowing an underground (criminal) scene to develop; regulate it and keep it under control.)

It makes sense for the national chess federation not to want to go against the laws in their country.

So therefore I find it a bit strange that Carlsen wants to go against all of that and potentially get the chess federation into legal trouble. I presume he's just thinking about the money. (Part of which will end up in his pocket.)

Interesting that even in Norway they can't find regular sponsors.

(And btw it seems clear to me that this is just a ploy by the Kindred Group to get gambling into the country. They figure that chess is popular enough in Norway that they might get away with it.)
hiddendragon hiddendragon 6/29/2019 09:32
Captain Scandinavia:Civil War
thebadbishop thebadbishop 6/29/2019 02:36
To use a gambling expression, Carlsen should go all-in and create his own chess federation - Carlsen's Intergalactic Chess Federation. Free for humans. And aliens too. Kirsan would be proud, especially of the latter.
But seriously, Carlsen is willing to shell out 50 grand a year and what is he expecting in return? Money under the (gaming) table? ;)
hansj hansj 6/29/2019 10:43
Is this a bad joke? If not Carlsen evidently is loosing it.
fgkdjlkag fgkdjlkag 6/29/2019 07:36
If there is not a concrete variation showing the superiority of the gambling monopoly, then it should be broken up. The general principle is that monopolies are bad.
SambalOelek SambalOelek 6/29/2019 12:10
Is he becoming the new Messi / Messias?
FlannDefence FlannDefence 6/28/2019 09:46
Perhaps Magnus feels that his fellow Norwegians do not have sufficient opportunities to gamble. I'm struggling to think of any other motivation...
macauley macauley 6/28/2019 05:52
@Girkassa - Indeed, the plot thickens!
Girkassa Girkassa 6/28/2019 04:31
Actually this will not affect a Norwegian bid for the World Championship, because there will not be such a bid:
https://norwaychess.no/en/2019/06/27/norway-not-to-bid-for-the-2020-world-chess-championship/
KrushonIrina KrushonIrina 6/28/2019 04:03
Don't mess with Magnus on any matters strategic.
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