Everyone who is anyone in the digital world is gathering in Hamburg these days. The venue is the Hamburg Messe, where the Online Marketing Rockstars Festival (OMR) is taking place over two days (6 and 7 May). The festival started small over ten years ago and has grown year on year. Now, the exhibitors and audience in front of the four large stages not only fill all eleven halls of the Hamburg exhibition centre, but also the outdoor areas in between, and even some streets in and around the exhibition centre are closed to traffic because they are used for deliveries to the exhibition stands or for visitors to move between the halls. If you think you can get to the show in your own car, allow plenty of time. During the two days of the fair, the roads around the exhibition centre will be very busy. The organisers strongly recommend using the underground.
In addition to the hundreds or thousands of people directly involved in the trade fair or the accompanying conference (in the early years of OMR after 2011, it was the other way around), over 70,000 visitors flock to the venue over the two days. This is an astonishingly high number, given that the festival pass, at over 630 euros, is not exactly a bargain. However, there is also a lot on offer.
Most of the visitors belong to the sneaker generation. White or at least light-coloured sneakers are preferred. Light-coloured running shoes are also acceptable. Few free spirits enter the premises wearing colourful or dark sneakers. The young audience is quite international, but largely in agreement on this point of the dress code. Incidentally, young women are in the majority, at least in digital marketing.
Queuing in front of the Nespresso cart
The organisation of the trade fair is also largely digital. All visitors register and receive a digital wristband. There is also a lanyard badge for quick visual identification by service personnel. The wristband is more important. It ensures that visitors can pass through the digitally controlled barriers and serves as a digital wallet for purchases made at food stalls or elsewhere. Cash is a thing of the past. Everything is settled at the end.
In front of the four stages in the various halls, the interested audience gathers on the many chairs and tables provided and watches the speakers' thematic presentations and explanations.
For sports and chess enthusiasts, Hall B6 with the Blue Stage is the most interesting place to visit. The stages will host a series of entertaining specialist presentations and panel discussions on digital topics. On the first morning of the fair, the Blue Stage featured three panel discussions on the digital presentation of sports topics, including chess, alongside informative presentations on the correct interpretation of statistical curves in user behaviour on video platforms and a comparison of different platforms for audio podcasts. The chess round was sandwiched between women's football (with presenters Claus Lufen and Almuth Schult, among others) and Formula One (with Mikka Häkkinen, among others) – not bad.
Women's football is becoming increasingly popular, thanks in part to popular figures such as Almuth Schult
And chess did very well in competition with football and Formula One. Stefan Kastenmüller took on the role of moderator for this round.
With his companies Nautilus Consulting, he supports companies in the media and sports industry and also advises start-ups in their early stages.
Stefan Kastenmüller welcomed three chess streamers and digital entrepreneurs as guests: Daniel Rensch, one of the key figures at Chess.com; Levy Rozman, alias Gotham Chess, the most successful chess streamer; and streamer Anna Cramling, daughter of chess grandmasters Juan Bellon López and Pia Cramling.
After Stefan Kastenmüller had informed the audience about the current chess hype in his opening presentation, he invited his guests onto the stage one by one and spoke to them about the rapid developments in the digital chess world.
The Chess.com platform, for example, saw a huge increase in members after the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic. After the Hamburg-based online platform Chess24 merged with the Norwegian internet company Magnus Chess, the new company was acquired by Chess.com, making the US company the largest chess provider. Daniel Rensch reported on everything Chess.com had done to ensure its continued growth.
Daniel Rensch
New Yorker Levy Rozman also works with Chess.com. Rozman recounted how he taught chess as an International Master before the pandemic. He also launched channels on the video platforms YouTube and Twitch, which initially performed moderately well. By chance, his video lesson "How to play the Queen's Gambit" was promoted in connection with the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" in 2020, and the number of views exploded.
Levy Rozman
That was the beginning of the success of the "Gotham Chess" brand. Levy Rozman presents his lessons in an easy and humorous way, making them easy to access.
The third speaker was Anna Cramling. Not everyone has two chess grandmasters as parents. "‘I learned chess before I could even speak," said the 23-year-old. Anna Cramling has not yet achieved the title of grandmaster, but she has already played alongside her mother in the Swedish national team at the Chess Olympiad. For Anna Cramling, too, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was the starting point for her streaming career. She now has almost two million followers on the video platforms YouTube and Twitch. In 2024, she was named Best Streamer for Strategy Games at the Streamer Awards.
Professional and friendly. Anna Cramling took a selfie with dozens of fans.
Stefan Kastenmüller now also manages Levy Rozman with his second agency, Apollo Masters. The two met during a simultaneous exhibition at the Gameplan sports congress in Cologne. And Kastenmüller's son is an avid fan of Gotham Chess lessons. Levy Rozman now has a total of 7.5 million subscribers on his YouTube and Twitch channels, making him the most successful chess streamer.
Katharina Reinecke, Levy Rozman and Stefan Kastenmüller are looking forward to the Gothamchess Europe Tour 2025
Levy Rozman is now embarking on a European tour of several major cities (Brussels 8 May, London 9 May, Vienna 11 May, Prague 13 May, Berlin 15 May, Munich 16 May, Warsaw 17 May; tickets cost just under 60 euros). His live performances will not attract as many spectators as his online lectures.
Daniel Rensch and Levy Rozman at the merchandise stand – which is also available, of course.
But whoever is there can experience Levy Rozman live, in the flesh and in three dimensions. A few guests will be supporting Rozman. Daniel Rensch will be there in London. Judit Polgar will be in Berlin. In Munich, Levy Rozman will be speaking with Frederik and Rasmus Svane.
Kastenmüller sees Gotham Chess' live performances as a building block in the overall concept for popularising the brand. The digital chess world is by no means intended to replace the traditional analogue chess scene. "Everything has its place," says Kastenmüller, "and they promote each other! Cooperation is also important."
With Magnus Carlsen, events such as the Freestyle Grand Slam, and streamers with huge numbers of subscribers, chess has reached the big stage and is now courting brands for partnerships. That was also the idea behind this presentation on the Blue Stage at OMR. The big brands are to use the new digital popularity and huge reach as a vehicle for their own purposes – it's all about advertising, of course. Let's see how that works out. The first successes are already evident, with Google being the advertising partner for the last World Chess Championship, for example. And chess is becoming more and more integrated into the esports community.
Not everyone will welcome this development with enthusiasm. Robert Hübner, for example, just wanted to play a quiet game of chess without any fuss. But one thing doesn't necessarily exclude the other.
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