Thinking big

Jan Henric Buettner, an entrepreneur from Hamburg, is a kind of deus ex machina for German chess. Apart from a small decline produced by the tense financial situation in the German Chess Federation, German chess is actually doing quite well. The Prinzengruppe programme initiated around 15 years ago is bearing fruit with a fairly large group of young players who are playing internationally above the 2600 level. Then there is Vincent Keymer. Not even 20 years old, Keymer is the first German grandmaster since Hübner to play at world-class level. The German national team won silver medals at the European Team Championship (with Keymer) and gold at the Mitropa Cup (without Keymer). Keymer is what people in German chess have always wished for, a ‘Boris Becker of chess’. But in fact, new talents have already shown their strength. They just need to be encouraged.

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The ideas and drive of Jan Henric Buettner are now bringing a breath of fresh air to the scene. Buettner loves music and chess, two things that go well together. Born in Hamburg, he thinks big and has the financial means to turn his visions into reality. He has renovated a battered manor house (castle) on the Baltic Sea and transformed some of the surrounding buildings into a holiday village. The Private Luxury Nature Resort Weissenhaus offers everything the name says: tranquillity, luxury and nature. It is also the ideal location for an exclusive chess tournament, naturally of the highest calibre. As I said, Jan Henric Buettner thinks big. The model for the staging was the one seen in Formula One: “There, 95% of the coverage is about the protagonists and only 5% is about the race. We can present chess in the same way”.

Buettner placed Magnus Carlsen in pole position. It was Carlsen who named his favourite rivals. And so an exclusive tournament was organised with Carlsen and seven challengers, all of whom Carlsen believed could pose a threat to him. But Carlsen wanted to play Chess960, or Freestyle Chess, as it was called in the Weissenhaus. “Nobody understands Chess960”, said Buettner. “Freestyle is to classic chess what beach volleyball is to indoor volleyball”.

It was a first-class tournament in the Weissenhaus. Everything had been prepared for the players and the tournament, with tables and chairs that even Bobby Fischer would have been happy with without any grumbling. Each player also had their own ‘box’, a quiet room. In a confession room, the players could share their feelings and thoughts with the internet viewers.

Everything around it was beautifully decorated, with great attention to detail. The players repaid the effort with exciting games. With gross mistakes in unfamiliar positions.

Magnus Carlsen found it particularly difficult at the beginning, but was once again the tournament winner in the end. How does he do it? The Norwegian was happy with his victory. Both the tournament and his result had been successful. A Freestyle Chess tournament with a classical time control had been his idea.

Jan Henric Buettner was also thrilled. If things had gone badly, the tournament might have been a one-off. But now the organiser is planning something even bigger: a Freestyle Chess Grand Slam. With tournaments in New York, South Africa, India, Chile and Weissenhaus, of course. Soon after the tournament, he travelled off to establish this project at the various locations.

Very nice. But there is another piece of good news.

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Buettner also wants to support Vincent Keymer financially in order to give the young German super grandmaster a better chance of competing with international talents. The goal: reaching the match for the World Championship. As I said, Buettner thinks big. And why not?

But that’s not all. Jan Henric Buettner also wants to establish a chess academy for particularly talented youngsters in his Weissenhaus. The first members of the development group are Leonardo Costa (16), Marius Deuer (15), Lisa Sickmann (13), Christian Glöckler (12), Hussain Besou (11) and Arian Alloussi (8). The players are invited to use the Weissenhaus for their training. The support is not limited.

Buettner is providing a six-figure sum for the group of talents, which will be used to pay travel expenses and trainers, reports Florian Pütz in his Spiegel-online article.

As I said, German chess is doing well. But now it will fare even better in international events. Many other countries, above all India, Uzbekistan, the United States and England, are not sleeping either. In those countries, the state often helps out its talented athletes. Not here. Germany needs enthusiasts like Jan Henric Buettner.

Links

• Freestyle Chess
• Weissenhaus Resort
• Magnus Carlsen wins first edition of the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge
• Gregor Poniewasz: “A remarkably bold tournament”
• The man behind the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge: Jan Henric Buettner