EP 500: Jan Henric Buettner on FIDE, Freestyle Chess and the Game’s Untapped Potential

Jan Henric Buettner is a German entrepreneur, co-founder of Freestyle Chess alongside Magnus Carlsen, and a candidate for FIDE President. In his business career he has worked in technology, venture capital and hospitality. In our interview, we discuss: The logistical problems some participants encountered at the Olympiad and Jan’s own experience in Samarkand Why Jan believes chess still has vast untapped potential Whether Freestyle Chess can appeal to a wide audience Whether an outsider can defeat FIDE’s establishment candidate What Jan considers chess’s most undervalued commercial asset We also touch on lessons Jan has learned from his varied business career, the potential threats posed by AI, and why he believes chess is a great game to introduce to the next generation. 🕒 Timestamps 0:00 Intro and Episode 500 housekeeping This podcast is brought to you in part by Claude AI. You can try it out via the link below: claude.ai/chess3:53 Jan Henric Buettner joins the show4:40 Early logistical problems at the Chess Olympiad9:00 Jan’s business background and what drew him to chess13:40 Building Freestyle Chess and attracting sponsors16:34 Is Freestyle Chess accessible to traditional chess fans?20:25 Jan’s own chess experience22:01 FIDE elections, corruption allegations, and Jan’s chances24:06 Jan’s platform and plans for making FIDE financially independent28:55 Women in chess, cheating, and rating reform34:00 Chess.com’s dominance and the possibility of new competitors35:30 Turning chess players into chess spectators38:00 Why Jan believes the FIDE brand is undervalued39:47 Wadim Rosenstein, Timur Turlov, and the possibility of a split vote40:41 What Jan would do if he loses the election42:09 Could FIDE postpone the election?43:53 Jan’s concerns about AI, venture capital, and the future49:42 Why chess offers an antidote to technology overload Thanks to Jan for joining me! You can learn more about his campaign here: https://janhenricbuettner.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices