3 min readApr 8, 2026 08:10 AM IST
Magnus Carlsen’s Take Take Take app has joined forces with Lichess (a free, open-source platform run by volunteers) to expand its chess offerings to give app users “play and learn” functionality besides the previous option to follow games live. However, on the day that Take Take Take announced its expansion, the one person who was conspicuous by his absence was the world no 1 from Norway, who is the face of the app besides being the co-founder.
Why?
Because—as Take Take Take CEO Mats Andre Kristiansen explained in a video on the platform’s YouTube channel—Carlsen is an ambassador for Chess.com, which is now a direct rival to Take Take Take, thanks to their entry into the play and learn sectors of chess.
“Magnus cannot be here. And there’s a very good reason for that. We are now stepping into the play zone area. We are launching a full chess platform with a play zone and the full learning experience. And if I go back a little bit to Toronto in 2023, my first ever chess tournament where I was following Magnus on the Champions Chess Tour and I met Erik (Erik Allebest, co-founder and CEO of Chess.com) and Danny (Daniel Rensch, Chess.com’s Chief Chess Officer) for the very first time. And I remember very clearly that Erik told me that I could never enter their domain of play and learn. It was okay for me to build Take Take Take around the fan experience and the watch zone, but as soon as we entered the play and learn segment, there would be a conflict,” Kristiansen said.
“The conflict is really about Magnus being an ambassador to Chess.com. So if we go back another year to 2022, Chess.com acquired Play Magnus (a platform founded by Carlsen) and with that deal came both Chess 24, Chessable—all of these companies and products that Play Magnus Group had built—but also a personal ambassador role for Magnus. So finally Chess.com could unite Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus, who played on different platforms, and the two fan favorites could play together.
“But I got this very clear message that we could not enter play and learn without consequences. And the consequences are really that we cannot have Magnus actively promote Take Take as we are now direct competitors,” Kristiansen added.
Asked what Take Take Take does now without Carlsen, Kristiansen said: “The reality is that he is both a co-founder and a big shareholder of Take Take Take while at the same time he’s an ambassador for Chess.com. But Magnus does not set the roadmap for Take Take Take. We had to go beyond the fan zone and the watch zone to build a sustainable company and our focus has always been to build a sustainable business. We always knew that the heartbeat of chess is playing chess. That’s what everyone wants.”
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