With its big names, huge prize pot and the final of its first Major tournament taking place later today, chess24's Champions Chess Tour has quickly become the game's marquee online event.

It should be no surprise then that the tour, which only launched two months ago, has attracted huge interest both on the board and in boardrooms alike.

Now, on the back of its worldwide success, chess24 can reveal that the $1.5 million Champions Chess Tour has a new title partner - the California-based firm Meltwater.

Meltwater is the new title partner for the Champions Chess Tour

Meltwater is a big player in the market for media intelligence and social analytics solutions and, as a result of its partnership with Play Magnus Group, the tour will now be renamed the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.

Andreas Thome, CEO of Play Magnus Group, said: “This means a lot for the Tour. We have used Meltwater’s products for a long time at Play Magnus Group. Social media and traditional media intelligence is critical to all organizers of sports events to get the necessary insights.

"We currently use Meltwater’s services both for evaluating our internal strategy and for reporting impact to our partners. Meltwater is an excellent brand and partner to join our mission of increasing the popularity of chess and the Champions Chess Tour.”

We believe that the potential of chess as a spectator sport is enormous, and throughout 2020 we have been building our flagship Champions Chess Tour. The partnership with Meltwater adds evidence to the attractiveness of chess for brands. This next step increases our confidence that the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour will be an important part of Play Magnus Group’s identity going forward and will inspire millions of chess fans around the world.

It comes after millions of viewers across the world tuned into the latest event over Christmas, the Airthings Masters. The eagerly-awaited final of this $200,000 Major takes place today between Armenia's Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov, of Azerbaijan.

The event has been streamed live on Twitch and YouTube by chess24 and other services and broadcast on TV by NRK in Norway and Eurosport globally.

Meltwater joins a growing portfolio of partners involved in the Champions Chess Tour. It comes in addition to the previously announced link-ups with Skilling, Airthings, Opera and Julius Bär.

With this agreement, Meltwater also becomes a personal partner for Magnus Carlsen, four-time World Chess Champion, and co-founder of the Play Magnus Group.

Carlsen said:

I’m thrilled that Meltwater is partnering with the Champions Chess Tour. Meltwater is at their core closely linked with the game of chess through their work in analytics and strategy. I look forward to working with Meltwater on the Tour and being their brand ambassador.

Jørn Lyseggen, Executive Chairman and Founder of Meltwater, added: “At Meltwater we believe in empowering companies with objective insight to make more informed decisions, like how the world’s best chess players prepare for their tournaments. The Champions Chess Tour is the perfect vehicle for us to further spread our mission of enabling more companies to make their next move with confidence.

"In a chess game, both players basically have the same information. It is how one reads and analyzes the information from the opponent that determines the outcome.

“The social responsibility aspects of Play Magnus’ mission inspire us at Meltwater, as it advocates the positive benefits of chess for children and adults alike as well as its accessibility. Unlike most sports that require expensive equipment, all you need is a chessboard and pieces to get started – and you can do it anywhere,” Lyseggen added.   

This is a significant deal for the Tour. Meltwater was founded in Oslo, Norway, in 2001 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with 50 offices across six continents. The company has 1,700 employees, 28,000 corporate customers and was listed on Euronext Growth Oslo in December 2020.

“Assuming the possibility of travel, we plan to organize the final of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour in San Francisco in September,” Jørn Lyseggen said.

The current season of the Champions Chess Tour runs from November 2020 to September 2021 and includes a total of ten online tournaments.