(Oslo, 16 December 2020) - Since we began developing chess apps under the Play
Magnus brand in 2013, we have garnered nearly 6 million downloads globally. The
most exciting times for our apps and the wider chess community have always
surrounded the biennial World Chess Championship, due to the surge in chess
interest and global media coverage. 

Given the name behind our apps, in the lead up to the World Chess Championships
(which in our history have always featured Magnus Carlsen) we have seen new
downloads for our apps grow ~2x. This phenomenon has always been a significant
driver of the seasonality in our apps business and a key consideration for our
product plans, budgets and forecasts. 

Despite this year's postponement of the World Chess Championship, chess interest
has experienced an even larger increase, driven by the new Netflix limited
series, The Queen's Gambit.

On iOS, our Magnus Trainer app for learning chess in a fun, gamified way with
Magnus Carlsen, saw 93% M/M growth in app units from the World Chess
Championship 2018. This year, The Queen's Gambit led to 292% growth M/M in app
units, 3x the impact of the 2018 World Chess Championship. The same effect can
be seen in search interest for chess according to Google Trends over the last 5
years. The World Chess Championships in 2016 and 2018 created similar peaks in
interest, however The Queen's Gambit has far surpassed this already. 

The Queen's Gambit and its impact on global chess interest is encouraging for us
at Play Magnus Group as it clearly shows what we've always believed, that there
is significant potential for chess to appeal to the mass market. 

At Play Magnus Group, it is our's and our ambassador, Magnus Carlsen's, mission
to grow chess to make the world a smarter place, and we are thrilled with the
spectacular growth in the overall market.
   
Throughout our history we've always focused on crafting unique digital
experiences for new players and existing fans of the game while staying true to
the chess experience.
 
We have grand plans for adding more depth into the overall offerings of our
apps, taking retention and engagement best practices from video games and online
education into the chess world and in the process, crafting a new experience.
 
We are truly excited about chess becoming more accessible as we introduce new
users and welcome back former players into this world. The best part is, we are
just getting started as we continue to launch fun, high-quality features for our
fans.

The above article has been published on the news section of the
www.playmagnusgroup.com website at the following link:
https://playmagnusgroup.com/news/the-queens-gambit-surpasses-world-championship-
impact. 


For more information contact:
Dmitri Shneider, CFO, dmitri@playmagnus.com


About Play Magnus Group
Play Magnus Group is a global leader in the chess industry focused on providing
premier digital experiences for millions of chess players and students. The
company offers e-learning and entertainment services via its market leading
brands: chess24, Chessable, CoChess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the
Champions Chess Tour. The Group's mission is to grow chess to make the world a
smarter place by encouraging more people to play, watch, study, and earn a
living from chess.