Magnus Carlsen may not be the Chess World Champion anymore, but he's undeniably the best player in the world — and potentially the greatest to ever live. With chess set to make its
debut at the Esports World Cup this year with Carlsen as a brand ambassador, he's the obvious choice for any organization looking to bolster its chances of winning the tournament overall.
According to Sheep Esports sources, the 34-year-old Norweigan phenom is in advanced negotiations with, and likely to sign with Team Liquid, a multi-regional professional esports organization. After winning an eye-watering $4,000,000 at the inaugural EWC — placing behind only Team Falcons, a Saudi Arabian team — TL has a clear goal for this year's iteration of the tournament: Take home as much money as possible in Riyadh.
Carlsen's resume is unparalleled in chess: He's the #1 ranked FIDE player in standard, blitz, and rapid formats; a five-time Chess World Champion; a five-time World Rapid Chess Champion; and the reigning — for eight years — World Blitz Chess Champion. Regardless of the format or time control, as demonstrated by his dominant performance at the ongoing Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Weissenhaus, Germany, Carlsen stands head and shoulders above every other player in the world.
In 2020,
TSM, a professional esports organization based in the United States, signed American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, the #3 player in the world and Carlsen's longtime rival — though they parted ways in 2022, the move established a precedent for esports organizations signing professional chess players. During his contract with the team, Nakamura represented TSM at the tournaments he entered and on his Twitch streams, as any individual competitive player would.
If TL is successful in their bid to sign Carlsen, they'll secure the most famous chess player of all time — he may not be in the prime of his competitive career, but no player in the world looks likely to surpass him anytime soon.
