Internet billionaire who lives in a small South African town brings big event to Cape Town
Jan Henric Buettner, an ultra-wealthy German Internet entrepreneur now living in Wilderness, is bringing the high-profile Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour to Cape Town.
Buettner partnered with five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen to launch The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a series of Chess960 tournaments.
This is one of the highlights on the global chess calendar and is hosted in top cities around the world, including Paris, Las Vegas, and Karlsruhe.
South Africa’s hosting of such a prestigious tournament is unique, and it would not have happened without Buettner.
Buettner is a pioneer in mobile technology, the Internet, venture capital, and luxury hospitality, and is now making his mark in chess.
He started his career as a trainee at Axel Springer AG, where he worked on interactive media and gained valuable experience in the telecoms and Internet sectors.
In 1992, he founded the world’s first multimedia online service, which later led to the creation of AOL Europe in 1995. In 2000, Bertelsmann and Buettner sold their stakes in AOL for $10 billion.
He became head of AOL Germany. In 1997, he moved to the United States and established BV Capital, a venture capital firm specialising in internet companies.
The California-based BV Capital, now known as Headline Ventures, manages over $4 billion in assets today.
Between 1998 and 2007, he invested over $1 billion in emerging technology companies, including GoToMeeting, Groupon, and Sonos.
In 2006, Buettner acquired the 400-year-old Weissenhaus estate on Germany’s Baltic Coast and invested over $150 million in the property.
He transformed the estate into the globally renowned and award-winning Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort.
Over the years, he has lived in Hamburg, New York, Santa Barbara/California, and Weissenhaus, but he now primarily resides in Wilderness, South Africa.
Wilderness is a small town in South Africa’s Western Cape Province, on a coastal stretch known as the Garden Route.
Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Cape Town
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour brings together the world’s top 25 chess players to revolutionise the sport, drawing inspiration from Formula 1’s success model.
Unlike traditional chess, where the starting position is the same for every game, Chess960 randomises starting positions.
Carlsen has been an advocate for Chess960 as an alternative to classical chess because it eliminates the need for opening preparation.
The prize fund for each event was set to be $750,000, with plans to raise it to $1 million for future events. This is the highest-ever prize money for a chess tour.
The first event was at Buettner’s Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort, and the second was in Paris, France.
The third event took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, and the fourth event was held in Las Vegas, United States.
The fifth event will be held in South Africa. Buettner selected the ultra-exclusive Grootbos Private Nature Reserve for the tournament.
Grootbos is located on 3,500 hectares close to the seaside town of Hermanus. It offers high-end facilities to wealthy travellers.
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour final event at Grootbos will take place from 8 to 11 December 2025, where the champion will be crowned.
This will be the first time South Africans will have the opportunity to attend a local chess tournament featuring the world’s top players.
The expected players include Carlsen and other top grandmasters like Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Other top players who may participate are world-champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Levon Aronian.
Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour photos
Grootbos photos
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