World No.1 Magnus Carlsen is launching a new chess tournament called the MOVE Cup. According to an Italian outlet Sport24h, the launch event is on 20 October 2026 in Barcelona, with the first edition running 18 to 20 January 2027.
Carlsen presents the MOVE Cup alongside Leonid Pertsovskiy, CEO and co-founder of BETBY, the sportsbook technology company that made him global ambassador in 2024. The launch sits inside ICE Barcelona, one of the gaming industry’s biggest trade shows. The choice of city and timing is no accident. Carlsen has attended previous editions of ICE Barcelona, and BETBY has used chess to market itself there before.
MOVE Cup Barcelona: Dates, Format and Prize Money
A new body, the MOVE Foundation, will organise the tournament. Its stated goals are growing chess at the grassroots, backing young talent, and funding research on the link between chess and mental health. The first edition opens with a charity exhibition, strong GMs against donors and celebrities, before the competitive rounds begin.
The tournament itself runs 3 days, 18 to 20 January 2027, built for the world’s top Grandmasters. No players are named yet, and the prize fund is described only as significant, with no figure given. Rules and the confirmed field are still to come. Carlsen fronting the October launch does not by itself confirm he will play in January.
Will an Indian Grandmaster Play in the MOVE Cup?
This point matters a lot for Indian fans. If the field really does draw from the world’s top Grandmasters, as planned, there is room for Indian names on the list. Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi both sit in the world’s top 10 on the September 2026 FIDE rating list. Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi and Nihal Sarin all sit in the top 50. But none of them have been announced for the MOVE Cup. Whether any Indian GM gets an invite is one of the first things worth watching as more details come out.
Magnus Carlsen and BETBY: Two Years Before the MOVE Cup
This is not Carlsen’s first chess event tied to BETBY, and it builds on a relationship now two years old. BETBY announced Carlsen as its global ambassador in October 2024. CEO Leonid Pertsovskiy called him “the perfect global ambassador for our brand.” The idea behind the deal was to bring a chess player’s strategic thinking into BETBY’s sports betting products.
That relationship grew more visible through 2025. In December that year, BETBY announced it would bring Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Levy Rozman, aka GothamChess, to ICE Barcelona the following month for a chess masterclass. Held on 20 January 2026, the event included a blindfold exhibition. It ran as part of BETBY’s “Make Your Move” marketing campaign, which used Carlsen’s image as a metaphor for careful decision-making under pressure.
The MOVE Cup now turns that marketing tie-up into something with its own name, its own foundation, and its own date on the calendar. This is no longer a one-off stunt tied to a trade show stand.
If the January 2027 dates hold, Carlsen gets a new fixture on the calendar. That fixture would sit outside both the Freestyle Chess circuit and FIDE’s own events, run by a sponsor that has spent two years building his name into its brand.
What’s Still Unconfirmed
None of this has been confirmed through an official press release from FIDE, Carlsen’s own team, or the organisers themselves. Sport24h remains the only outlet to have reported the specifics so far, with the story also circulating on social media without further detail. For a tournament still eight months away, that leaves plenty of room for the plan to change before a single pawn moves. More details on format, players and prize money are expected closer to the launch.
