Processing timeline
24
days
Acquirer(s)
Squares Blocker, inc. 10665193
Target(s) or Vendor(s)
Chess Holdings, LLC 6374364
Other parties
General Atlantic, L.P. 6377934, CVC Capital Partners plc 140080
Funds advised by CVC Capital Partners, through Squares Blocker, Inc., are acquiring all equity interests in Chess Holdings, LLC, operator of Chess.com. This share sale involves the online provider of chess gaming and related services. General Atlantic, L.P., current majority owner, will retain a minority stake.
Funds or vehicles managed and advised by affiliates of CVC Capital Partners plc ( CVC plc ) ( CVC Funds , and together with its affiliates and CVC Capital Partners plc and its subsidiaries, CVC ) proposes to acquire all the issued and outstanding equity interests in, and sole control over, over Chess Holdings, LLC ( Chess Holdings and collectively with its subsidiaries, the Target ). The acquirer is Squares Blocker, Inc. (the Acquirer ), a newly incorporated corporation under the laws of Delaware. The Acquirer is indirectly controlled by funds or vehicles advised or managed by affiliates of CVC. The CVC Network is a global alternative investment manager focused on private equity, credit, infrastructure and secondaries, and includes CVC plc and each of its subsidiaries from time to time and the CVC Funds. CVC plc is a public limited company whose shares are listed and admitted to trading on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange. As it relates to the CVC Network’s private equity activities, CVC plc, and certain of its subsidiaries from time to time, provide investment advice to and/or manage investments on behalf of CVC Funds. The Target, headquartered in the United States, operates under the commercial name ‘Chess.com’ and is a provider of chess gaming and other chess-related services including forum and social network, a news feed, a chess academy, a coaching platform, tactics and puzzles, live tournaments, and a separate website for kids (Chesskid.com), and ChessTV. As of February 2026, Chess.com had over 248 million registered users, with a presence across more than 200 countries. The Target is an entirely virtual company with no physical presence apart from a small office in Utah and in Spain. The Target is currently majority-owned by funds managed and advised by General Atlantic, L.P. ( GA ), a global growth equity firm headquartered in New York, with the remainder held by management and other minority investors. Following completion of the Transaction, funds managed and advised by GA will retain a non-controlling minority stake of 14% in the Target through a co-investment alongside the CVC Funds.