D Gukesh, Magnus Carlsen put Freestyle Chess vs FIDE controversy to rest; players reach temporary agreement in meeting
D Gukesh and Magnus Carlsen are currently participating at the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.
After a meeting of its top players on Sunday at the Weissenhaus Resort in Wangels (Germany), the Freestyle Chess Players Club has put an end to the ongoing controversy with FIDE. In the meeting, which also included co-owner Jan Henric Buettner, the players decided to name the winner of the Grand Slam Tour as the ‘Freestyle Chess Champion’.
The main bone of contention in the controversy was the attempt by FCPC to name the winner as Freestyle World Champion. But it failed to receive an official recognition from FIDE, and it was followed by indirect attacks by both parties.
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To put the controversy to rest, all the players participating in the first leg huddled together for a meeting at 10:30 PM IST. Even Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa were expected to join them through online call, but due to ‘technical issues’ weren't able to attend the meeting.
Freestyle Chess Champion
Speaking exclusively to Hindustan Times, Buettner confirmed, “As it had not been in our interest from the beginning (we always called our events “G.O.A.T. Challenge”, or “Grand Slams”), we decided today unanimously that we will crown the “Freestyle Chess Champion” at the end of our Grand Slam Tour in December of this year in South Africa. This is valid for the current season of 2025, and we will then decide at the end of this year, if we want to call the winner of next year's (2026) Grand Slam Tour a “World Champion”. Most importantly, this decision will be made by the Players, not by Freestyle, and most definitely not by FIDE."
"In terms of the Players relationship to FIDE, their repeated demands that Players sign an illegal document, by a ridiculously set deadline on the day the tournament ended, where most of them were playing (Wijk an Zee) that required them to acknowledge (i) a purported obligation on their part not to compete in a non-FIDE-sponsored chess event that crowns a World Champion or any other similar tournament or event; and (ii) that they will be banned from future FIDE World Championships in the event that they violate that purported obligation, are outrageous. These requests have been transmitted to them (some still teenagers) by FIDE’s Legal Director, without giving them a chance to have their own legal counsel review such demands. Freestyle strongly disagrees with FIDE’s strong-arm tactics to coerce chess players to forgo their right to choose which events to play in and we were ready to take necessary action to defend the freedoms of both organizers and players in the chess world.
“For now, we agreed today in our round table, that we will ignore FIDE by letting their stupid demands run into emptiness, thereby not placing the players in a position of choosing between playing in exciting new events or forgoing participation in future FIDE events. In order to avoid such future strong-arming and pressure-tactics from FIDE, the Players will establish an independent Top Chess Players Association that represents their interest only, and that is staffed with a qualified legal team to assist them in such a situation", he said.
Regarding Arjun and Praggnanandhaa, he added, “They were ready to be dialed in, but then we had technical issues. I kept them informed, and they are fully on board.”
The players participating at the Weissenhaus Grand Slam event are Magnus Carlsen, D Gukesh, Vincent Keymer, Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura, Javokhir Sindarov, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vladimir Fedoseev and Levon Aronian.
