FIDE vs. Freestyle: Controversy escalates

by André Schulz
1/22/2025 – After the Freestyle Chess Organisation had set up a series of freestyle tournaments, the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, FIDE sought contact and asked for possibilities of cooperation. However, the FIDE representatives seemed primarily interested in payments to the World Chess Federation. Negotiations dragged on, and after a recent statement by FIDE and a video by Hikaru Nakamura, the tone of the debate became more controversial.
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In a recent video, Hikaru Nakamura commented on FIDE's explanation of the Freestyle Chess project. The Freestyle Chess Organisation's aim is to upgrade its Freestyle Chess Tour to a Freestyle Chess World Championship. Freestyle Chess is a new brand name for chess with randomly-selected starting positions, previously called Fischer Random Chess or Chess 960 (for the number of possible positions).

Hamburg businessman Jan Henric Buettner and Magnus Carlsen both enjoy this innovative form of chess and have set up a company to promote Freestyle Chess. Last year the Weissenhaus Luxury Resort hosted a magnificent first tournament with Magnus Carlsen, many other top players and Vincent Keymer representing the host country. Buettner and Carlsen have found sponsors to finance a real tour, the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, and are organising five tournaments on four continents for 2025, with Weissenhaus, Paris, New York, Delhi and Cape Town as tournament venues. A further tournament is planned.

Before the classical World Chess Championship in Singapore, there was a kick-off event in consultation with the World Chess Federation FIDE with Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, among others, at which the tour was announced. The possibilities of cooperation with regard to a Freestyle World Championship were also discussed and FIDE was interested in handing over the organization to Freestyle Chess. For a certain fee.

Anyone who has ever (co-)organized an official FIDE chess tournament knows that this is can be a challenging experience. In addition to the real costs for the organization, for example, there are also plenty of fees and honoraria for FIDE officials. Also, FIDE mostly wants to determine every detail of the start of the tournaments.

In the course of the talks, the fronts seem to have hardened and some observers believe that the "jeans incident" at the World Rapid Championship in New York - Magnus Carlsen was well dressed, but not well enough for FIDE - could also be linked to this.

With its statement on all social media, FIDE has once again added fuel to the fire, even if the tone of the statement itself seems moderate. The World Chess Federation insists on its right to the brand name "World Chess Championship" and is thus in conflict with many top players. They would like to play a World Championship in Fischer Random (or Freestyle Chess) and point out that FIDE has not been able to organise one in the last two years.

This is also Hikaru Nakamura's position, which he explained in a video stream. Nakamura cannot understand FIDE's position: "FIDE is just, I guess, worried about losing control or power or something insane, but it’s just not good for chess." Nakamura calls on the top chess professionals to take a stand against FIDE and its obstructionist policy.

Emil Sutovsky points out that the top players have signed a four-year contract with FIDE in which they agree not to take part in any other world championship.

Emil Sutovsky's reply to Hikaru Nakamura's video

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.