Freestyle vs. FIDE: Positions hardened, conflict escalates

by André Schulz
1/28/2025 – The controversy between Freestyle Chess and FIDE is escalating into a major conflict. Both sides have reiterated their positions in various media. The Norwegian NRK quotes Jan Henrric Buettner and FIDE. Emil Sutovsky has responded on X. Behind all this is a large sum of money that FIDE would like to receive. | Photo: sharkolot auf Pixapy

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The rift between the Freestyle Chess project and FIDE has widened further. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (Norsk rikskringkasting, or NRK for short) published an article on its website about the current state of affairs, quoting Jan Henric Buettner, who is responding to a statement FIDE published on all of its social media platforms last week, in which it threatened legal action, among other things.

"I think it's incredibly stupid. I saw it coming, so it wasn't surprising, but still stupid," Jan Henric Buettner commented on the FIDE statement, according to NRK: "You can't abuse a dominant market position and blackmail people," said Buettner. "This is not legal," Buettner told NRK. The Hamburg entrepreneur is of the opinion that FIDE, whose headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, is subject to Swiss law and is trying to enforce a monopoly position.

The Freestyle Players Circle includes, among others, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. Both have expressed their disapproval of the FIDE statement. Carlsen had commented briefly on the FIDE action in an interview at a gaming fair in Barcelona. Hikaru Nakamura had said the following in a stream about the FIDE statement: "This is a threat. A direct threat. It's bad. Really bad. It's pure blackmail, there's no better word for it," the Norwegian broadcasting company quoted the American as saying.

In response to an enquiry from NRK, FIDE has now refuted the claims made by Nakamura and Büttner in a lengthy letter.

FIDE is not making any new demands on the players. The clause in question, which mentions a four-year non-participation in alternative world championships, has been included in all contracts for major FIDE events since reunification (after the split in the 1990s), NRK quotes the World Chess Federation as saying. FIDE continues: "The claim that this is 'blackmail' is misleading, as these agreements were signed by the players and are common practice in sports management to maintain the integrity and credibility of the championship system." According to FIDE, both Carlsen and Nakamura still have valid contracts with FIDE.

The crux of the controversy is the status of the Freestyle Chess Tour. The tour is called the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam. However, the winner is to be the "Freestyle Chess World Champion". According to Buettner, FIDE demanded a "fee" of $500,000 for this title and for the inclusion of the Freestyle Chess tournament dates in the FIDE tournament calendar. Freestyle Chess was willing to pay $100,000 to sponsor FIDE tournaments, but that was not enough for FIDE. Critics of FIDE say that FIDE is primarily concerned with control.

Article at NRK..


Emil Sutovsky's reaction on X

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