Friends again: FIDE and Freestyle Chess - An interview with Jan Henric Büttner

A Surprising Reunion

“I couldn’t be happier. I’m glad that I was able to show what I set out to do when I started the Freestyle project two years ago. I never wanted to establish a new business against everyone else. We are established and have new sponsors. I’m happy that the Grand Slam Tour in 2025 went so well. And best of all, we now have a long-term agreement with FIDE regarding a Freestyle World Championship,” said Jan Henric Büttner enthusiastically.

In an interview with Sagar Shah of ChessBase India, Büttner offered deep insights into his state of mind, the negotiations with FIDE, the inner workings of the Grand Slam Tour, and the influence Magnus Carlsen has had on the further development of the format.

One Year Ago: Dispute with FIDE

Things became heated a year ago. Freestyle Chess and FIDE were unable to agree on a mutually acceptable use of the World Championship title in connection with freestyle chess, despite what both sides described as long and constructive talks. Much — perhaps too much — of the dispute spilled into the public domain.

“I still don’t know to this day what went wrong back then. We had reached an agreement and had even already drafted a joint press release. But at this point, I don’t really care anymore,” says Büttner, keen to put that chapter behind him.

Against this background, the recent agreement is all the more surprising to outside observers. After all, the two reunited partners announced that they will stage the official Freestyle World Championship as early as mid-February in Weissenhaus.

In the interview, Büttner explains how Arkady Dvorkovich and he gradually moved closer to each other over the past few months. The FIDE President had accepted an invitation to the Grand Slam Final in South Africa, which he ultimately had to cancel at short notice, but the two met again shortly afterwards on the occasion of the World Rapid and Blitz Championships.

Some viewers may have wondered how it came about that Büttner performed the ceremonial first move on the board in one of Magnus Carlsen’s games. Clearly, a certain degree of diplomatic détente must already have taken place beforehand.

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Outlook

In the interview, Büttner goes on to explain how qualification formats for the World Championship are to be discussed jointly with FIDE in the future and how these will be integrated into the Freestyle tournament series. Given the short time frame leading up to the tournament in Weissenhaus, the first World Championship will feature the six most successful players from the 2025 Grand Slam series. These are Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vincent Keymer, Fabiano Caruana, Arjun Erigaisi and Javokhir Sindarov.

Hikaru Nakamura was also meant to take part. He is the only Chess960 World Champion to date. “After a long and good discussion, Hikaru declined,” says Büttner. “Perhaps he does not want to lose his title in a tournament. Hans Niemann will take his place.” The eighth and final World Championship spot can be secured by a player through the qualification tournament organised by FIDE on chess.com.

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Büttner intends to remain in charge of this year’s series, but then wants to step back into a less prominent role: “I don’t want to be responsible for ten years. These have been wonderful years of my life, but I want to pass on the torch.” He sees the field as well positioned. On the one hand, he promises to present several new sponsors in Weissenhaus; on the other, a show match between two world-class female players is also planned, although he is not yet revealing their names.

The interview

Links:

• Freestyle Chess
• FIDE