FIDE & Freestyle Chess Club – Friendship and Confusions
On December 21, 2024, Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC) under the representation by associated players, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura made an announcement about an agreement reached with the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich on the co-existence of Freestyle Chess and FIDE tournaments! The agreement was facilitated by Jan Henric Buettner representing ‘Freestyle Chess Operations GmbH’.
The Freestyle Chess Players’ Club is an exclusive collective of Super Grandmasters – rated above 2725 Elo. The Club members were picked through invitations and included top-ranked players such as Carlsen, Caruana, Hikaru, and the 18th World Chess Champion Gukesh D.
The statement was put out on Freestyle Chess’ X handle which was later commented on by FIDE President himself, claiming “significant inaccuracies” and misrepresentation of the situation.
The statement reads, “All players – especially the 25 members of the Freestyle Chess Players Club – may continue to participate in all Freestyle Chess Grand Slams, as well as in all FIDE tournaments.”
It is, however, also stated that FCPC and FIDE have yet to reach unison regarding the recognition of future World Championship titles. The outcome of the ongoing discussions is still unclear. This means that there might or might not be 2 different World Championships for Freestyle Chess/Chess960/Freestyle Chess co-existing. It should be noted that FIDE currently has a ‘FIDE Fischer Random World Chess Championship’, Hikaru being the current title holder having won it in 2022. The Championship was set to take play in February 2024 which was later cancelled without any official statement, potentially due to the lack of hosting bids.
Notably, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich directly addressed Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, saying, “Players will not be affected in any way. They can decide on their own and FIDE will not take negative action.”
The following Quote was put out on FIDE handle, directly addressed by the FIDE President:
President Dvorkovich claimed that the “full press release” put out by FSPC was not agreed upon by both organizations – and includes “significant inaccuracies”. The fact that these communications are being made publication on a social media platform sparks speculations of disagreements and confusions in the on-going discussions. A statement from FIDE is expected in the coming week with a clearer stance of FIDE on this initiated cooperation between the two organizations.
