Freestyle Chess Vs FIDE: An Erupting War in the Chess World
On January 21, 2025, FIDE came out with an official statement regarding “Freestyle Chess,” a venture started by German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner. FIDE demanded that the Freestyle Chess series should not carry the status of a “World Championship,” claiming IP (Intellectual Property) of the expression for all events related to chess, Fischer Random Chess, Chess960, etc. FIDE not only claimed its right over the expression but also threatened to take legal action against organizers/investors who tried to violate it. The statement also demanded players to sign exclusive contracts to not play in any such alternative World Chess Championships in any variation of chess not approved by FIDE, violation of which will get them a ban from the 2 consecutive World Championship cycles! However, FIDE mentions that “FIDE took the decision to accommodate the 2025 Freestyle Chess series in the calendar and to refrain from invoking relevant legal clauses in previously signed contracts concerning players’ participation in 2025 Freestyle events.”
Ex-FIDE Events Coordinator, IM George Mastrokoukos, who claims to have drafted player contracts in the past for FIDE responded to FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky’s claims. George said that the contracts clearly referred to “chess” in all places and not Fischer Random or any other variations of the sport, debunking FIDE’s claims. “None of this income is provided by FIDE. It is provided by sponsors and FIDE just takes its (justifiable or not) cut. Healthy sponsorship is attracted to top players and top talent, with or without FIDE”, added George Mastrokoukos.
As we know, Freestyle Chess is being branded as a “Tour” and not a “World Championship” for now. There were negotiations going on between Buettner and FIDE in the final quarter of 2024, which, apparently didn’t amount to anything prolific.
This statement by FIDE did not get a great reception from influential players and even others linked to the chess world. Many had the opinion that FIDE was threatening players and not letting the sport grow. Others called out FIDE for not being able to find a sponsor for the Fischer Random World Championship since 2022. However, the biggest bombshell was dropped Hikaru Nakamura, who revealed that FIDE, allegedly, demanded a sum of money from Freestyle Chess in order to let them use the status of “World Championship”. Ironically, FIDE claims to be a non-profit governing body of chess. Hikaru also called FIDE’s statement a “direct attack” on the players.
Not long after Hikaru’s statement, Buettner did an interview with NRK where he not only confirmed Hikaru’s words but also made his position clear by saying, “We’re ready for war”, as a response to FIDE’s statement. Buettner told NRK media that FIDE demanded $500,000 for the rights to use the world championship title! He accused FIDE of abusing a dominating market position to blackmail the parties involved. According to Buettner, the deadline for FIDE’s “absurd” contract is to be submitted before the deadline of February 3; he believes none of the players are going to sign such a “ridiculous” contract.
On January 28, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky released a series of posts on X which were attributed as “unprofessional” by Hikaru Nakamura in his reaction. Emil attempted to bash Buettner and Magnus Carlsen and wrote strong responses to their statements made in the interviews with Norwegian and other media circles. He expressed his frustrations with the “private project” attempting to belittle classical/regular chess and orchestrating media publications. “Money is by far the main objective for this commercial project”, added Sutovsky. Emil stated how FIDE is in its best position ever, and is delivering for the players.
Freestyle Chess, in response, released a statement on their socials as an “open letter” from Jan Henric Buettner himself to Emil and FIDE. Jan decided to be candid and shared many inside details of the negotiations he had been having with FIDE – President Dvorkovich, Sutovsky, Vishy et al. Buettner also called out FIDE for not penalizing Ding Liren for participating in Chess.com’s Bughouse World Championship. Another fact that came to light was that Freestyle Chess was willing to offer $100,000 to FIDE on an annual basis as a gesture of goodwill which didn’t meet FIDE’s demands of $500,000, which was an “unjustifiable sum” as stated by Buettner.
Buettner summarized his letter with the following:
Even though there have been many heated exchanges between these two parties, both, however, are open to returning to the table and engaging in constructive discussions and negotiations.
A potential split would bring the sport in bad light and it would be yet another dark spot in the history of the sport after the Kasparov-FIDE split back in the 90s. It also remains to be seen what happens after February 3rd, which, allegedly is the deadline for qualified players to sign the said contract with FIDE.
Photo credit: Freestyle Chess official website
