Huge relief for Gukesh as FIDE eases restriction on Carlsen’s ‘Freestyle Chess’ event

FIDE has eased the pressure off World Champion D Gukesh of India, whose participation in the upcoming 'Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour' was in jeopardy following a public spat between the world chess body and the organisers over the title of 'World Championship'. The opening round at Weissenhaus in Germany is set to be held from February 7 to 14.

FIDE said in a statement on Tuesday that 'players wishing to participate in the 2025 “Freestyle Chess Tour” are no longer required to sign the waiver note'. The reason it gave for the change of mind was the 'organisers of the "Freestyle Chess Tour" fully deleting from its Regulations the reference to the "World Championship" title'.

The dispute between FIDE and Freestyle Chess had spiralled into a public spat involving World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who co-promotes the event. Carlsen and his co-promoter Jan Henric Buettner had accused FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich of lying and demanded his resignation.

FIDE's objection to the use of the title 'World Championship' was based on the fact that the Freestyle event was open to select players. In an earlier statement, FIDE said: “The “Freestyle Chess Tour” has chosen not to acknowledge FIDE’s existing authority over the World Championship title and has opted to remain a privately organized tournament, primarily featuring hand-picked elite players, rather than an open and transparent qualification process.

“A true World Championship must be inclusive, with transparent qualification pathways that follow FIDE’s rules and regulations—established with the consensus of the global chess community— as seen in the FIDE World Championship cycle. Without these principles, the integrity of the title is at risk.”

Besides Carlsen and Gukesh, the opening leg of the Grand Slam Tour features Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alirez Firouzja, Vincent Keymer, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Fedoseev and Javokhir Sindarov.

Viswanathan Anand, who is FIDE's Deputy President, had pulled out of the event, paving the way for the inclusion of 19-year-old Uzbek star Sindarov. Anand's withdrawal had cast doubts over Gukesh's participation as he regards the five-time World Champion in high esteem. Gukesh's team has yet to make a statement on his position in the matter, but as things stand, the reigning World Champion shouldn’t find it a problem to go ahead with the high-profile event.