The organisers of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour have removed the phrase ‘world champion’ from their regulations, following a truce with FIDE. The decision came after a contentious battle between the two parties over the title’s use.
FIDE announced the change, stating, “Today, the organisers of the ‘Freestyle Chess Tour’ fully deleted from its regulations the reference to the ‘World Championship’ title. Following this change in the regulations, players wishing to participate in the 2025 ‘Freestyle Chess Tour’ are no longer required to sign the waiver note” (source: FIDE). This means the winner of the Chess Tour will not be officially called a Freestyle World Champion.
Changes Before the Weissenhaus Event
The first event of the Freestyle Chess Tour will take place in Weissenhaus later this week. The tour has additional events planned for New York, Paris, New Delhi, and Cape Town.
Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of FIDE, confirmed the changes: “As the regulations of ‘freestyle tour’ have been changed and do not contain ‘world chess champion(ship)’ notion anymore, no further signatures from players are required”.
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The Waiver Note Controversy
The waiver note that players were required to sign was a point of contention. Dvorkovich explained that the notes were sent by the FIDE Legal Director. The president of FIDE made it mandatory for players to sign by Tuesday. About ten players, roughly half of those who received the note, had signed it before the deadline (source: The Indian Express). The notes allowed players to compete in the event despite having contracts prohibiting them from playing championships that are not regulated by FIDE.
A Bitter Battle Resolved
The conflict between FIDE and the Freestyle Tour organisers had been ongoing for two months. The war was marked by name-calling and leaked messages on social media. Initially, the parties were amicable but talks collapsed at the end of last year. The man behind the Freestyle Tour, Jan Henric Buettner, even declared they were ready for war with FIDE.
The conversations resumed between Dvorkovich and Buettner to find a middle ground. However, the FIDE Council expressed little faith in the Freestyle Chess organisers. The recent changes seem to have brought a temporary peace to the chess world.
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