Fide CEO, Emil Sutovsky, called Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura for having spread a “misleading” story that the International Chess Federation threatened them “with regard to participation in the Grand Che N Free Chess tour. Sutovsky said the best players have voluntarily signed contracts with Fide, which forbids them to join unprepared “world championships”.
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The CEO and grand master of Fide Emil Sutovsky criticized Magnus Carlsen and other players for the promotion of a “deceptive” story that the International Chess Federation “threatened” players against membership of the Grand Tour Freestyle Chess. Sutovsky explained that the best players already have contracts with Fide who prohibit participation in “world championships” not approved by the Federation. He stressed that these contracts were signed voluntarily, which makes it unfair to claim that Fide forces the players against their will.
Sutovsky’s statement comes in the middle of an increasing tension between Fide and Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC) that the world n ° 1 Magnus Carlsen co -founded. In addition to Carlsen, the investor in German technology Jan Buettner also co -founded the initiative. The FCPC is a private group of elite players with an ELO note with a minimum of 2725.
Carlsen accuses Fide of threatening the players
Last year, they welcomed the first goat chess challenge in 2024 in 2024 in Weissenhaus, Germany and Carlsen. The tournament has now been extended to a series of events of one year. The first stage of the Grand Chelem Freestyle chess tour will take place in Weissenhaus in February, with matches also planned in Paris, Delhi, New York and Cape Town later in 2025.
The programming of the February tournament includes Carlsen, D Gukesh, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja, Vincent Keymer, Vladimir Fedoseev and Javokhir Sindarov.
The Tour of the Grand Slam will be played in Freestyle chess format which is also known as Chess960 or Fischer Random. In freestyle failures, the starting position of the parts on the rear row is randomly pulled in advance.
The Freestyle Chess Goat Challenge was a huge success and the organizers are impatiently awaiting a more successful tour of the Grand Slam, but the problem stems from their efforts to present it as a “world championship”.
Fide recently threatened to take legal proceedings against the FCPC if they continue to project their next Grand Chelem tour as a world championship.
“FCPC’s attempts to present their project as a world championship are in contradiction with the well -established status of Fide and its authority on world championship titles in all relevant variations in failures – including chess960 / freestyle failures , as indicated in the Fide Handbook Fide manual, “said Fide in a statement on Tuesday.
“… If such an agreement is not concluded, Fide demands that the Freestyle series does not bear the status of” world championship “. Fide will not hesitate to use all legal means against those who violate its rights – whether initiators, organizers and / or investors of the project. »»
Fide’s statement comes after Carlsen accused them of trying to threaten the players in participation in the Grand Chelem Freestyle tour. However, Fide Sutovsky has now claimed that Carlsen and players like the world No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura, who called for a boycott of fide in the middle of the controversy, are in error fans with statements that the world of chess threatened players.
Fide thwarts Carlsen’s “deceptive” statements
Sutovsky said that Carlsen and Nakamura were well aware of their contracts with Fide who prohibit players from participating in any unprepared world chess championship for four years.
“Still one thing that Magnus, Hikaru and the supporters of Freestyle chess forget to mention: all the best players already have a binding contract with a clause of their non-participation in the” World Championships “not approved by Fide”, said Sutovsky on X.
“This clause, mentioning four years of non -participation in the alternative world championships has been in all contracts for major events of Fide since unification (after the 90ies division) – for the obvious reason: you cannot Plan and finance the world correctly the championships and the whole cycle without knowing that the best players are determined not to join alternatives. »»
Another thing that Magnus, Hikaru and the supporters of the Freestyle chess forgotten conveniently to mention:
All the best players already have a binding contract with a clause of their non-participation in the “world championships” not approved by Fide.
This clause, mentioning four years of …
– Emilchess (@emilsutovsky) January 22, 2025
Sutovsky added that Carlsen had signed the Fide contract in 2023 and other best players in 2024, which legally means that they cannot participate in a world championship which is not approved by Fide.
“The agreement was signed by Magnus in 2023 and other best players in 2024,” he added. “So all this story of threatening players is deliberately misleading.”
Neither Carlsen nor Nakamura have so far responded to the statements of Sutovsky.
