Explained: The FIDE vs Magnus Carlsen controversy and what is freestyle chess

World No 1 chess player Magnus Carlsen and the International Chess Federation (FIDE) have been at loggerheads for quite a while now, over the controversial Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournament, of which Carlsen is a co-founder. In March 2024, Carlsen, along with German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner founded the Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC) and invited top players to become members of it.

It was at the same time that Carlsen and Buettner announced the launch of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour is a series of tournaments across each continent, and over the course of 2025, five tournaments will be held. World champion D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, Viswanathan Anand, Praggnanandhaa, Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen are all part of the FCPC.

What is the controversy between FIDE and Magnus Carlsen?

The FIDE had recently added the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour to their official calendar, but said that it was done so only as a gesture of “goodwill”. However, at the same time, the FCPC’s attempts at terming the Grand Slam as a World Championship took a hit after the FIDE said that the Freestyle chess body could not host an alternate “World Championship”.

This led to the FIDE accusing Carlsen of creating "divisions in the chess world" . “The attempts by FCPC to present their project as a World Championship are in contradiction with the well-established status of FIDE and its authority over world championship titles in all relevant variations of chess - including Chess960/Freestyle chess, as outlined in the FIDE Handbook,” a FIDE statement said last week.

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The FIDE also warned of legal action if the FCPC attempts to use the World Championship name in their tournaments. “We are open to dialogue, and looking forward to reaching a mutually acceptable agreement, provided that the governing role and its well established authority of FIDE over the World Championships is respected by potential partners,” the sport’s governing body said.

“Should such an agreement not be reached, FIDE demands that the Freestyle series does not carry the status of a “World Championship”. FIDE will not hesitate to use all legal means against those who violate its rights – be it initiators, organizers and/or investors of the project,” it added.

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The FIDE also urged all players who have qualified for the 2025-26 World Championship cycle to sign a contract that states that they will not participate in non-FIDE World Championships.

“As the 2025-2026 World Championship cycle is underway, all qualified players are expected to sign an additional contract, which will include a clause indicating that participation in any alternative world chess championships in any variation of chess not approved by FIDE (except for the Freestyle tour in 2025) would lead to their withdrawal from the two consecutive FIDE World Championship cycles,” the board added.

Apart from Carlsen, World No 3 Hikaru Nakamura has also been critical of the FIDE. After FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky had taken potshots at Nakamura regarding the freestyle chess controversy, the American GM clarified, saying that he has “no equity in freestyle chess”.

“I’m not the one creating this (the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tour). So I find this really bizarre that I am the one he chooses to attack. I’m not spearheading this. This is being spearheaded by Magnus Carlsen and Jan Henric Buettner. This is a personal insult,” he said. “I don’t know why he has to try and attack me. I can also make personal attacks but I choose not to. I have no equity in Freestyle Chess.

“I don’t have any contract with them that I’m going to play every tournament or anything along those lines. So, it’s kind of weird to try and make this in some way about me. It’s funny that I’m apparently the bad guy,” added Nakamura.

What is Freestyle chess?

Freestyle chess is the newer name for the Fischer Random (Named after the legendary Bobby Fischer) and Chess960 (Named after the 960 possible starting positions) variants. Freestyle chess uses a unique way of playing the game. In the freestyle chess format, all pieces move as usual, but there are changes to other aspects.

The eight pawns at the front are placed as usual, but it’s the pieces behind the pawns that are randomized. There are, however, a couple of restrictions to this game. One is that the king must be placed between two rooks and that the bishops must be placed on squares of the opposite colour.

There are no such restrictions for the queen and the knights. Because the starting positions are randomized, there’s no opening theory in freestyle chess.