Freestyle Chess' Jan Buettner accuses FIDE of demanding $500,000 amid dispute: 'Monetary gain is the primary driver'

Amid the ongoing feud between the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour , German entrepreneur Jan Henrich Buettner has slammed the former as an organisation that is fuelled by monetary interest, accused them of demanding $500,000, while questioning its exclusive authority over the term “World Championship”.

In an open letter addressed to FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky, Buettner further clarified that the unique format of the upcoming private tour – Chess960, developed by the late American legend Bobby Fischer – should not result in a conflict with the Lausanne-based world governing body for chess.

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“Let me clarify once again that our tour is not a ‘World Championship’ in the traditional sense…. It is titled ‘Freestyle Grand Slam Chess Tour’. At the end of each year, we crown a champion in Freestyle Chess – a format that evolve in the future, potentially moving beyond Chess960 to other new formats, but not classical chess…

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“The title of ‘world champion’ in this context reflects the unique format of our events, not an attempt to challenge Fide’s traditional World Championship cycle,” Buettner, who helped co-found Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour with Carlsen, wrote in his open letter.

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Buettner also claimed that Freestyle Chess was willing to pay FIDE $100,000 every year as a gesture of goodwill as well as to ensure the smooth sailing of their lucrative tour, and described the governing body’s demand of $500,000 as “unjustifiable”, adding that “monetary gain is the primary driver” for them.

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The bone of contention between FIDE and Freestyle Chess has been the latter’s insistence on crowning a “world champion” in Chess960. FIDE maintains it has the right to crown world champions in the sport regardless of the format, and has even threatened legal action against Freestyle Chess should they make use of the term without their explicit approval.

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The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour gets underway in Weissenhaus, Germany on 7 February and will later stage events in Paris, New York City, New Delhi and Cape Town. Six of the world’s top 10 players, including reigning world champion D Gukesh and each member of the top five, will be participating in the German leg of the tour that will run till 14 February.