 "Hikaru Nakamura urges top chess players to boycott FIDE amid Freestyle controversy: 'This is a bad situation'")
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC), which is run by Magnus Carlsen, have been involved in a tussle for quite a while now. The FIDE had officially recognised the FCPC and the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tour in December 2024, but soon after, there were accusations that FIDE had been forced to come into an agreement to avoid dealing with players like Carlsen withdrawing from the World Rapid and Blitz Championships.
The controversy intensified after the jeans scandal involving the Norwegian grandmaster came to light during the tournament. Carlsen was fined $200 and disqualified from the World Rapid and Blitz Championships. He also accused the FIDE, claiming that the global chess body threatened the players that they would be barred from participating in the World Championship cycle if they took part in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam .
And only a few days ago, the FIDE accused players like Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura of dividing the chess world by forming the FCPC. The FIDE, on their part, also said that they had only officially recognised the FCPC “out of goodwill”.
Explained | Magnus Carlsen’s growing grip on the chess world and why the Norwegian GM is so influential
Nakamura urges top players including Indians to boycott FIDE
Hikaru Nakamura, the World No 3, has now criticised FIDE and urged top players to boycott the FIDE. Nakamura expressed his views in a video that was uploaded on his official YouTube channel.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWhile Nakamura has asked them to boycott the FIDE, he has also encouraged them to participate in tournaments including Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, which offers higher prize money. The FCPC has also been attempting to get its own World Championship tournament recognised by the FIDE, but have failed to do so.
Indians Grandmasters who are part of the FCPC include Viswanathan Anand, world champion D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa.
“I hope that the other top players, we can communicate, cohesively in a way that we talk to each other, and I don’t believe that FIDE can do anything about this if the top 20 players stand up and say, ‘you know what, we want to play this event. We want to play every event like you can’t really do this’.
“If the top 20 players or a majority of the top 20 players stand up to this, FIDE will have to back out. That’s just the reality, because FIDE will not be able to get sponsors for events if you don’t have the top players playing. That is the reality. I don’t know what the other top players think, I am sure I will talk to Fabiano at some point in the future. Obviously I know what Magnus’s view on this is,” he said.
“The bottomline is simply that this is a bad situation. Very, very bad situation. Who knows what’s gonna happen from this?” he questioned.
Having said that, Emil Sutovsky, the FIDE CEO, has said that the players including Carlsen and Hikaru had signed a contract that stated against participating in non-FIDE World Championship tournaments.
One more thing Magnus, Hikaru and proponents of Freestyle Chess conveniently forget to mention:
— Emilchess (@EmilSutovsky) January 22, 2025
All top players ALREADY have a binding contract with a clause of their non-participation in "World Championships" not approved by FIDE.
This clause, mentioning four years of…
“All the players, including Magnus and Hikaru actually signed a binding obligation to not participate in any “World Championship” not approved by FIDE for the period of four years. Magnus signed it in 2023, other top players in 2024. Yeah, you can always claim that you are first and foremost a streamer - but that does not mean you don’t have contractual obligations,” he had written on “X”.
If top players
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