“Freestyle Chess Players Club Unanimously Decides to Crown ‘Freestyle Chess Champion’ for 2025 Grand Slam Tour”
The 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour has taken an unexpected turn as 12 members of the Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC) have decided to crown the winner of the tournament as the “Freestyle Chess Champion.” This decision was made during a meeting held on Sunday evening at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Weissenhaus.
The FCPC, consisting of grandmasters rated above 2725 who are eligible to participate in the tour, unanimously agreed to avoid using the title “World Champion” in order to counter the claims of ownership of regulatory powers by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to organize official “world championships.”
Co-founder of Freestyle Chess, Jan Henric Buettner, emphasized that this decision was made by the players themselves and not by Freestyle or FIDE. The conflict with FIDE arose when the governing body demanded that players abstain from competing in non-FIDE tournaments that crown a “World Champion” or face being banned from the next FIDE World Championship cycle.
While some players, including World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Wesley So, signed the waiver contract, others such as Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, and Levon Aronian refused to sign it. This led to the formation of an independent players’ association by the top chess players to safeguard their interests.
In response to the players’ decision, FIDE’s Legal Director Aleksandr Martynov stated that FIDE has no objections to the chosen title of the winner of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam and emphasized that they are open to dialogue with the players’ community.
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour will continue with the second day of quarterfinals at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Weissenhaus, with four more events scheduled in France, the U.S.A., India, and South Africa. The players’ association and the ongoing conflict with FIDE add an intriguing layer to the competitive chess landscape.