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In a move that could revolutionize the world of chess, GM Magnus Carlsen and German businessman Jan-Henric Buettner have launched the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, an ambitious new series of Chess960 tournaments that will take place across five continents and bring together the creme de la creme of the chess world.
In February, Carlsen defeated GM Fabiano Caruana in the final to win the inaugural edition of the Freestyle Chess GOAT Challenge 2024, Chess960’s new super tournament that, despite the tournament’s strange name, turned out to be a success and achieved global media reach. of 500 million, according to the organizers.
In a joint press release on Friday, the former world champion, along with the millionaire owner of the five-star complex Weissenhaus, unveiled their newly formed Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC). Eligible for membership are 25 players with a rating above 2725 “who have a significant level of current international activity”, meaning that only GMs Sergey Karjakin and Veselin Topalov are excluded from the series.
Buettner expressed his excitement, saying, “We are excited that the 25 eligible players invited have responded positively and joined the FCPC.”
We are excited that all 25 eligible players invited have responded positively and joined the FCPC.
—Jan-Henric Buettner
Chess960, renamed Freestyle Chess, is a chess variant in which the pieces on the first and eighth row are shuffled randomly (with some limitations). The number 960 comes from the number of possible positions in how the game can start.
Members of the newly formed club may receive a possible invitation to one or more of the planned tournaments. In addition to Carlsen and Caruana, the organizers also secured the participation of the nine players next to them on the qualification list, including world number three and current Fischer Random world champion, GM Hikaru Nakamura. The American was invited to the Freestyle Chess GOAT Challenge, but declined the invitation due to other commitments.
The other participants are GMs Nodirbek Abusattorov, Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wei Yi, Arjun Erigaisi and Viswanathan Anand.
It’s going to be a packed chess calendar as the chess world will now see the birth of a third global chess tour, following the Chess.com Champions Chess Tour and the Grand Chess Tour. The first event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour will take place in an undisclosed city in India in November:
- November 10-17, 2024: India
- Summer 2025: New York, USA
- Fall 2025: Cartagena, Colombia
- Winter 2025: Cape Town, South Africa
- 2026: Australia
The prize fund for the first event at Weissenhaus was $200,000, but will be increased to $500,000 for the Indian Grand Slam, then to $750,000 for the next Weissenhaus Grand Slam and then to $1 million for each Grand Slam. later.
The format remains the same with quick preliminaries followed by a knockout event, but future events will be held with 10 players, instead of eight as was the case at the Weissenhaus in February.
Another difference is that the two players who are eliminated will join as commentators for the remaining event, said tournament director GM Sebastian Siebrecht. German chess site Perlen von Bodensee.
Buettner said in his player welcome letter that his goal is to make the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam “as commercially successful as iconic sporting events such as the ATP for tennis, the PGA for golf and Formula 1 for motorsports.” “.
“It is my sincere desire to see each of our FCPC members flourish professionally, even to the point of securing individual sponsorship deals outside of the FCPC purview. From the success of these renowned sporting events, we understand the paramount importance “to cultivate recognizable and distinct personalities within the realm of chess. Our goal is to create a league of chess icons that the younger generation in various international markets can identify with and admire.”
Our goal is to create a league of chess icons that the younger generation in various international markets can identify with and admire.
—Jan-Henric Buettner
“The response from the chess world to our inaugural event in Weissenhaus in February was overwhelming. It wasn’t just the players who were excited about the new format. We achieved a global media reach of more than 500 million people. This underlines that we have made considerable progress on our path to popularizing chess and inspiring an additional new audience around the world. The Freestyle Chess Players Club and the global Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour are the logical next steps,” said Buettner.
FIDE was unable to find any organizer for the Fischer-Random World Championship earlier this year and was reportedly in negotiations with Buettner to host the event at the Weissenhaus later this year. According to Perlen von Bodensee, this led nowhere, but talks are ongoing with the world chess body about a collaboration.