Since then, much has happened. News of the tour has so far been published by both Chess.com and Chessbase.com. I'll concentrate on reports from Chess.com, because of the many comments by Chess.com members. The month started on a high note.
2024-12-20: Chess.com Officially Partners With Freestyle Chess To Support 2025 Grand Slam Tour (chess.com)
The lineup for the first event [Weissenhaus, Germany, on February 7-14] includes GMs Carlsen, Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja, Vincent Keymer, and Viswanathan Anand. They will be joined by the newly-crowned 18th World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. The 10th and final spot will go to the winner of the online Freestyle Chess Play-In Weissenhaus taking place on Chess.com between January 4 and 8.
Each Freestyle Chess Play-In will consist of open qualifiers for untitled players, followed by a Swiss and a knockout, all in rapid time controls. Titled players can join the qualifier on the Swiss stage, with the knockout winner earning a spot in the upcoming Grand Slam event.
2025-01-09: Fedoseev Joins Carlsen & Co. In Weissenhaus After Winning Armageddon Thriller (chess.com; Colin_McGourty)
GM Vladimir Fedoseev beat GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Semifinals and then GM Javokhir Sindarov in a thrilling Final to clinch the last spot in next month's $750,000 2025 Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.
A few weeks later, the story became ugly.
2025-01-21: FIDE Statement regarding the "Freestyle Chess" project (fide.com)
With regard to the recent communications from the "Freestyle Chess Players Club" ("FCPC"), FIDE states the following...
2025-01-22: FIDE Slams Freestyle Chess For Creating 'Unavoidable Divisions,' Threatens Legal Action (chess.com; TarjeiJS)
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has criticized Freestyle Chess for branding its upcoming Grand Slam tour as a "World Championship," claiming the move threatens to divide the chess community and warning of potential legal action.
To veteran World Championship watchers (like me), this dispute is reminiscent of a split in world chess that started in 1993. For details, see my page, FIDE/PCA Chronology. In the saga that stretched more than a decade, finally resolved by the 2006 Kramnik - Topalov : Unification Match, there were no winners.
No comments:
Post a Comment