American GM Wesley So criticised FIDE for the introduction of the ‘Total Chess World Championship’ and the ‘FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship’ in addition to the governing body’s existing events to crown world champions in the Classical, Rapid and Blitz formats.
American Grandmaster Wesley So insists India’s D Gukesh should be recognised as the official chess world champion, while accusing FIDE of being “political” by creating more world championships than necessary.
So’s comment comes days after FIDE and Freestyle Chess – two organisations that had been at loggerheads with one another last year – announced the
inaugural ‘FIDE Freestyle World Championship’ that will be taking place in Germany’s Weissenhaus from 13 to 15 February.
The Lausanne-based governing body for the sport had also joined hands with Norway Chess recently to
create the ‘Total Chess World Championship’ – a year-long tour that aims to crown one champion for all three formats and gets underway in 2027 after a pilot event this year.
So labels other world championships ‘secondary titles’
The two newly-created events make for a stacked calendar this year along with the World Rapid and Blitz Championships as well as the Chess World Championship. And according to So, who had recently
won his maiden Blitz title at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata on Sunday, having so many world championships isn’t necessarily a good thing for the sport.
“It’s weird that you have a “Total Chess World Champion” title, but then we all know Gukesh is the official World Champion. There should only be one World Champion in chess, and that’s Gukesh for now, because he really made it. All these new titles like Freestyle World Champion, or even Rapid and Blitz, or the Total… I think they are just secondary titles,” So was quoted by The Indian Express as saying_._
“FIDE is very political. They run it as a business, so they do what’s good for them financially and politically, and everything else is secondary,” the 32-year-old added.
The American further described himself as “old-fashioned” and insisted that the world championship did not need any tweaks to its existing format – in which the title holder faces the winner of the Candidates Tournament in a best-of-14-games showdown with rapid and blitz tie-breaks, if necessary.
“I’m more old-fashioned. Growing up with all the official World Champions like Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, reading about them, I still like the idea that you have to play a 14-game classical match and go through the process. And that the champion should be able to get that advantage, to wait for the challenger to come,” So added.
The Rapid and Blitz worlds takes place towards the end of the year and crowns the official world champions in the two formats while the World Championship – FIDE’s showpiece event – takes place every two years which crowns the Classical world champion.
Gukesh had broken the legendary Garry Kasparov’s record to become the youngest champion in chess history in December 2024. The teenager had defeated Chinese GM Ding Liren with a 7.5-6.5 scoreline – sealing his victory in thrilling fashion just when the contest was about to enter the tie-breaks, becoming only the second Indian to win the prestigious event after Viswanathan Anand.
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