Magnus Carlsen had declared in 2024 that he was “at full war with FIDE” after the chess governing body had denied permission to privately crown a freestyle chess world champion.
FIDE and freestyle chess organisers have come together to announce the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship that will take place in February. The event will be governed by FIDE in collaboration with Freestyle Chess as the two organisations have ended their public feud with this announcement.
The event, which is scheduled to take place from February 13-15 in Germany’s Weissenhaus, will feature a $300,000 prize fund, with the winner cashing in $100,000. Seven of the eight participants for the tournament have already been decided with one spot up for grabs.
This will be the fifth world title in chess with the classical, rapid and blitz already existing while a
total championship combining the three set to start this year.
Carlsen-FIDE war ends?
FIDE and Freestyle Chess, a private organisation, had been engaged in a public battle for the past two years. World number one
Magnus Carlsen and German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner, wanted to crown a “Freestyle Chess World Champion” through their Freestyle World Tour. However, the world chess governing body denied that, prompting Carlsen to pull out of the 2024 World Rapid Championship and to declare that he was “at full war with FIDE.”
Carlsen returned to this year’s rapid championship to win the title. With FIDE now collaborating with Freestyle Chess for the World Championship in the format, the feud between the two seems to be over.
In its release, FIDE reiterated that the two parties had agreed that “no event may be designated as an official ‘World Chess Championship’ in any format, including Freestyle Chess, without the prior written consent of FIDE”.
FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026
FIDE announced that the World Championship in February will be in continuation of its previous events in the Fischer Random format. Fischer Random World Championship was last held in 2022 and was won by Hikaru Nakamura. Before that it had also taken place in 2019 where Wesley So emerged as the winner.
Six players for the 2026 tournament qualified based on their results during the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour: Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi, and Javokhir Sindarov. Freestyle Chess nominated Hans Niemann, due to his outstanding performance in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas.
To decide on the final candidate, FIDE will hold an Online Qualification Tournament on January 14 and 15.
FIDE and Freestyle Chess have also confirmed that a FIDE Women’s Freestyle Chess Championship is being planned for later in 2026.
End of Article
