Vincent Kemer and Magnus Carlsen (Photo Credits: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess) New Delhi: Viswanathan Anand was expected to face the opening stage of freestyle chess tour in Weissenhaus in Germany at the beginning of this year.
But just a few days before the event, the five -time world champion in chess pulled himself.
While his withdrawal was not as dramatic as Hans Niemann’s last minute from the Paris foot, Ananda absence was a significant blow to the ambitions of freestyle chess.
In the case of pineapple, not only lost a seasoned competitor, but vice president Fide and the global chess icon from the country from 1.4 billion people.
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His participation was initially considered to be a step to thaw the tension between Fide and Freestyle Chess over the right to use the term “World Championship”.
The core of the dispute was the decision of Freestyle Chess to call her possible winner Freestyle Chess Grand Slam “World Champion” – the title Fide insists that he can assign it himself.
The management body has a problem with the freestyle format only for invitation and claims that this title should only be allowed to competition with open, transparent qualification systems.
The presence of the pineapple for the events of Weissenhaus was therefore considered a possible turning point in the Cold War between two chess camps, suggesting that both sides were directed towards common ground.
But then came “discussions about jeans”.
During the World Speed and Blitz Fide Championship last December last December, World No. 1 and freestyle co -founder Magnus Carlsen resisted the standing standards of the code standard by showing up in jeans.
Given that President Fide Arkady Dvorkovic inaccessible, responsibility for the call fell on an pineapple that confirmed the rule.
Fide slapped Carlsen with a fine of $ 200 and issued a warning: Change your garment or be disqualified.
Carlsen, bland, fired back: “Anand was not ready for this job.”
Soon after, Anand withdrew from the Freestyle event in Germany.
“We asked Vishy,” What if Magnus apologized? “” Co -founder Freestyle Jan Henric Buettner said in February Timesofindia.com. “In the end, however, he said he felt more comfortable did not participate.”
Beettner and Dvorkovich in a regular dialogue tried to mediate peace.
But just as it seemed that progress seemed to be within reach, Buettner dropped the bomb: the open letter accused of retrospecting in previous negotiations.
The letter claimed that Fide rejected the preliminary agreement after Freestyle refused to recognize Monopol Fide over the title “World Champion”.
Fide responded to the public statement confirming interviews, but denied any formal contract.
The body explained that it offered to give up to ensure that freestyle players would remain eligible for official events if freestyle dropped the championship brand and checked out until February 4.
A week later, the top grandmothers in the world took the affairs into their hands.
At a private meeting at Weissenhaus, members of the exclusive freestyle chess club (open only to those who were rated above 2725) voted, the winner of Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025, which closes in South Africa in December, crowned “Freestyle Chess Champion”.
“We got players in one room and asked how they feel about Fide Standoff,” said Buettner Timesofindia.com in front of Paris’s Freestyle Chess Tour Grand Slam Tour.
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“At first most of them really didn’t care. So we said, wait until the end of the year. Players can then decide. The world champion, the champion of the universe, the global champion, the freestyle champion, call it what they prefer.”
According to Buettner, the last call of the players was collective: “It’s a tournament of players. During technical meetings and whenever questions appear, we let the players decide mostly by voting.”
For the time being, Fide vs Freestyle Chess Row has cooled. Whether it stays so or explodes again may depend less on officials and more on grandmothers in the room.
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