The world No 1 faces Gukesh as the new Freestyle Grand Slam gets under way following a row over the circuit’s status
An imminent showdown between Magnus Carlsen, the world No1, and Gukesh Dommaraju, the youngest ever world champion, has been overshadowed this week by a bitter war of words between the global body Fide and Jan-Henric Buettner, the Freestyle Chess founder and chief. This dispute has since been kicked into the future by an uneasy truce.
The issue was whether Freestyle’s new global $3.75m four-continent circuit, which starts at 1pm GMT on Friday 7 February and for which Carlsen is a strong favourite, can legitimately be called a world championship. After a post by Carlsen on X, an open letter by Buettner, and a Fide statement, the 2025 Freestyle circuit will now go ahead just as a Grand Slam event.
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