Known for his outspoken personality on chess forums and social media, chess legend Vladimir Kramnik recently accused Magnus Carlsen of blackmailing FIDE, into coming to an agreement with the Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC). In a series of tweets, Kramnik asked some serious questions to FIDE and the Norwegian grandmaster.
The former classical world and world chess champion asked FIDE for the reasons behind their acceptance of a private event, which is the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. He also accused Carlsen of threatening FIDE to withdraw his participation from the ongoing Rapid and Blitz C’ship, if an agreement wasn’t reached. This is also in contrast to Carlsen’s accusations.
The World No.1 accused FIDE of threatening players who were willing to participate in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Meanwhile, Carlsen was kicked out of the Rapid and Blitz C’ship in New York on Friday after he refused to change his attire despite a warning.
FIDE chief attacks Magnus Carlsen, brings D Gukesh into the drama
Since then FIDE chief Emil Sutovsky has gone on to clarify the situation on X. First, he informed fans that Carlsen hasn’t been banned from the ongoing championship, but can resume on Saturday, due to the rules. Then he went on to respond to Carlsen’s earlier accusations of FIDE threatening players, that they would not be allowed to play in the World C’ship cycle if they signed with Freestyle Chess Slam.
Sutovsky wrote, “Important clarification: The claim that FIDE threatened players who were willing to participate in Freestyle Chess Tour is a lie. We were happy to cooperate (as we cooperate with Grand Chess Tour, for example), to align the calendars, etc.”
“We care about players, and about their opportunities – constantly improving prize funds and conditions in all our events, and working with numerous partners who conduct their tournaments outside of FIDE. The only thing we insisted on – no Series or Tour can be called World Championship unless FIDE approves it. FIDE is the governing body of chess, and any World Championship should either be conducted or approved by FIDE.”
The grandmaster also went on to state that he had already spoken about it publicly on Carlsen’s co-owned Take Take application. He also urged fans to ask reigning world chess champion D Gukesh for the truth.
“I spoke about it in detail in my interview for Take Take tonight. No player was threatened – and to that effect one may ask Gukesh, Fabi, Nodirbek and others”, he added.
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 will begin on January 4, and it consists of five events across five continents. The lineup for the first event will see the likes of Carlsen, Gukesh and Viswanathan Anand in action.
Meanwhile, Kramnik took a dig at the tweet in an indirect manner. A fan jokingly commented on the post, “Should we trust the goat who speaks out his minds or the fide who does not know it’s know rules?”
Kramnik responded, “Probably neither”.
