Bengaluru: When the World Rapid and Blitz Championship began in New York on December 26, the chess world was agog with speculation — will a challenger emerge to the chess juggernaut Magnus Carlsen, who had steamrolled his way to five world Classical titles, five world Rapid titles and eight world Blitz titles and was peerless in his domination of the game?

By the time the New Year rolled in, there was an answer, but the rival that emerged to the best player in the world was not any individual player — it was the body governing the game, Fide. In a span of six days, a pair of jeans and an unprecedented shared world title laid bare the already simmering rift between the game’s organisational custodian and one of its greatest players, posing the essential question: Who really holds the power?

Acrimonious week and public spat

The seeds of a public spat between Carlsen and Fide were sown on December 28 when the chess World No.1 was barred from playing in a round in the Rapid leg of the tournament for wearing jeans, a violation of the prescribed dress code.

Carlsen launched an expletive-laden attack on the governing body and said he was withdrawing from the tournament, declaring that he was at “full war with Fide”. “Honestly, I’m too old at this point to care too much… I’m out. Like, f** you,” Carlsen said in a now-viral interview. Fide maintained that its rules were applicable equally to all players, with Indian legend and Fide vice-president Viswanathan Anand maintaining that Carlsen left them with little choice. “He simply refused to follow rules.”

Carlsen did pull out of the Rapid leg, choosing to not defend his world title in the 15+10 time format. He, however, returned for the Blitz portion of the event and with bragging rights. “Speaking to (FIDE President Arkady) Dvorkovich and the main sponsor Turlov, it did feel we could have some fruitful discussions, and at the end of the day, I decided to play… As a principle, I will definitely play in jeans,” he said.

Fide appeared to fold in front of Carlsen, changing its dress code as it faced the possibility of losing the face of the game from all official tournaments. Dvorkovich expressed regret in a post on FIDE’s X account on December 28 over the situation escalating and acknowledged Carlsen’s vital role in elevating the sport. Carlsen had it his way as he returned to the tournament in a pair of denims and a new endorsement deal with G-Star, a Dutch clothing brand known for its jeans.

But the controversy was far from over.

Four days later, Carlsen and Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi decided to share the World Blitz Championship after three sudden-death games failed to produce a winner, sending shock waves through the chess community. The tournament rules stated that the sudden-death phase would continue till one of them wins a game. But Carlsen again appeared to game Fide and force it to change its rules on the fly.

“If they refuse (to allow us to share the title), we can just play short draws until they give up,” Carlsen could be heard saying to Nepomniachtchi in a clip. Fide again folded in front of Carlsen, declaring him and the Russian GM as joint winners.

Fide has been trying to make itself more appealing to global firms and managed to rope in Google as the principal sponsor for last month’s World Championship match between D Gukesh and Ding Liren. The Fide World Rapid and Blitz Championship — with its marquee names participating — was held at a Wall Street venue, to make chess visible to a wider audience and attract large corporate investments. What emerged out of the tournament, though, was not exactly what they wanted the world to see.

Carlsen’s impact on chess over the past decade though is undeniable. “Carlsen is the reason why chess has entered the mainstream,” former World Championship challenger Boris Gelfand once said. “His ability to attract corporate sponsorships and to engage fans worldwide is unprecedented in the sport’s history.”

An alternate order

The tension between Fide and Carlsen did not originate from a pair of denims or a shared title. They were at loggerheads well before Carlsen reached New York for the World Rapid and Blitz Championship. The bone of contention was Freestyle Chess.

Since Carlsen announced his decision to not compete in the Classical World Chess Championship two years ago, he has turned his focus to Fischer Random (or Chess 960), where the starting positions of back rank pieces are randomised and opening theory is neutralised. Carlsen won the Freestyle Chess tournament last year. Backed by German entrepreneur Jan Buettner with Carlsen as its chief promoter, it has been expanded to a tour. It is scheduled to take place across five cities, including New Delhi, this year.

Carlsen alleged that Fide has been threatening players from participating in the event. “There was this whole thing where Fide was actively going after players to get them not to sign with Freestyle, basically threatening them that they wouldn’t be able to play the World Championship cycle if they played in Freestyle,” he said.

Carlsen added, “I understand that Fide wants to do their own thing, and for them and the players and the fans, the Classical World Championship is a big deal, and we don’t want to stop anybody. I don’t think Fide should stop us from organising a Freestyle World Championship.”

Fide CEO Emil Sutovsky rejected the charge, calling it a “lie”. “The only thing we insisted on: no Series or Tour can be called World Championship unless Fide approves it,” he said in a post on X.

World No. 3 and streaming giant Hikaru Nakamura threw his weight behind Carlsen and said that he has “zero doubt that there’s going to be a war” and that “players will have to pick” between supporting Fide or going their own way and playing the Freestyle, which has a prize fund of over $4 million.

“We are happy if players have more opportunities to play and earn,” Fide CEO Sutovsky told Take Take Take. “But it cannot be that a private organisation runs a World Championship independently of Fide. That’s very clear. All players including Magnus have it in their contracts for the top events they participated in, that four years since their last participation in the tournament they cannot play in any tournament which is called World championship. We indicated to players that that would be a breach of the contract. Nevertheless, we were ready to talk.”

Fide takes a stand

Although Fide capitulated in the face of Carlsen’s popularity and propensity to bend the rules in New York, the chess governing body appeared to signal that it won’t lose control of the game without a fight.

“It is funny how some platforms/streamers downplay the ‘we can just keep making draws’ case… FIDE also won’t keep silent. At least I won’t – and I am there to stay for quite some time,” Sutovsky said in a post on X. He also shared the clip of Carlsen discussing the possibility of making quick draws with Nepomniachtchi, hinting that there could be some consequences.

Unlike when the denim controversy broke, after the shared World Blitz title, support for Carlsen appeared to dwindle as it appeared that the world No.1 may have perhaps overplayed his hand.

“Criticism of the regulations and using it as an excuse is nonsense here. The Wimbledon 2019 final lasted 4 hours and 57 minutes. Novak Djokovic won the 5th set 13-12 and won Wimbledon 2019. They didn’t make a pact to share the trophy or ‘keep losing one point each until they give up’,” Indian GM Srinath Narayanan said in a post on X.

Nakamura too chose not to publicly support Carlsen, terming the shared title “unacceptable” and “unconscionable”. Sections of the Norwegian media also came down heavily on one of their biggest stars, with VG’s Leif Welhaven calling the shared gold a “scandal”. “It is simply unacceptable for players to disregard the fundamental principles of a competition,” he wrote.

Amid the all-round criticism, Carlsen said he never intended to make pre-arranged draws and his conversation with Nepomniachtchi was a joke.

“I’ve never prearranged a draw in my career. In the video I’m joking with Ian in a situation lacking decisive tiebreak rules. This was obviously not an attempt to influence Fide. It was said in the spirit that I thought Fide would agree to our proposal. If anything, it was a bad joke given the gravity of the situation,” he posted on X.

“It’s wrong, of course, at many levels. It also shows Magnus’s instinct to resort to blackmail if Fide insists on following the regulations. Where does power reside in the chess world, in 2024 or 2025?”, Srinath Narayanan wrote on X. “So Carlsen decides on the format, the dress code and the title regulations?” German GM Elisabeth Paehtz wrote on X, following the shared title.

Going forward

What happens next in this saga between Fide and the most powerful chess player remains to be seen. The last time a split took place in the chess world was back in 1993 when Russian great Garry Kasparov began a rival World Championship cycle under the Professional Chess Association (PCA), after a rift with Fide. He later regretted the move and called it a mistake.

Today’s Fide has its own set of issues — ineptitude, as evidenced in recent events, and problematic links with Russia. Fide president Dvorkovich, who served as Russia’s deputy prime minister between 2012-18, is seen as a mild-mannered technocrat. Carlsen singled him out for generous appraisal and mentioned that Dvorkovich was the only Fide functionary with whom he has a good relationship.

“No player is above the game. Fide’s decision will define chess’s future. I hope they choose the right side of history,” GM Hans Niemann, wrote on X. Carlsen had accused Niemann of cheating in 2022. The matter went to court and ended up being settled outside. The world No.1 later issued a statement saying there was ‘no determinative evidence’ that the American cheated against him in their Sinquefield Cup game, which Carlsen lost.

As the two sides look to make their next move, the question remains: Who really holds the power? Carlsen might have had it his way in New York but Fide looks set to not lose its grip on the game.