Epic Showdown: Carlsen Faces World Champion Gukesh as Freestyle Truce Ends!

Magnus Carlsen, the world No. 1, is set to face Gukesh Dommaraju, the youngest world champion in chess history. However, their upcoming match has been caught up in a controversy involving FIDE and Jan-Henric Buettner, the founder of Freestyle Chess. This dispute has led to a temporary pause, allowing the championship to proceed as planned.

The core of the conflict is whether Freestyle’s new $3.75 million circuit, starting on February 7, can be rightfully called a world championship. Carlsen’s post on social media sparked a letter from Buettner, followed by a response from FIDE. As a result, the 2025 Freestyle circuit will be labeled a Grand Slam event instead.

The first leg, hosted in Weissenhaus, Germany, features ten competitors, including six of the top eight players in live ratings. This event is shaping up to be even more competitive than FIDE’s upcoming Candidates and title matches. In the initial rounds, Carlsen defeated Hikaru Nakamura but lost to Fabiano Caruana. The highlight match between Gukesh and Carlsen will occur on Saturday, where Gukesh will play with the white pieces.

The Weissenhaus event uses a round-robin format, where players compete against each other over two days. The top eight from this stage will move on to knockout rounds with different time controls—10 minutes for the qualifiers and 90 minutes for the knockout matches, plus a time increment.

Freestyle Chess, or Chess 960, randomizes the starting positions of the back rank pieces. This format is popular among elite players but hasn’t gained traction at beginner levels because many players prefer familiar opening patterns.

Buettner’s series continues with events in Paris, New York or Las Vegas, Delhi, and Cape Town, each offering a substantial prize pool. Despite the excitement, achieving break-even by 2026 could be challenging, especially considering the preference of most chess players for competition over spectating.

Gukesh is fresh off a strong performance at the Tata Steel tournament, where he tied for first place but lost in a tie-breaker. Alongside him, new talent like Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov are making waves in the chess community.

During the Tata Steel event, Gukesh lost a critical game to Arjun Erigaisi, which proved pivotal. Caruana, ranked No. 2 at the start of the event, faced his own challenges, slipping down the rankings after a disappointing finish.

Finally, the chess community remembers Stewart Reuben, who recently passed away. He was a prominent chess organizer and played a key role in promoting the game in England during its rise in the 1970s. An expert player and storyteller, Reuben also contributed significantly to the rules of chess and organized major international tournaments.