Just a few weeks after the successful first edition of the Freestyle Chess GOAT Challenge in Weissenhaus (Germany), Magnus Carlsen and Jan Henric Buettner are opening a new chapter in the history of chess, says the press release sent from Cape Town, on March 15, 2024.
Carlsen, the greatest chess player of all time, and the German entrepreneur Buettner, who initiated and hosted the first Fischer Random classical event ever, have now invited the best chess players in the world to become members of their newly founded, exclusive Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC).
At the same time, Carlsen and Buettner confirmed the start of a worldwide Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a series of five tournaments per year on five continents.
All internationally active players with a current ELO number over 2725 can become members of the new Freestyle Chess Players Club. The exceptions are Sergey Karjakin, due to his deep involvement with the Russian regime, and Veselin Topalov, who has been inactive for the past several years.
“We are currently planning four to five such tournaments per year. Our next event is already scheduled for India from November 10th to 17th, 2024,” Buettner confirmed. In 2025, Germany (Weissenhaus) will be the first stop from February 7th to 14th. Further Grand Slams are currently scheduled for summer, autumn and winter 2025 in New York, Cartagena/Colombia and Cape Town/South Africa and 2026 in Australia.
While the prize money for the first event in Weissenhaus in February 2024 was $200,000, this will be increased to $500,000 for the India Grand Slam, to $750,000 for the next Weissenhaus Grand Slam and to $1 million for each of the following Grand Slams.
An offer for cooperation by Russian-dominated FIDE, to organize together the 960 World Championship in 2024, was flatly rejected. At this moment there are no plans for collaboration between FCPC and FIDE.
“My personal goal for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam is to make it as commercially successful as iconic sporting events such as the ATP in tennis, the PGA in golf and Formula 1 in motorsports are today. It is of central importance to us to focus on the players. It is my sincere wish that each of our FCPC members achieve professional success as professional athletes, and that includes pursuing individual sponsorship agreements outside of the FCPC. Based on the successes of the renowned sporting events mentioned, we know how important it is to build recognizable and unique personalities in the world of chess. Our goal is to create a league of chess icons that the younger generation can identify with and admire in various international markets,” Buettner wrote in his welcoming letter to all 25 FCPC members.
However, not all FCPC members are guaranteed participation in the Grand Slams. Qualifying for the next ten-player tournament in India are players who finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th in the first Weissenhaus event. The possibility of awarding one spot to a winner of a qualifying tournament is being discussed. The remaining places will be filled by members of the FCPC, selected based on their exceptional achievements and/or their individual importance to the respective regional markets in which the tournament takes place.
“We have made significant progress in popularizing the game of chess and engaging additional new audiences around the world. The Freestyle Chess Players Club and the global Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour are the logical next steps,” said Buettner.
Freestyle Chess is a registered trademark. All tournaments are held at exclusive venues with an aura of luxury, style and elegance. The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam is now a sports franchise, a commercial venture headed by Jan Henric Buettner and Magnus Carlsen as equal partners. They have registered an umbrella company, “MJ Formats”, and a tournament subsidiary, “FCGST”.
All games are played according to chess960/Fisher Random rules. The first two rounds of each tournament are played with a short time limit. Quarter, semi-finals and finals are then played with classic time considerations.
All events will be streamed live with commentary on event websites and other partners’ channels. A special, mass-market TV format is being developed for the next Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in India in November 2024.
FCPC member players:
- Carlsen Magnus
- Caruana Fabiano
- Nakamura Hikaru
- Abdusattorov Nodirbek
- Ding Liren
- Firouzja Alireza
- So Wesley
- Nepomniachtchi Ian
- Wei Yi
- Erigaisi Arjun
- Anand Viswanathan
- Dominguez Perez Leinier
- Praggnanandhaa R
- Giri Anish
- Gukesh D
- Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
- Duda Jan-Krzysztof
- Le Quang Liem
- Grischuk Alexander
- Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
- Yu Yangyi
- Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
- Keymer Vincent
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