FIDE CEO slams Magnus Carlsen, Freestyle Chess: ‘If you want a war – try us’

The organisers of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and the global governing body for chess, have been at loggerheads for months now, with FIDE taking objection to the winner of the Grand Slam Tour being called a “world champion”.

Simultaneously, Carlsen also gave an interview with Gambling Insider where he said that he was not “aiming to be bigger than chess” But then, while apparently talking about FIDE, he said: “Specific organisations… are not bigger than I am.”

Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura had also slammed Sutovsky’s claims about how much money FIDE was making for players as “horses**t.”

Sutovsky addressed the comments in his Twitter post.

“‘I am bigger than FIDE’ concept didn’t work even for (Bobby) Fischer and (Garry) Kasparov,” Sutovsky posted on X on Tuesday. “When one sees public rhetoric coming from Freestyle Chess leaders, it becomes clear, that the project is bound to fail. ‘F U’, ‘They are so stupid’, ‘Horse sh.t’ etc.”

Sutovsky said that if the organisers of Freestyle chess event wanted a war, FIDE was up for it.

“FIDE is known for its readiness to be mindful, flexible, and to go extra miles towards partners, and especially players – and that was mistaken for weakness. ‘I am bigger than FIDE’ concept did not work even for Fischer and Kasparov – who tried it being reigning World Champions, while having a real dominance over their rivals at the time. Of course, initially the public may back a superstar vs the governing body. And you may lure in a couple of naive investors. But that is unsustainable — and we saw many examples of the kind.

“Today FIDE is probably in the best position ever — and chess community sees it — we deliver unprecedented number of projects around the world, we keep increasing prize funds for top players and support for educational and social programs, and we can plan far ahead thanks to our partnerships East and West. We’d love to work with any private project – in particular with ambitious ones. But if you want a war – try us,” FIDE’s Sutovsky said.

From the homepage

Bihar SIR: Voter list shrinks by 6% after 3-month revision, about 68.5 lakh names deleted

Stalin’s caution in sparing Vijay backfires, actor issues challenge to CM: ‘Do whatever you want to do with me’

‘Had two options before me after winning elections…’: Omar says he would rather resign than get statehood with BJP as ally