No D Gukesh vs Viswanathan Anand as chess legend pulls out of Magnus Carlsen-led Freestyle Grand Slam Tour

The FIDE is currently at war with the Freestyle Chess Players’ Club (FCPC), co-owned by Magnus Carlsen. The FIDE officially recognised the FCPC last year in December, but the Carlsen-led body also wants official recognition for a Freestyle World Championship. Meanwhile, FCPC co-owner Jan Heinric Buettner, a German entrepreneur, has also publicly lashed out at FIDE, which has been criticised by the international body’s CEO Emil Sutovsky.

In a recent interview with VG, Buettner also revealed that the FIDE was demanding 500,000 dollars for the rights to use the world c’ship title name. He also alleged FIDE of giving a February 3 deadline, which includes a clause that players who compete in a non-FIDE World C’ship, will be excluded from the cycle for the next four years. Buettner also predicted that he doesn’t expect any of the top players to sign the FIDE contract.

No Viswanathan Anand vs D Gukesh

But in a massive setback to FCPC, Viswanathan Anand has pulled out of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The chess legend was scheduled to participate in the first leg, and was set to face the likes of D Gukesh, Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura etc.

A statement on the FCPC website read, “Viswanathan Anand withdrew on short notice.”

Anand is also FIDE’s deputy president, and last year during the Rapid and Blitz Championship, he fell victim to Carlsen’s statements. The Norwegian turned up for the Rapid competition in jeans, and was fined. He was also asked to change into trousers, which he declined stating that he would do so the next day. But he wasn’t allowed to do so and wasn’t included in the later pairings for the day. Subsequently, Carlsen pulled out, but did return for the Blitz Championship. After his Rapid expulsion, Carlsen lashed out at Anand in an interview with a podcast.

“Anand said very clearly that he didn’t know that he had any opportunity to do anything past, you know, go with the arbiters’ honestly draconian decision of not pairing me. And that means that he was, for all his good qualities, he was not ready for this job. That’s what I feel,” he said.