FIDE and Freestyle Chess agree terms on World Championship (Photos by Michal Walusza and ChessBase India) NEW DELHI: Late on Wednesday night, Emil Sutovsky, the chief executive officer (CEO) of FIDE, the International Chess Federation, chose a phrase heavy with symbolism.“Burying the hatchet!” he wrote on X, announcing that FIDE and Freestyle Chess had finally reached an agreement. Levon Aronian opens up on Goa, FIDE World Cup 2025, Total Chess C’ship, and more | ExclusiveThe deal would see the first official FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship staged at Weissenhaus, Germany, from February 13 to 15, 2026.“The event is governed by FIDE in collaboration with Freestyle Chess,” the statement said.But for those who avoided the bitter public dispute between the two sides over the past couple of years, the question lingered: what exactly had been buried?The answer lies in a saga that began in late 2024, when Freestyle Chess organisers sought to crown their winner the “Freestyle Chess World Champion.”FIDE objected immediately. The international governing body asserted that only it had the authority to sanction any world championship title in chess.What followed became one of the most controversial episodes in modern chess governance.From October 2024 onwards, Freestyle co-founder and CEO Jan Henric Buettner and FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich remained in steady contact as they sought to defuse the growing dispute.And as a breakthrough appeared close, Buettner published an open letter accusing FIDE of reversing course in negotiations.He claimed FIDE had rejected a near-complete agreement after Freestyle Chess refused to recognise FIDE’s exclusive authority over the “World Champion” title.FIDE responded publicly, acknowledging discussions had taken place but denying any binding agreement. It said it had instead offered a conditional waiver to protect Freestyle players’ eligibility for official events, provided Freestyle dropped the championship label and approved the terms by February 4.Amid the hullabaloo, players worried they could be barred from official FIDE events. World No. 1 and five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen published private messages accusing FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich of reneging on promises.The dispute finally cooled down in February 2025, when Freestyle agreed to drop the “World Championship” label.As later reported by TimesofIndia.com, top-rated Freestyle players, in a private meeting at Weissenhaus, unanimously decided that the 2025 Grand Slam winner would instead be crowned “Freestyle Chess Champion”, a title Carlsen recently claimed in South Africa.Against that backdrop, the new agreement carries the weight of reconciliation.How Freestyle Chess and FIDE buried the hatchetFor Buettner, the deal resolved a problem that had nagged him for months.“Yes, I am very content, especially because it kind of solved an issue that I was thinking about for the last few months,” he told TimesofIndia.com from South Africa during an exclusive conversation.Freestyle Chess, he noted, had just completed what he called a “perfect season” in 2025, with five Grand Slam Tours.“So I was still thinking in October, November, how can I start season two, if I know how season two would end,” he added.“I didn’t want to have a situation where after this great season one, then we have a season two and start like somehow, and then everybody’s comparing.”At the same time, unresolved talks with FIDE were never far from Buettner’s mind. Those negotiations, he said, had once come tantalisingly close to a resolution before collapsing at the last possible moment.“I met Arkady for the first time in October 2024 in London,” Buettner said. “And we spoke, and we actually were very close to a deal in January of last year, so a year ago. Basically similar to now, we had a press release prepared, we had an agreement prepared, and everything was kind of negotiated, maybe even to the last word. And then at the very end, it fell all apart. And I have no idea why.”“We had a great relationship. Obviously, we then went our separate ways, and FIDE did their stuff, and we did our stuff. And I think it’s always good to have a cooling-off period.”The breakthrough came through a new dialogue as Buettner invited Dvorkovich to South Africa ahead of the Grand Slam Tour Final last month. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Dvorkovich couldn’t come.On the sidelines of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships, Dvorkovich then invited Buettner to Qatar, where they met roughly two weeks ago. From left to right: Mohammed Al-Modiahki, President of Qatar Chess Association, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Holly Hock, Jan Buettner and Anya Buettner, daughter of Jan. (Photo by Amruta Mokal/ChessBase India)It was there, Buettner said, that the decisive idea emerged: “Then Arkady actually came up with the idea to say, why don’t we do the World Championship in 2026? It was actually his idea to have it as a World Championship in Weissenhaus. The initiative to do this came from him. I didn’t even have to do a lot of convincing. It was basically just his suggestion. I also think FIDE has a lot of respect for how we have conducted our tour.”That suggestion resolved several issues at once, with Buettner explaining that the Weissenhaus World Championship will serve as the culmination of the 2025–26 Freestyle Chess cycle.“So I don’t begin season two in Weissenhaus in February,” Buettner continued. “I basically end season one in Weissenhaus with the World Championship. And now we can start season two fresh.”A new Chess World ChampionshipThe inaugural FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship will feature eight players. For 2026, qualification is straightforward: the top six, including Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi, and Javokhir Sindarov, from the 2025 Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, plus two wild cards jointly awarded by FIDE and Freestyle Chess.Freestyle Chess has already nominated Hans Niemann after his outstanding performance at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas.FIDE will decide their pick through an online qualifier.Because the agreement came together quickly, Buettner acknowledged the process was improvised.“We had to do this short-term deal,” he said. “But we agreed that we take the time until the World Championship in the next few weeks to also discuss the long-term plan.” FIDE Freestyle Chess Championship 2026 Schedule (Photo by FIDE)The longer-term vision is more structured and closer to FIDE norms.“We want to have a transparent system where all the players see if they want to qualify for the World Championship with Freestyle Chess, how they can do that,” Buettner said.Ideas include automatic qualification for top finishers from the previous championship and spots earned through designated events.The Grand Slam Tour, a centrepiece of Freestyle’s recent success, will pause for the time being. “It will not continue in ’26, and maybe also not in ’27,” Buettner revealed, adding that it could return later once a better system is established. For now, the annual February World Championship is the focus.Why no Hikaru Nakamura?One absence immediately caught fans’ attention: Hikaru Nakamura, the reigning FIDE Fischer Random World Champion (Chess960) from 2022.“Actually, he was invited,” Buettner told this website.World No. 2 Nakamura, however, declined. Hikaru Nakamura (Photos by Michal Walusza)According to Buettner, Nakamura’s reasoning was personal.”He would not participate … because he’d rather be remembered as the World Champion in Fischer Random of 2022, rather than competing with seven other players with the unlikelihood that he might get this,” Buettner added.“We had a very good, very polite, very good conversation and total respect and understanding,” he said.Nakamura, he added, wants his Fischer Random reign to “be remembered as finishing up with the World Champion title.”Women’s Freestyle Chess Championship?The agreement also opens a door for women’s freestyle chess, though cautiously.At FIDE’s request, a women’s event will run alongside the men’s championship in 2026. For now, it will be an exhibition match rather than a full championship.“That was also a request from Arkady, from FIDE, to have a women’s tournament at the same time,” Buettner said.ALSO READ: World champion at 7 in her first international event; ‘nervous’ while meeting PM Modi: How Pragnika Lakshmi became a chess prodigyLogistical constraints made a full qualification cycle impractical on short notice.“So we said we’d rather do an exhibition match this year, with a clear road to a women’s world championship in 2027,” he added. “Ideally, the top names would be there.”After years of confrontation, the agreement does not erase the past. But for the first time, Freestyle Chess and FIDE are aligned on a single stage, with a single title.In chess politics, that may be as close as burying the hatchet gets.