No world chess championship comeback for Magnus Carlsen, world No.1 backs freestyle event

SINGAPORE – Magnus Carlsen has done it all in chess – the world No. 1 player has won five world titles, five world rapid golds, seven world blitz crowns and is the reigning World Cup champion. His peak rating of 2,882 is also the highest in the sport’s history.

Considered one of the greatest chess players, the Norwegian is now moving on to a new challenge.

The 33-year-old is in town to launch his latest pet project, the Freestyle Chess World Championship Tour, on the sidelines of

the Nov 25-Dec 13 Fide World Championship

.

Freestyle chess is a form of the game where the pieces are randomised. The first and eighth ranks on the board where the king, queen, bishops, knights and rooks sit are randomised, with the pawns on the second and seventh ranks being the same as classical chess.

Speaking at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia on Nov 23, he told The Sunday Times: “I really hope that this can be a big part of the future of chess. Nowadays, everything is moving a bit quicker. In normal chess, quicker chess is becoming more and more important.

“What we’re seeing as well is that the original format has been diluted because it’s too analysed. So we really wanted to create something new. And I think this can be very exciting.”

The Freestyle Chess World Championship will be held in five locations in 2025, starting in February in Weissenhaus, Germany.

It will then move to Paris, France in April, before stops in New York, the United States (July), India (September) and ending in Cape Town, South Africa in December.

Ten players will feature, including Carlsen, second-ranked Fabiano Caruana and world No. 14 Levon Aronian – the trio have signed contracts to play.

The other players will come from the top 10 and there will be one open qualifier from chess.com.

Carlsen is banking on the format to catch on, adding: “The game in itself is still chess, so it’s not random in that sense. But the mere fact that you take out opening theory from the equation means that you have a full-fledged game from move one.

“I think for people at every level, classical chess has a place. But specifically for top-level events, where the players are so familiar with all the theory, where everything is so analysed, I just think that this format is better and more interesting.”

Jan Buettner, entrepreneur and co-founder of the event, said: “It’s basically an addition to the chess world, and it’s a possibility to show to a wider audience why chess is so exciting.

“Like Formula One, when you see here in Singapore, millions of people, most of them are not race drivers, when you see the people who follow chess, most of them are chess players.

“So my role is to make it accessible as an entertainment format for millions of people who basically don’t know the rules of chess (so that) they think it’s all exciting.”

Earlier this week, Carlsen and Caruana played a freestyle chess exhibition match in a private event that was streamed online as part of plans to promote the tournament to more people.

Noting that they are here at the invitation of the International Chess Federation (Fide), Buettner said the aim is not to “take any attention away from the world championship” but to draw more eyeballs to chess, which is a “very good complementary thing”.

As the attention switches to the Fide World Championship on Nov 25, Carlsen is glad that the pressure is no longer on him.

In 2023, the then reigning world champion decided not to defend his title, leaving challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren – who was second in the candidates’ tournament – to fight for the world championship crown.

Looking relaxed at the press conference, Carlsen knows what it feels like to be in the hot seat, adding: “As a chess fan, it’s exciting to follow the world championship that’s here.

“I think it’s going to be a very difficult match for Ding, but I hope that he can find some joy in the match... he could put up a good fight, because he’s a fantastic player and a great human being, and I hope for him to do well.”