Carlsen launches Freestyle tour, India first on list

PARIS: Chess great Magnus Carlsen is launching a world Freestyle Chess tour as the variant of the game, also known as Chess960, is gaining in popularity, the world number one announced on Friday (Mar 15).

Norwegian Carlsen, a five-time classical chess world champion who relinquished his title last year, has partnered with German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner to set up a new, exclusive tour that will start in chess powerhouse India in November.

The prize money for the Indian leg of the tour will be US$500,000, Carlsen and Buettner said in a joint statement.

"Carlsen, the world's greatest chess player, and the German entrepreneur Buettner, who initiated and hosted the event, have invited the world’s top chess players to become members of their newly formed, exclusive Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC). At the same time, Carlsen and Buettner confirmed the launch of a worldwide Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a series of five tournaments per year on five continents," the joint statement read.

Chess960, created by former world champion Bobby Fischer in 1996, has been gaining in popularity after an invitational tournament played at the Weissenhaus Luxury Resort, which hosted the G7 Foreign Minister summit in 2022.

In Chess960/Freestyle chess, the pieces on the back rank are reshuffled, meaning that computer-backed preparations leading to sometimes dull openings, are meaningless.

The GOAT Challenge featured eight players - Carlsen and seven grandmasters handpicked by the Norwegian.

While the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has organised world championships in 2019 and 2022 - with an upcoming one this year - they were played in rapid time control while the Freestyle chess tournaments will be decided in standard time control