India, Feb. 10 -- Following a meeting of its leading players on Sunday at the Weissenhaus Resort in Wangels, Germany, the Freestyle Chess Players Club has resolved the ongoing dispute with FIDE. The meeting, which included co-owner Jan Henric Buettner, resulted in the decision to designate the winner of the Grand Slam Tour as the 'Freestyle Chess Champion.'

The primary issue at the heart of the controversy was the FCPC's intention to declare the winner as the Freestyle World Champion. However, this initiative did not receive official endorsement from FIDE, leading to indirect confrontations between the two parties.

To settle the matter, all players involved in the first leg convened for a meeting at 10:30 PM IST, with four additional FCPC players participating online, who had not qualified for the event. Among those joining online were R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

In an exclusive statement to Hindustan Times, Buettner affirmed, "Since it was never our intention to label our events as such (we have consistently referred to them as 'G.O.A.T. Challenge' or 'Grand Slams'), we reached a unanimous decision today to crown the 'Freestyle Chess Champion' at the conclusion of our Grand Slam Tour in December of this year in South Africa. This applies to the current 2025 season, and we will determine at the end of this year whether we wish to designate the winner of next year's (2026) Grand Slam Tour as a 'World Champion.' Importantly, this decision will be made by the Players, not by Freestyle, and certainly not by FIDE."

"Regarding the relationship between the Players and FIDE, their repeated insistence that Players sign an unlawful document under an unreasonably tight deadline on the day the tournament concluded, while many were competing in Wijk aan Zee, required them to acknowledge (i) a supposed obligation not to participate in any non-FIDE-sponsored chess event that designates a World Champion or any similar tournament or event; and (ii) that they would face a ban from future FIDE World Championships in such an event."

Today, during our round table discussion, we reached a consensus to disregard FIDE's unreasonable demands, allowing them to fade into irrelevance. This decision ensures that players will not be forced to choose between participating in thrilling new events or missing out on future FIDE competitions. To prevent any future coercion or pressure tactics from FIDE, the players will form an independent Top Chess Players Association dedicated solely to their interests, supported by a qualified legal team to navigate such circumstances, he further stated.

The participants in the Weissenhaus Grand Slam event include Magnus Carlsen, D Gukesh, Vincent Keymer, Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura, Javokhir Sindarov, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vladimir Fedoseev, and Levon Aronian.

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