Carlsen, Buettner Unveil Extravagant Chess960 Grand Slam Tour Across 5 Continents

In a move that could potentially shake up the chess world, GM Magnus Carlsen and German entrepreneur Jan-Henric Buettner have launched the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a new ambitious series of Chess960 tournaments that will run across five continents and gather the creme de la creme of the chess world.

In February, Carlsen beat GM Fabiano Caruana in the final to win the inaugural edition of the 2024 Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge, the new Chess960 super-tournament that, despite the awkward tournament name, proved to be a success and achieved a worldwide media reach of half a billion, according to the organizers.

In a joint press release on Friday, the former world champion, along with the millionaire owner of the five-star Weissenhaus resort, unveiled their newly formed Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC). Eligible for membership are the 25 players rated higher than 2725 "who have a significant current international activity level," which means only GMs Sergey Karjakin and Veselin Topalov are excluded from the series.

Buettner expressed his enthusiasm and said: "We are excited that all 25 invited, eligible players have responded positively and joined the FCPC."

We are excited that all 25 invited, eligible players have responded positively and joined the FCPC.

—Jan-Henric Buettner

Chess960, which has been rebranded as Freestyle Chess, is a chess variant in which the pieces on the first and eighth rank are shuffled randomly (with a few limitations). The number 960 comes from the number of possible positions in how the game can start.

Members of the newly formed club are eligible for a potential invitation to one or more of the tournaments planned. In addition to Carlsen and Caruana, the organizers also secured the participation of the nine players following them on the rating list, including world number-three and reigning World Fischer Random Champion GM Hikaru Nakamura. The American was invited to the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T Challenge, but turned down the invitation due to other commitments.

The other participants are GMs Nodirbek Abusattorov, Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wei Yi, Arjun Erigaisi and Viswanathan Anand.

It's going to be a packed chess calendar as the chess world will now see the birth of a third global chess tour, after Chess.com's Champions Chess Tour and the Grand Chess Tour. The first event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour will take place at an undisclosed city in India in November:

• November 10 - 17, 2024: India
• February 7 - 14, 2025: Weissenhaus, Germany
• Summer 2025: New York, U.S.A
• Fall, 2025: Cartagena, Colombia
• Winter 2025: Cape Town, South Africa
• 2026: Australia

The prize fund for the first event in Weissenhaus was $200,000, but will be increased to $500,000 for the India Grand Slam, then to $750,000 for the next Weissenhaus Grand Slam, and then to $1 million for each Grand Slam thereafter. 

The format remains the same with preliminary rapid, followed by a knockout event, but future events will be held with 10 players, instead of eight as was the case at the Weissenhaus in February.

Another difference is that the two players who are knocked out will join as commentators for the remaining event, tournament director GM Sebastian Siebrecht told German chess site Perlen von Bodensee.

Buettner said in his welcome letter to the player that his goal is to make the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam "as commercially successful as iconic sports events like the ATP for tennis, PGA for golf, and Formula 1 for motorsport."

"It's my earnest desire to see each of our FCPC members thrive professionally, even to the extent of securing individual sponsorship deals outside of FCPC's purview. Drawing from the successes of these renowned sporting events, we understand the paramount importance of cultivating recognizable and distinct personalities within the realm of chess. Our aim is to create a league of chess icons whom the younger generation across various international markets can relate to and admire."

Our aim is to create a league of chess icons whom the younger generation across various international markets can relate to and admire.

—Jan-Henric Buettner

“The response from the chess world to our inaugural event in Weissenhaus in February was overwhelming. It wasn't just the players who were enthusiastic about the new format. We achieved a worldwide media reach of more than half a billion. This underscores that we have made considerable progress on our way to popularizing chess and inspiring an additional new audience around the world. The Freestyle Chess Players Club and the global Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour are the logical next steps,” Buettner said.

FIDE was unable to find any organizers for the World Fischer-Random Championship earlier this year, and reportedly had negotiations with Buettner over hosting the event at the Weissenhaus later this year. According to Perlen von Bodensee, that didn't lead anywhere, but discussions are underway with the world-governing chess body about a collaboration.