Magnus Carlsen during his match at the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz on Friday in Kolkata. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
The FIDE versus Freestyle Chess war intensified late on Monday after peace talks collapsed between the two parties.
In the immediate aftermath of the feud reigniting, there were open letters from both sides with fresh allegations. Members from the Freestyle Chess camp also aired private messages from FIDE officials like president Arkady Dvorkovich and CEO Emil Sutovsky.
World No 1 Magnus Carlsen posted a couple of texts that Dvorkovich had sent to his father Henrik Carlsen on his X handle before asking the Russian to resign.
Carlsen posted on X: “Coercion of players, misuse of power and broken promises. FIDE President Dvorkovich, to convince me to play the Rapid & Blitz in New York, you wrote Dec 19th to my father: ‘Just want to pass a message to you and Magnus that whatever happens between FIDE and Freestyle in terms of recognition, players will NOT be affected in any way. They can decide on their own and FIDE will not take any negative action.’
The Norwegian added: “You added later that day: ‘I will step down if my word will be undermined by the Council.’ By forcing players to sign an unacceptable waiver you have reneged on your promise. Will you resign?”
READ MORE: As peace talks fail between Freestyle Chess and FIDE, threats to take global body of chess to court and demands for FIDE chief to resign. Read The Indian Express exclusive
Carlsen was not the only one sharing private texts of FIDE officials. His trainer Peter Heine Nielsen shared a snippet of a conversation that he had had with FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky in 2018 where he called the Russia-based FIDE president Dvorkovich as “Kremlin-tied”.
Story continues below this ad
“As it seems to have escalated to the stage where one shares private messages, I just want to use the window to get this one out from Emil Sutovsky,” Nielsen wrote before sharing a screenshot of texts from the FIDE CEO.
Sutovsky reacted sharply to this, posting on X: “The day PHN (Nielsen) shows his real face. Not only he posts a private conversation, but he also does not mention it took place in 2018. They must be really angry not to get their hands on the World Championship thing.”
The man behind Freestyle Chess, Jan Henric Buettner, also published an explosive open letter on social media hours after sharing it with The Indian Express. In the open letter, he shared some texts from Dvorkovich.
Some of those texts — which were highlighted to illustrate that both parties were really close to a deal — are as follows:
Story continues below this ad
“I think you did a great job looking for a solution. We are much closer to it but based on the opinions of my colleagues we are not there”
“Really appreciate your message, I will go all in to find a solution quickly”
“I will be in the air for some time in case you see that I am not responding”
Dvorkovich has not reacted to his messages being shared publicly.
