An imminent showdown between Magnus Carlsen, the world No1, and Gukesh Dommaraju, the youngest ever world champion, has been overshadowed this week by a bitter war of words between the global body Fide and Jan-Henric Buettner, the Freestyle Chess founder and chief. This dispute has since been kicked into the future by an uneasy truce.

The issue was whether Freestyle’s new global $3.75m four-continent circuit, which starts at noon GMT on Friday 7 February and for which Carlsen is a strong favourite, can legitimately be called a world championship. After a post by Carlsen on X, an open letter by Buettner, and a Fide statement, the 2025 Freestyle circuit will now go ahead just as a Grand Slam event.

The 10 invitees and qualifiers for the first leg in Weissenhaus, Germany, include six of the top eight in the live ratings, which makes it stronger than Fide’s 2024-25 Candidates and title match. Carlsen defeated the world No 2 and popular streamer Hikaru Nakamura in round one, then played Black against the US champion Fabiano Caruana in round two. Gukesh v Carlsen, in which India’s world champion plays White, will be in the ninth and final round on Saturday.

Weissenhaus starts with a 10-player all-play-all concluding on Saturday, from which the top eight will qualify for knockout matches over the following six days. The qualifier will have a fast time limit of 10 minutes each for the entire game, plus a 10 seconds per move increment, while the KO rounds will be at a slower classical rate of 90 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30 seconds per move increment from move one.

In Freestyle, also known as Fischer Random or Chess 960, the positions of the back rank pieces are randomised, avoiding long lines of opening theory. Elite grandmasters like it because it avoids the need for hours of pre-game preparation, but it is rarely played at grassroots level or in online games.

Buettner’s events continue with Paris in April, New York or Las Vegas in July, Delhi in September, and Cape Town in December. In addition to the huge prize fund of $750,000 per event, Freestyle is paying a retainer to GMs rated 2725 or higher who are excluded from the 10 starters for each leg.

Freestyle hopes to build large online audiences, based on the Norwegian broadcasting model where Carlsen’s games are the basis for a two-hour television show.

However, Buettner’s target of a budget breakeven by 2026 may be unrealistic. Chess.com, which claims over 10 million daily active users and over 140 million members worldwide, rarely reaches 10,000 viewers for its live screening of major tournaments. Chess players overwhelmingly prefer to compete rather than spectate. Additionally, Freestyle is virtually never used at grassroots level, where novices and average players like the comfort of starting their games with familiar opening patterns.

Gukesh was edged out of first prize in a tie-break last Sunday after leading almost all the way at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee – the “chess Wimbledon” – in the 18-year-old’s Indian’s first event since becoming the youngest ever world champion.

Wijk aan Zee was a significant breakthrough for the rising generation. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who defeated Gukesh 2-1 in speed games after they shared first with 8.5/13, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who finished third half a point behind, and Arjun Erigaisi, who won key games in the final two rounds, are all now ranked among the world top eight in the live ratings. This quartet are all aged 21 or younger.

Erigaisi beat Gukesh in the decisive round 13 game when the world champion failed to offer a queen swap at move 18 and was later routed by Black’s queen and rooks on the h file.

Caruana, 32, who began the tournament as world No 2, dropped to fourth behind Gukesh as he finished with a 6/13 minus total. The US champion’s loss to Praggnanandha was a significant moment in the tournament after the American created a small opening edge, then castled long to add to the pressure. Caruana could have increased his advantage by 26 Rd6! followed by Nc5 and Qc3, but instead drifted and allowed Black to develop a devastating attack.

Stewart Reuben, who died on Tuesday aged 85, was England’s leading chess organiser for several decades and played a key role in the chess explosion of the 1970s. His brainchild was the weekend Swiss tournament, allowing large numbers to compete, and the intense competition produced a battle-hardened generation who in the 1970s and 1980s became No 2 in the world after the Soviet Union.

Reuben organised and directed several major international tournaments. Fide, the global chess body, awarded him the titles of International Arbiter and International Organiser. He was always approachable and ready to give friendly advice, as well as being a lively raconteur.

Reuben was an expert player, who once drew with Bobby Fischer in a blitz game, but he was even better at poker, which he played professionally and about which he wrote several books. He held numerous key posts for the English and British Chess Federations, and was an authority on chess rules.

3958 1....Qd7! and White resigned. If 2 Rxg6 (other moves of the attacked rook are no better) Rh1+! 2 Kxh1 Qh3+ and 3....Rf1 mate.