Anatol Vitouch

Austrian FM

“One high-ranking FIDE official predicted to me back in 2025 that Büttner would sooner or later get tired of his Freestyle Tour. Namely when he realizes how much money he’s spending for relatively little public interest.

Has that moment now arrived? At the very least, it’s currently unclear whether the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2026 will take place at all. The new World Championship in Weissenhaus has a prize fund of just $300,000 and is therefore comparatively cheap for Büttner.

And it’s precisely this fact that has already been criticized by the reigning Fischer Random World Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura, who wanted to play in the Freestyle Tour 2026 but declined participation in the hastily organized World Championship in Weissenhaus. In a public statement, Nakamura criticized the extremely short announcement period for the tournament, the reduction of the prize fund, and the cooperation with FIDE in general.

FIDE itself insisted last year that the title of World Championship shouldn’t be used for a private tournament lacking a transparent qualification system for all participants. Now, following the agreement with Büttner, this is no longer being discussed.”