D Gukesh’s chief coach casts doubts on Magnus Carlsen’s Freestyle Chess project’s future: ‘No guarantee in 2 years…’

D Gukesh’s chief coach casts doubts on Magnus Carlsen’s Freestyle Chess project’s future: ‘No guarantee in 2 years…’

D Gukesh’s chief coach casts doubts on Magnus Carlsen’s Freestyle Chess project’s future: ‘No guarantee in 2 years…’ ByHT Sports Desk Feb 24, 2025 01:14 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Grzegorz Gajewski’s observation and also D Gukesh’s earlier comments create a sense of confusion as he is participating at the upcoming Paris Grand Slam event.

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour began with its first leg in Germany this month, as Vincent Keymer reigned supreme at Weissenhaus. For Indian chess fans, it was a source of disappointment as reigning world champion D Gukesh endured a winless run.

D Gukesh's chief coach questioned the long-term future of Freestyle Chess.

The 18-year-old finished in eighth position, and is set to return to Paris for the next Grand Slam event, scheduled for April. The Paris Grand Slam event will also see Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa join Gukesh and form a strong Indian contingent.

But it looks like Gukesh is unsure about his Freestyle Chess future, as revealed by his chief trainer Grzegorz Gajewski. The Polish GM spoke to Hindustan Times and revealed that due to the India No. 1 young age, he still needs to develop in the normal version of the game, and he went on to question the future of the Grand Slam Tour.

“The question though is whether you want to adjust and change the way you look at chess, because, if you adapt to this format, it could potentially backfire in the normal version of the game. So, for us there’s a clear problem of how much time we should devote to Freestyle considering that Gukesh is so young and there are so many things that he has yet to learn in the normal version of the game. We’re kind of hesitant about which approach we should choose for him because as exciting and fresh Freestyle is, there’s no guarantee that in two years’ time there will be another Grand Slam Tour and we don’t know in which direction it’s headed,” he said, while analysing Fischer Random chess.

In an earlier interview with ChessBase India during the Weissenhaus Grand Slam event, Gukesh also remarked that Chess960 is an experiment, and he doesn’t see it taking over classical chess. “I think 960 is nice as an experiment, but I don't see it taking over classical chess. The Classical World Chess Championship cycle will be much more important than 960, so I am glad to experiment with the 960,” he said.

Gajewski’s observation and also Gukesh’s earlier comments create a sense of confusion as he is participating in the Paris Grand Slam event. Gukesh’s role as the reigning world champion could also play a big role in their pro-FIDE comments.

FIDE found itself in massive controversy in the first week of February when it announced that there was no official recognition for a Freestyle Chess World Championship. In response, Freestyle Chess released an open letter, which also leaked alleged WhatsApp messages with FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich. Freestyle Chess co-founders Jan Henric Buettner and Magnus Carlsen also accused Dvorkovich of backtracking from his promise of giving official recognition. Since then, Freestyle Chess have agreed to not have a World C’ship, a decision will be taken later.