Viswanathan Anand pulls out of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event as battle rages in chess world
The much-anticipated battle between world champion Viswanathan Anand and his protege Gukesh at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour expected to happen next week will not happen after the five-time world champion pulled out from the event.
While no reason has been given for Anand’s withdrawal, it comes in the middle of an acrimonious feud between FIDE on one hand and the organisers of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and Magnus Carlsen on the other hand.
Five-time world champion Anand is a Deputy President in FIDE, the global governing body for chess.
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The organisers of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour had named Anand as one of the 10 players in the field at the season-opening event, to be held at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in Germany. Gukesh and another world champion Magnus Carlsen are part of the first event in Germany.
A statement on the Freestyle Chess’ website confirmed the withdrawal without explaining why: “…Viswanathan Anand withdrew on short notice,” it reads.
Sindarov fills in
Javokhir Sindarov, a 19-year-old Uzbek prodigy, will fill in the spot left vacant Anand. Sindarov was the runner-up in the online qualifier after losing to Vladimir Fedoseev.Story continues below this ad
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Sindarov is said to have been informed of a spot opening up at the Weissenhaus event while he was on a family vacation in Dubai. “On Friday morning, I received a WhatsApp message confirming that I would be playing. Everyone was thrilled,” Sindarov was quoted as saying Freestyle Chess.
In recent weeks, FIDE and Freestyle Chess have fired shots at each other. The two entities have battled over the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour winner being called a world champion.
Freestyle Chess organisers have also claimed that FIDE asked for $5,00,000 annually to allow the event to go ahead. Players like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura have accused FIDE of threatening them over their participation at the event.
