Will you resign? Carlsen accuses FIDE chief of coercion, broken promises
The Hindu
Magnus Carlsen demands FIDE President Dvorkovich resign over broken promises, coercion, and misuse of power in chess.
World number one Magnus Carlsen has demanded that International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich resign for "coercion of players, misuse of power and broken promises" after talks to thrash out an agreement between the world body and the Freestyle Tour co-founded by him collapsed.
The 34-year-old Norwegian superstar was reacting to FIDE's statement on Monday (February 3, 2025) in which it declared that efforts to work out a consensus with the Freestyle Chess Tour, co-founded by Carlsen and German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner, had failed over the use of the term world championship.
FIDE also asked players wanting to participate in the Tour's events to sign a waiver to remain eligible for the official World Championship cycle.
The Freestyle Tour reacted by lambasting FIDE but at the same time, agreed to postpone the use of term world championship for its grand finale this year. The decision means that players will not be required to sign a FIDE waiver anymore.
Sharing a few personal messages from Dvorkovich, Carlsen said the Russian had promised to leave players out of this tug of war in a text to his father before the world rapid and blitz championship in New York last month.
"...to convince me to play the Rapid & Blitz in New York, you wrote Dec 19th to my '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'," Carlsen revealed.
"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?" Carlsen asked.
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