@robertbaskin99 Yes,we will continue with the support for open tournaments and norm events.

One thing that bugs me - chess itself nearly disappeared from the top players' Social Media. When did you see last time a diagram with some nice combination or a puzzle? Or some deep observation about the opening concept? Apart of the World Championship Match, that was commented on in great detail, it has almost gone. I don't think it is actually players' fault - it is about the nature of Social Media. In order to be "likeable", it should be very simple - and top players won't do that. But wouldn't it be exciting to have a weekly post from a great player, sharing something deep, important, even revealing?

@potzysk2 No, there were no restrictions. Only their own obligations undertaken in 2023-2024. But now they don't even have to get a waiver.

Sad news - Stewart Reuben passed away. One of the most prominent figures in UK chess, he contributed a great deal as a main organizer of Hastings, Gibraltar and many other events - in particular in 1990ies and the beginning of 21st century. Man of many talents, he was widely known outside of chess circles as an outstanding poker player and author. But chess always remained his passion. At 80 he still competed in international events, tho short of his peak (2270), he would come all the way to Gibraltar to play and enjoy the atmosphere. For many years Stewart contributed as a member of various FIDE commissions, and I was regularly talking to him, seeking his advice on various senior programs we run. Last time we spoke was about a year ago, and he was still going strong at his 85, but, alas... Stewart will be missed.

@geranamine I share FIDE side of the story. And I also add a lot of less diplomatic personal opinions. Have a look.

@pix3lat0r Apart of fully independent FIDE verification commission headed by prominent American representative, we are audited by the big-four firm. We publish detailed info about our budget, etc. I am not sure what kind of public investigation you have in mind.

@War_Campaigner It was, of course.

The day PHN shows his real face. Not only he posts a private conversation, but he also does not mention it took place in 2018. They must be really angry not to get their hands on the World Championship thing.

Boris Spassky turned 88 today! I published an essay on his career and life in my Facebook. A bit too long for Twitter - give it a look to learn more about great Boris.

I spoke several times with Mr.Büttner, and always expressed my positive feelings about the project. First time it was a two-hours call right after their debut event. It was more than friendly, and we started to look for ways to cooperate, although he candidly mentioned: "we don't need FIDE on this project, and we don't need to call it a world championship". Still I was very positive about new ambitious person in the chess world. Publicly praising Jan and mentioning in my interviews "a rising tide lifts all the boats". Happy about more promotion for chess, more opportunities for players... And then we had another conversation, and another one, and another one. For several months we discussed possible cooperation: an implementation of FIDE ratings for Chess960, possible qualification tournaments, challenges in staging more Freestyle events in 2024 ("nobody wants to put any money into it, and the only thing the Indians offered was a discounted price in hotel"), the aligning of the Calendar in 2025. I candidly shared the info and readily provided advises when asked. Nothing was about naming it World Championship. "We don't need it. We are not FIDE who needs to care about everyone. We will have our Tour with all the best". Fair enough - and still a lot of room to cooperate. But then something has changed. We may only guess what or who impacted it. And then Freestyle Chess decided to ride on the publicity and budget of the FIDE World Championship in Singapore. And the publications in the major media were organized on the eve of the Championship, directly attacking both the match and classical/regular chess. And they set up the press-conference in Singapore on the same day as the opening ceremony of the Match, and suddenly instead of having just a Freestyle Tour/Grand Slam all of a sudden "World Championship" popped up. Since then, it got bitter and bitter. I am still puzzled about this change in attitude. Why instead peacefully running your series one starts a battle of the kind, aiming to split the chess community? Is it a sort of personal ambition? Or is it the realization that "World Championship" sells better? Or an attempt to prove that this is THE world championship? If so, that won't work. FIDE was always open for dialogue, but we have our obligations towards entire chess community, and we will fulfill them.

When one sees public rhetoric coming from Freestyle Chess leaders, it becomes clear, that the project is bound to fail. " F U ", "They are so stupid", "Horse sh.t" etc. And why all that? Because you want your private project to be called World Championship? Instead of finding a way to cooperate - as we do with several major organizers, to align the Calendar as we proposed for the benefit of players and fans. So, to hype the things up you start a campaign belittling classical/regular chess, orchestrating media publications, and spicen it up with personal attacks? That is not how you win hearts or money. And money is by far the main objective for this commercial project. This is also not the way to appeal to chess community: you may hire lawyers and try to convince some players to violate their obligations. But it won't work at large - especially when you have nothing sustainable to offer. And chess players know that FIDE delivers and will keep delivering. And you completely neglect entire chess society, focusing on few people interest - and for that sake go to war, demanding your project to be called World Championship? All the above (and there is much more) are signs of the attitude that will lead to a failure. FIDE is known for its readiness to be mindful, flexible, and to go extra miles towards partners, and especially players - and that was mistaken for weakness. "I am bigger than FIDE" concept did not work even for Fischer and Kasparov - who tried it being reigning World Champions, while having a real dominance over their rivals at the time. Of course, initially the public may back a superstar vs the governing body. And you may lure in a couple of naive investors. But that is unsustainable - and we saw many examples of the kind. Today FIDE is probably in the best position ever - and chess community sees it - we deliver unprecedented number of projects around the world, we keep increasing prize funds for top players and support for educational and social programs, and we can plan far ahead thanks to our partnerships East and West. We'd love to work with any private project - in particular with ambitious ones. But if you want a war - try us.

@AdeaIsrael We are more than open to that. We proposed that and other possible configurations - sky is a limit - as long as parties agree that FIDE preserves rights for the World Championship. But it was sadly declined.