The International Chess Federation and Freestyle Chess Operations GmbH have reached an agreement to hold the first-ever FIDE Freestyle World Championship.

The competition, which will take place in Weissenhaus (Germany) from February 13 to 15 this year, is a logical continuation of the Fischer Random Chess tournaments held in 2019 and 2022. Eight experienced players will compete for the championship title.

Based on the results of the stages of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025, six of the world’s most renowned grandmasters were announced as official participants. Notably, alongside Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, and Arjun Erigaisi, who are expected to take part in the tournament, Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindorov was also mentioned.

Under the regulations, one of the two remaining players will be determined through a FIDE qualifying event, and the Freestyle Chess organization will announce the name of the second participant.

T. Ruziyev, UzA