India, Feb. 8 -- The first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour began in Weissenhaus, Germany, on Friday, as the likes of D Gukesh, Magnus Carlsen participated in initial rounds of the Chess960 tournament. But the private tournament, co-owned by Jan Henric Buettner and Magnus Carlsen, has also brought plenty of controversy and the FIDE has accused it of dividing the chess world.

The first week of February saw FIDE release a statement where it denied giving official recognition to a Freestyle World Championship. In response, Freestyle Chess released an open letter, leaking messages with FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich and also asked for his resignation. Freestyle Chess, Carlsen in particular, even accused FIDE of threatening younge...