'Chess mafia prioritizes profits': Niemann opens new front against Carlsen, urges to protect FIDE and chess

American Grandmaster Hans Niemann has become one of the most prominent voices in the chess world to throw his support behind the International Chess Federation, FIDE, amid its cold war against Magnus Carlsen and the Freestyle Chess Operations.

Coming out in support of FIDE, 21-year-old Hans Niemann said that the “chess mafia”—a term he has consistently used to describe World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Chess.com—cares only about maximizing profits.

Niemann urges to protect FIDE from players ‘who abuse power’

Niemann felt that FIDE, which is a non-profit body, is best suited to grow the sport of chess and it needs to be protected from those who “abuse power”.

“FIDE is a nonprofit with countless dedicated volunteers who genuinely care about chess. Meanwhile, the chess mafia talks about “growing the game” but prioritizes their profits above all. We must support official regulatory bodies to protect our game from those who abuse power,” he wrote on X.

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FIDE is a nonprofit with countless dedicated volunteers who genuinely care about chess. Meanwhile, the chess mafia talks about "growing the game" but prioritizes their profits above all. We must support official regulatory bodies to protect our game from those who abuse power. https://t.co/AVx81BH0Nz

— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) May 5, 2025

It is worth noting that Niemann has been at loggerheads with Carlsen, Nakamura and Chess.com after he was accused of cheating by them in 2022.

What’s the FIDE vs ‘chess mafia’ battle?

The chess world is witnessing a subtle conflict for power between the FIDE and Carlsen-led Freestyle Chess. The Freestyle Chess tournaments, including the inaugural Grand Slam tour, do not fall under FIDE’s jurisdiction. However, it involves the best players in the world besides world No.1 Carlsen.

World champion D Gukesh of India, World No.2 Nakamura and other top players, including Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, among others, have been participating in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tour while Carlsen has already declared that he is not interested in returning to the classical World Chess Championship cycle and reclaim his crown.

Also Read | Hans Niemann breaks silence on sudden exit from Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam

Carlsen has been world champion five times but currently he is completely focussed on promotion and popularising Freestyle Chess in partnership with German businessman Jan Henric Buettner, who is also the co-owner of Freestyle Chess Operations and Chess.com.

Carlsen feels the sport of chess needs a revolution to attract new viewers and the randomised Freestyle Chess, which is also known as Fischer Random Chess or Chess960, is the best format to take it to the younger generation.

The International Chess Federation, FIDE, however, had not been holding the World Championship in the Chess960 format for a while and hence faces a new challenge to maintain its authority on the sport.

Also Read | Freestyle Chess takes centre-stage, gives FIDE plenty of reasons to ponder over future

FIDE and Freestyle Chess were also involved in a fight over the latter’s intention to use the term ‘world champion’ for the winner of its Grand Slam tour. It led to a prolonged battle in which FIDE even tried to arm-twist the participants with instructions like gaining a “waiver note” before taking part in Freestyle Chess events.

The dispute eventually ended after Freestyle Chess Grand Slam players picked ‘Freestyle Chess Champion’ as the title for the eventual winner and not world champion.