GM Ian nepomniachchi scored 4.5/5 to catch his World Blitz Co-Champion GM Magnus Carlsen and tie for first place in the Round-Robin stage of the 2025 Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam. They will be joined in the Quarterfinals by GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun Erigaisi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Hikaru Nakamura, Vincent Keymerand Fabiano Caruana.
At dinner after the round the top finishers picked their opponents from places 5-8.
The Playoffs are set…
Nepo picks Keymer
Carlsen Picks Abdusattorov
MVL picks Caruana
Erigaisi picks Nakamura.Game on! pic.twitter.com/hZ3nsH8b8m
— C-Squared Podcast (@CSQpod) April 8, 2025
World Champion Gukesh dommarajuGM Richard RapportGM Pragglenandan Rameshbuuand GM Vidit Gujrathi were less fortunate. Those four will compete in a tournament of their own for places 9-12, but can no longer win the Paris Grand Slam.
Format
The Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam is the second of five events on the multi-million dollar Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. It features 12 participants, including most of the top-rated players in the world.
The first two days see a Round-Robin rapid tournament with a time control of 10 minutes per player, with a 10-second increment added each move. After that, only the top-eight players advance to play a Knockout for the main prize.
Players are competing for a $200,000 first prize, with a total prize fund of $680,000 for the event.
Before each round, the players with each color huddle together to discuss possible opening ideas.
World number 1.
World number 2.
World number 3.
World number 4.
World number 5.Pure art. #FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/RRnyMi5ynb
— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 8, 2025
Nepo Carlsen
Carlsen was leading the tournament after the first day and chose to relax and enjoy himself on day two, winning consecutive games with positional queen sacrifices!
No queen, no problem.
Magnus just won his 2nd game in a row after giving up his queen. 📷: @Lenartoodes pic.twitter.com/SQVlLKG7Uu
— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeKApp) April 8, 2025
Carlsen described the game with Rapport as “just a joy to play.” He said that the queen sacrifice “was not an objective decision, but it was not the craziest gamble either.” It paid off and helped Carlsen to tie for first place in the Round-Robin. GM Rafael Leitao will soon add his annotations for the game of the day.
Carlsen was caught in first place and even passed on tiebreaks by Nepomniachtchi, who drew Carlsen and won the rest of his games on day two. Nepomniachtchi dominated the final-round battle with Gukesh, preventing the world champion from reaching the quarterfinals.
The top-eight Round-Robin finishers advance to the Quarterfinals, so Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun, and Abdusattorov were able to qualify based primarily on their strong performances on the first day. Nakamura had a slow start on the second day and needed a tough save against Abdusattorov in round 10 to clinch a top-eight finish. He once again recapped the day’s action.
It was a closer finish for Keymer and Caruana, who faced each other in the final round, with a draw suiting both players but a losing player in danger of not qualifying.
Caruana says the players may tend toward safety, but that the Chess960 position and no-draw-offer rule means he and Keymer won’t be able to make the draw they need for qualification nearly as easily as in normal chess! #FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/FjNOM4IEiE
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 8, 2025
Keymer won a strong attacking game, but Caruana advanced as both Gukesh and Rapport lost as well.
Tough Day For The Olympiad Champions
It’s a great time for chess in India, which has the world champion and won both sections of the Olympiad. However, in this event Arjun was the only Indian player to advance out of the Round-Robin.
Gukesh won the first two rounds to give himself a chance, but wasn’t able to capitalize on it in the closing rounds. In contrast, Vidit struggled until it was too late, before stabilizing toward the end and scoring a couple of late wins.
Someone should remind my man Vidit that victories are not like brides.
More than one is allowed!😅
Let’s go!💪
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) April 8, 2025
Rapport secured good positions in most games but, as in the battle with Carlsen annotated above, he wasn’t able to convert frequently enough.
Praggnanandhaa is likely the player most disappointed to miss the Quarterfinals. He was in good shape yesterday, but started today with only half a point from his first four games to fall out of contention.
Behind The Scenes
Although GM He niemann ‘s last-minute withdrawal generated more headlines, GM Alireza Firouzja also withdrew before the tournament. Jan Henric Buettner explained the details of the drawn-out contract discussions that led up to the tournament. Eventually, after a long back and forth, the two sides couldn’t agree to terms. Buettner admits that, “looking back, I still don’t understand” what they needed to do to get Firouzja to agree to play.
Negotiating contracts with @AlirezaFirouzja is no easy task.
Jan Henric Buettner tells the story of Firouzja’s withdrawal from @chess_freestyle Paris. pic.twitter.com/v0bYFbeyhP
— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeKApp) April 8, 2025
The top-eight players will compete in the Quarterfinals tomorrow, as the knockout stage begins. Who do you think will win the knockout? Let us know in the comments.
How To Watch
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Paris is the second of five events in the multi-million dollar Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The 12 players first play each other once in 10+10 rapid chess, with the bottom four eliminated and the top players choosing their opponents in the knockout. Each knockout round consists of two-game 90+30 matches. In case of a tie, two 10+10 games are played. If still tied, two 5+2 games are played, then a single Armageddon game. All games are played in freestyle chess.
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