Carlsen, Abdusattorov Lead Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam
The 2025 Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam started with a bang on Monday. The first day featured six rounds of rapid chess and only six of the 36 games ended in draws! World number-one Magnus Carlsen and late addition GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov emerged as the early leaders, each with 5/6 points.
- Weekend Drama
- Standings After Day 1
- Format
- Carlsen, Abdusattorov Take The Lead
- Weissenhaus Champion And World Champion At Risk Of Being Eliminated
Weekend Drama
The weekend before the event began, organizer Jan Henric Buettner announced that the event would have state-of-the-art cheat detection in place. He described the provisions in the previous Freestyle event as "more like airport security. Now we have CIA type..." You can hear his discussion of security as well as the late withdrawal of GM Hans Niemann from the event in a new interview.
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.
Carlsen, Abdusattorov Take The Lead
Abdusattorov didn't know he was going to be playing in Paris until Niemann dropped out of the event a couple of days ago. That didn't slow him down, however, as he won his first three games, then cruised with two draws and a final win to wrap up the day.
Carlsen overcame a round-two loss against GM Arjun Erigaisi to win the rest of his games, including a thriller in round five against GM Hikaru Nakamura.
Both players' heartrates climb to around 130 as Carlsen beats Nakamura in the penultimate round of the day! #FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/sBMQRlWEED
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 7, 2025
Nakamura still had a solid day, finishing with 3.5/6.
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also had a strong performance, scoring 4.5/6. He used a stalemate trick to save a tough half-point against Hikaru.
Maxime @Vachier_Lagrave with a highly-advanced Botez Gambit! pic.twitter.com/zcdHwa8P8K
— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeApp) April 7, 2025
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was another player to start well, with 4/6, and Arjun rounds out the leaders with 3.5/6. Since the top-eight players qualify for the main knockout, any positive score through the first half of the round-robin puts players in an excellent position.
Arjun nearly won a thrilling ending against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, but had to settle for a draw in a complicated struggle.
Weissenhaus Champion And World Champion At Risk Of Being Eliminated
GM Vincent Keymer was the surprise winner of the previous Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournament, but he is in danger of missing the cutoff with only 2/6 so far. In even more trouble is World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who has only 1.5/6. The only players in more trouble than those two are newly-wed GM Vidit Gujrathi, having a tough honeymoon with 1/6, and GM Richard Rapport, who is playing as a replacement for GM Alireza Firouzja, and is also on 1/6. At just over the halfway point of the round-robin, these four players are on track to be knocked out of the battle for $200,000 if they can't pick up the pace.
Tomorrow will see four players eliminated from the race, while eight advance to the main knockout. Who do you expect to make it? Let us know in the comments.
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.
Previous coverage:
- Play-in KO Day 2: Vidit Qualifies For Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Honeymoon
- Play-In KO Day 1: Vidit, Rapport, Mamedov, Tabatabaei Fight For Final Spot In Paris
- Play-In Swiss: Tabatabaei, Nguyen, Mamedov, Pranesh In Hunt For Paris Freestyle Chess Spot
- Niemann Given Surprise Paris Freestyle Wildcard, Set To Face Carlsen
- Undefeated Keymer Wins Weissenhaus Knockout
