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It's A Carlsen-Nakamura Final In Paris!
Magnus Carlsen overcame another great rival, Fabiano Caruana, to reach the final. Photo: Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess.

It's A Carlsen-Nakamura Final In Paris!

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Colin_McGourty
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| 40 | Chess Event Coverage

World numbers one and two GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura will compete for the $200,000 top prize in the Final of the 2025 Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam. Carlsen overcame GM Fabiano Caruana, who fought valiantly in a difficult position before cracking in time trouble. GM Hikaru Nakamura, meanwhile, did what no one else has managed this year—beat GM Vincent Keymer in a classical game of freestyle chess.

GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave both hit back on demand to take their 5th-8th place matches to tiebreaks, with Arjun playing the game of the day. The momentum continued, as both clinched spots in the 5th place final, where a $50,000 prize is still at stake. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, meanwhile, beat GM Richard Rapport to take 9th place and $15,000. 

The Finals of the 2025 Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam begin on Sunday, April 13, at 7 a.m. ET / 13:00 CEST / 4:30 p.m. IST.

Nakamura was the only player to win the classical game with Black. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess.

Main Standings

Carlsen 1.5-0.5 Caruana

Both the world numbers one and five talked about how they hadn't been well in Paris, but at least they didn't need to burn up too much of their energy on pre-game preparation.

When position #004 was chosen for the second games of the Semifinals, Carlsen perked up and led his team to choose the plan of 1.c4 c5 2.b3 b6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4, a setup that also appeared on the boards of Arjun and Vachier-Lagrave.  

All three games were won by White. Carlsen joked in the confessional about how we need to find a new variant to avoid this opening preparation! 

Carlsen explained why the plan looked so natural:

To be fair, those moves are so blindingly obvious and natural that it’s hard not to make them, and as we analyzed earlier on a very, very superficial look, it seemed that White will have quite a pleasant game after getting a little bit of space in the center and bringing the queen into the game. 

Carlsen would in fact visit the confessional twice more, once to point out a potential double-threat of giving smothered mate (see the game analysis later). Then during Caruana's 34-minute think after 11.h4, Carlsen felt his position was "absolutely overwhelming," explaining that he was gaining space and kicking around Black's pieces.

"He’s obviously going to fight his hardest to get out, but I’m really, really liking my chances now," Carlsen summed up. In fact, in the game Caruana's deep think led to 11...Qb8!? and what proved to be an inspired plan of provoking White to advance further but then using active pieces to force off queens.

Caruana found some great resources. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess.

Reaching a tricky endgame against the world number-one is not yet a safe harbor, but Carlsen admitted he was rattled. His energy had dropped precipitously:

I think I did really well for a long time and I was still feeling alright, and then I felt my energy dropped. Honestly, the last hour and a half maybe was kind of tough. I felt he did really well to stay in the game. I missed a couple of things, and then I just started gambling. I just wanted to make something happen before it was too late because I did not feel that I had the strength for a long struggle.

I just started gambling. I just wanted to make something happen before it was too late because I did not feel that I had the strength for a long struggle.

—Magnus Carlsen  

What followed was part brilliance and part blunder, but a key factor was that Caruana found himself with too little time to navigate the dangers. 25.c5! was the start of the brilliance.

Carlsen was offering a pawn to put the knight on c4, and when Black responded badly, Carlsen was soon winning with sharp tactics all working in his favor.

32.Bb8?, however, could have thrown away the win.

The threat is Rd8+ and back-rank checkmate, or grabbing the a7-pawn, but in fact 32...Kf8! would leave White nothing better than a sad retreat of the bishop, since capturing the a7-pawn would see the bishop trapped by the black rooks.

Caruana trusted his opponent, however, and after 32...Re8? Carlsen could take the a7-pawn and there was no stopping him from winning the match. 

After what Carlsen called a "tough, tough game," he knows things are unlikely to get easier in the Final.

Carlsen said of Nakamura, "I think he played well today, so if he’s at that level, it’s not going to be easy, but happy just to be there!"

Nakamura 1.5-0.5 Keymer

While four players went for the "Carlsen plan" of 1.c4, Keymer thought for another 10 minutes and opted for 1.d4 instead.

Nakamura was less surprised than concerned, since Team Black had discussed that move: "When I was analyzing with Fabi and Nepo, we were very unhappy with this 1.d4 d5 2.b3, and then, of course, Vincent played it!"

Nakamura finally stopped Keymer's freestyle chess run. Photo: Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess.

The computer approved of Keymer's choice, and he seemed to handle the position well. Although he acknowledged his knights were restricted by Nakamura's pawns, he had high hopes.

Those hopes, however, were based around restricting the black king, and even by this stage Nakamura felt that his opponent had "tried too hard." The moment it was clear things had got out of hand was when the world number-two got to play 14...0-0-0, teleporting the black king from g8 to c8. 

"He lost his sense of danger and once I got to castle queenside, it was very hard to play," Nakamura summarized, though he praised the "very resourceful" 22.Bxf5!? that came when Nakamura felt things were already wrapped up.

Keymer resigns for the first time in a classical freestyle chess game.

Finally Keymer's knockout spell had been broken, though the winner of the Weissenhaus Grand Slam will still get to play for third place and $100,000 as he takes on Caruana in a repeat of what was the final in Weissenhaus. 

Nakamura also recapped his game below:

Nakamura was happy but already looking ahead: "It’s nice, of course, to be in the Final, but the job isn’t done—I have to play Magnus next!"

It's nice of, course, to be in the Final, but the job isn't done—I have to play Magnus next!

—Hikaru Nakamura

The matchup has a name!

Arjun, MVL Hit Back In Battle For 5th

Arjun Erigaisi was a killer on day two of the Semifinals. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess.

It's not all about the top spots, however, since even fifth place in the Grand Slam is worth $50,000. How much it means could be seen in the way Arjun and Vachier-Lagrave stormed back from losing the first classical games to make it to the showdown for fifth place. 

Arjun hadn't just lost on the first day, but had been hit by perhaps the move and the game of the tournament so far. Remarkably, one day later, he played perhaps the move and game of the tournament himself with 12.Qd8!!.

GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed the 24-move miniature below.

That was enough for Arjun to force tiebreaks, and he carried on his momentum to win the first 10-minute game. In the second, however, it seemed sure Nepomniachtchi would strike back as he found the blow 19.Bxh6!. 

Nepomniachtchi soon allowed a trade of queens, however, and in the endgame a black passed pawn on c3 proved enough to hold a draw a pawn down. At one point Nepomniachtchi had almost double the heart rate of Arjun (146 to 80), but all his efforts came to nothing.

Arjun noted that such comebacks aren't the norm for him: "In general in such situations, I have done poorly so I’m quite happy!"

He'll now take on hometown hero Vachier-Lagrave, who also hit back in the classical game to smoothly outplay GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Vachier-Lagrave is still playing for big money on home soil. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess.

There was then nothing smooth about the first rapid game, which featured winning chances for both sides; the second was also bumpy, but it was only a question of whether the Frenchman would convert his edge. He did, with 27.Rd5!!, cutting off the queen's defense of the a8-square, leading to resignation a couple of moves later.

Abdusattorov and Nepomniachtchi will still compete for seventh place and $30,000. 

Praggnanandhaa Takes 9th

In the next Grand Slam in Las Vegas, the new format means that players who finish in the bottom four of the Round-Robin will still have a chance to battle their way to third place, but in Paris the best they could do is reach ninth and $15,000. It was Praggnanandhaa who took that prize.

The event is over for Praggnanandhaa, who takes ninth. Photo: Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess.

The Indian star did it with some fine tactics against GM Richard Rapport, who took 10th place and $10,000. 24...Qxd2? was the point of no return, with 28.Bxf5! the most visually-appealing move in what followed! 

Both GMs Vidit Gujrathi and Gukesh Dommaraju earned $7,500 for 11th-12th place.

How To Watch
You can watch the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Paris on Chess.Com or Chess24 YouTube, or Chess.com or Chess24 Twitch channels, as well as on GM Hikaru Nakamura's Kick channel. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page. GMs Judit Polgar, Peter Leko, and Niclas Huschenbeth hosted the expert broadcast.

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Paris is the second of five events on 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 from the fight for first 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:

Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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