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Carlsen Takes Sole Lead On 5/5
Carlsen is the only player left on a perfect score. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Carlsen Takes Sole Lead On 5/5

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NM AnthonyLevin
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| 63 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Magnus Carlsen has taken the sole lead in the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open as the only player with a perfect score after five rounds. He enjoyed two smooth victories on Saturday against GM Etienne Bacrot and 53-year-old GM Victor Mikhalevski, who had an incredible run up to his faceoff with the world number-one.

There are seven players a half-point behind Carlsen: GMs Awonder Liang, Paulius Pultinevicius, Baadur Jobava, Matthias Bluebaum, Alexey Sarana, Parham Maghsoodloo, and Leon Luke Mendonca.

Round six will be on Sunday, April 20, starting at 4:00 a.m. ET / 10:00 CEST / 1:30 p.m. IST, followed by round seven on the same day at 10:00 a.m. ET / 16:00 CEST / 7:30 p.m. IST.

More than 3,000 players are in the hall. Photo: Stev Bonhage.

Carlsen is in the lead, but there are plenty of players just on his heels, including several pre-tournament favorites who lost early on but then have won their remaining games, like GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana.

Standings After Round 5 | Top 20

Rk. Title Name Rtg FED Pts.
1 GM Carlsen Magnus 2837 5
2 GM Liang Awonder 2692 4.5
GM Pultinevicius Paulius 2558 4.5
4 GM Mendonca Leon Luke 2643 4.5
5 GM Sarana Alexey 2672 4.5
6 GM Bluebaum Matthias 2662 4.5
GM Jobava Baadur 2600 4.5
8 GM Maghsoodloo Parham 2684 4.5
9 GM Mikhalevski Victor 2513 4
10 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2757 4
GM Niemann Hans Moke 2736 4
GM Mamedov Rauf 2657 4
13 GM Aryan Chopra 2620 4
14 GM Keymer Vincent 2718 4
GM Van Foreest Jorden 2681 4
GM Svane Rasmus 2625 4
17 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2738 4
GM Tabatabaei M. Amin 2661 4
GM Pranesh M 2572 4
20 GM Caruana Fabiano 2776 4

(See full standings here.)

GM Hans Niemann, who arrived with his mentor and confidante GM Vladimir Kramnik, is also in the chasing pack of players on four points, still with chances of winning the whole thing in the remaining four rounds.

Niemann, a prospective world champion, has joined forces with the former world champion. Photo: Stev Bonhage.

Round 4: Carlsen, Mendonca, Sarana, Mikhalevski On Perfect Scores

There were just four players left on a perfect after round four: Carlsen, Mendonca, Sarana, and Mikhalevski. 

This was the starting position for round five.

Carlsen continued to steam on ahead and had a smooth win against Bacrot, after politely taking a selfie before the game.

After winning two minor pieces for a rook, Carlsen organized the minor pieces, with the queen, for a decisive attack. He told WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, "I didn't love the position that I got eventually, but I think he missed something tactically, and then my pieces got out and the tactics were working for me."

In the same interview, which took place before round five, Carlsen also briefly talked about his close call against GM Nils Grandelius in round three. He said he's not in the best shape after just playing (and winning) the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Paris: "I don't have the strength to play two good games in a day.... I somehow got away with that one." The best players get lucky pretty often, it seems!

Mikhalevski, who earned his GM title back in 1996, was the dark horse at the top, reaching a perfect 4/4 (before playing Carlsen in round five). He had defeated GM Grigoriy Oparin in the previous round, before taking down GM Jorden van Foreest. The Israeli GM had a slight advantage with the bishop pair, but the Dutchman's 20...g4? allowed a tremendous central breakthrough:

Mikhalevski kept pace with the world's best for four rounds. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Mendonca scored his fourth win with an upset against GM Richard Rapport, an impressive follow-up to his victory over GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in round three. The Hungarian grandmaster had a winning position, but one inaccurate queen move handed the advantage to Black, and a second wrong queen move was the losing mistake. Mendonca won with a checkmating attack.

Mendonca scored two sparkling wins in a row. Photo: Stev Bonhage.

Sarana defeated GM Jan Smeets with a temporary piece sacrifice. Then he gained it back with an extra pawn in the endgame.

Sarana keeps pace, a half-point behind Carlsen. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Sadly for his fans, GM Arjun Erigaisi, the second seed, had already dropped a half-point in round two, and in round four he lost a back-and-forth game against his countryman GM Aryan Chopra. The Indian number-two will have an uphill battle to earn the ticket to Las Vegas.

Arjun may be out of the running. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Round 5: Carlsen's On Top

So long as they declared their intention before round five, players were allowed to transfer from the classical tournament to the Freestyle event and keep their score. Top seed Liang, as well as others, took advantage of this new opportunity.

It's so far, so good for Liang, as he won in 14 moves against GM Daniel Dardha in his first Freestyle game. His 12.Bxg7? was objectively a mistake, but it was also the sacrifice that won the game! Black resigned two moves after taking the bishop, and Liang is now a half-point behind the leader.

Curiously, Pultinevicius—another player who transferred over with 3.5/4 in the classical—scored an upset against 2706-rated GM Javokhir Sindarov with a sacrifice on the same theme. This one, however, included a rook sacrifice on g7 before bringing the knight to f6 with decisive effect. It was a clean game, analyzed fully by GM Rafael Leitao below.

On to the top two boards, featuring the four players on perfect scores.

Before his game, Carlsen noticed that his opponent was wearing an analog watch, and it was promptly removed.

Mikhalevski found a creative pawn sacrifice that didn't impress the computer but received praise from Leko in the commentary. But pretty quickly, Carlsen's opponent collapsed after he sacrificed a queen for rook and knight. The Israeli GM thought he would have a mating attack, but Carlsen freed up his king (with 23.c5) and sailed to 5/5.

The two other players on a perfect score, Mendonca and Sarana, made a draw in a perfect-accuracy game that transposed to a pure Italian Opening.

Mendonca, who's playing in Karlsruhe for the second time since 2019, spoke to Steil-Antoni about his round-three win and also about how excited he is to play Freestyle Chess in a classical format. "I came here especially for the Freestyle," he said, adding:

It's the best thing, I think. I hope that this is the future of chess because I really love it and, I mean, it kind of forces players to showcase their true skills rather than just opening theory.

Liang, in his second Freestyle game, will face the world number-one in round six. Even if he manages to nick a half-point from the game, it would open the floodgates for over a dozen other players.

Round 6 Pairings | Top 15

Bo. No. Title White Rtg Pts. Pts. Title Black Rtg
1 18 GM Liang, Awonder 2692 4½ 5 GM Carlsen, Magnus 2837
2 32 GM Mendonca, Leon Luke 2643 4½ 4½ GM Maghsoodloo, Parham 2684
3 23 GM Sarana, Alexey 2672 4½ 4½ GM Pultinevicius, Paulius 2558
4 43 GM Jobava, Baadur 2600 4½ 4½ GM Bluebaum, Matthias 2662
5 14 GM Keymer, Vincent 2718 4 4 GM Aryan, Chopra 2620
6 30 GM Karthikeyan, Murali 2651 4 4 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2776
7 4 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2757 4 4 GM Anton Guijarro, David 2639
8 36 GM Svane, Rasmus 2625 4 4 GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2738
9 10 GM Niemann, Hans Moke 2736 4 4 GM Movsesian, Sergei 2591
10 39 GM Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan 2618 4 4 GM Yu, Yangyi 2714
11 60 GM Mikhalevski, Victor 2513 4 4 GM Esipenko, Andrey 2696
12 45 GM Yoo, Christopher Woojin 2588 4 4 GM Van Foreest, Jorden 2681
13 27 GM Tabatabaei, M. Amin 2661 4 4 GM Fridman, Daniel 2582
14 50 GM Pranesh M, 2572 4 4 GM Oparin, Grigoriy 2660
15 29 GM Mamedov, Rauf 2657 4 4 GM Gokerkan, Cem Kaan 2489

(See all pairings here.)

How to watch?

You can watch the broadcast on Chess24's YouTube or Twitch channels. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated events page. 

Round 4:

Round 5:

The live broadcast was hosted by GM Peter Leko and IM Lawrence Trent.

The Grenke Freestyle Chess Open is a classical tournament in the Freestyle Chess (Chess960) format that determines one of the 12 participants of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event taking place in New York. The event takes place alongside a regular classical tournament, the Grenke Chess Open. The Freestyle Chess event is a nine-round Swiss with a time control of 90+30 for the entire game, with a prize fund of €225,000 and the chance to win Freestyle Grand Slam Tour points.

Previous coverage:

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