Carlsen Perfect After 7 Rounds, Leads By Full Point
GM Magnus Carlsen continues his streak of perfection in the 2025 Grenke Chess Freestyle Open, now with seven rounds under his belt. He won a smooth game against GM Awonder Liang before his rollercoaster game against GM Parham Maghsoodloo, who lost on time—in a position where the Iranian grandmaster was still playing for the win despite being objectively lost.
Monday, April 21, is the final day that has two more rounds. Round eight will start at 4:00 a.m. ET / 10:00 CEST / 1:30 p.m. IST, followed by round nine at 10:00 a.m. ET / 16:00 CEST / 7:30 p.m. IST.
Carlsen now leads by a full point. His closest trailers are GMs Andrey Esipenko and Rauf Mamedov, a point behind.
Standings After Round 7 | Top 20
| Rk. | Title | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts. |
| 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2837 | 7 | |
| 2 | GM | Mamedov Rauf | 2657 | 6 | |
| 3 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | 2696 | 6 | |
| 4 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2600 | 5.5 | |
| 5 | GM | Sindarov Javokhir | 2706 | 5.5 | |
| GM | Bluebaum Matthias | 2662 | 5.5 | ||
| 7 | GM | Svane Frederik | 2668 | 5.5 | |
| 8 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | 2661 | 5.5 | |
| 9 | GM | Dominguez Perez Leinier | 2738 | 5.5 | |
| GM | Keymer Vincent | 2718 | 5.5 | ||
| GM | Sarana Alexey | 2672 | 5.5 | ||
| GM | Navara David | 2665 | 5.5 | ||
| 13 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2776 | 5.5 | |
| GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2684 | 5.5 | ||
| GM | Van Foreest Jorden | 2681 | 5.5 | ||
| 16 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2639 | 5.5 | |
| 17 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2722 | 5.5 | |
| 18 | GM | Liang Awonder | 2692 | 5 | |
| GM | Pultinevicius Paulius | 2558 | 5 | ||
| 20 | GM | Mendonca Leon Luke | 2643 | 5 |
If you're not in Karlsruhe, you can still fly through the playing hall with 1,500 chessboards by watching the video below.
Round 6: Maghsoodloo Surges
"Round six was one that certainly favored the favorites," said commentator IM Lawrence Trent. Carlsen stayed in the lead with another win, while Maghsoodloo slid into sole second with a black win of his own. Several draws on the other boards only extended Carlsen's lead.
The following position would be the battleground for round six.
Carlsen had a very smooth morning game with the black pieces, and he's said in several interviews now that he has plenty of energy for the first game. It's the second one that's "bleh!" in his words. He guessed that it's been about 20 years since he's played two rounds in one day.
Liang followed general opening principles by occupying the center with two pawns, but his pieces were not properly arranged to support them from behind. Starting with 6...f5, Carlsen undermined the center and, many moves later, eventually won the e-pawn. It seemed like Liang could fight for a long time, but the game ended quickly after 24.Nf3? lost a second pawn.
Maghsoodloo's win against GM Leon Luke Mendonca featured a similar theme: the fight against White's center. In a chaotic game, it was the Iranian grandmaster who was quicker to get at the opponent's king as he achieved two rooks on White's second rank. At the last moment, however, White could have opted for a pawn-down position that was defensible with 35.Nxh2, but 35.Rf3??, played in the game, immediately lost the exchange.
GM Paulius Pultinevicius, who upset GM Javokhir Sindarov on the previous day, could have joined Maghsoodloo on 5.5/6 if he won the theoretically drawn f- and h-pawn rook endgame. But GM Alexey Sarana held it to a draw, giving no chances.
GM Baadur Jobava vs. GM Matthias Bluebaum also ended in a clean draw, though there was less excitement in that game, so nobody but Maghsoodloo was able to stay a half-point behind Carlsen.
Sarana-Pultinevicius is a theoretical draw, but if Pultinevicius can squeeze out a win he'll join Maghsoodloo in 2nd place and likely face Carlsen next! https://t.co/xv3MVFkD2m#FreestyleChess #GrenkeChess pic.twitter.com/mUmaTzIa8m
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 20, 2025
As for a few pre-tournament favorites, GM Fabiano Caruana had won three consecutive games since losing in round three. He was one of seven players a point behind, though he was stopped by Jobava with a draw in round seven, even after he had won a piece.
If Caruana had won that game, we may have seen a Caruana vs. Carlsen encounter in round eight.
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was also on track to win in round six but was unable to put away GM David Anton Guijarro. Nepomniachtchi was seen muttering after he'd made the last mistake, 36.Nxb6?, when 36.axb6 would have won. Another draw in his next game, against GM Daniel Dardha, means Nepomniachtchi is out of the running to win the tournament.
Ian Nepomniachtchi mutters to himself in anger after blundering in a winning position — now David Anton should be able to draw! https://t.co/2xubwN4W69#FreestyleChess #GrenkeChess pic.twitter.com/5CfJtRmdrs
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 20, 2025
Up next was the big encounter between Maghsoodloo and Carlsen.
Round 7: Carlsen Wins On Time, Leads By 1 Point
Leko called the game between Carlsen and Maghsoodloo "the game of the tournament" so far. One should always expect fire on the board when the Iranian grandmaster plays, and this game was no exception.
Esipenko and Mamedov won their games to stay as close as possible to Carlsen. You can see other results on the top boards below.
Round seven featured position 76, and Carlsen said he already liked it. One idea we saw on a few boards was meeting Black's ...e5 with a "King's Gambit" or "Vienna" f4-push, as Leko called it, a pawn break we would see in Carlsen's game.
Carlsen, who achieved an opening advantage after Maghsoodloo's 4...d5?, created the first imbalance when he traded two minor pieces for a rook and two pawns, and pretty quickly both players started making mistakes in an impossible-to-understand position. Carlsen explained after the game that he wasn't calculating so well but was still practical given the circumstances:
I thought, my brain is so fried that I'm not going to be able to find a good solution even if I think, so let me just play quickly, put pressure on time, and spoiler alert, that actually worked out in the end.
Maghsoodloo's uncompromising play can be a gift and a curse, as he played for a win until the very last move, long after it had stopped making sense to do so. Carlsen explained that he expected 23...Qe6, after which he would have had to force a draw, but then added, "But he was playing for a win! This is the thing!"
Maghsoodloo went for complications and, even in the final position when he lost on time before playing 29...Kb5, he was still pushing for the win, "which is kind of crazy," as Carlsen put it. This would have been our Game of the Day analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao, but seeing as Carlsen went through the whole game from move one, we have included Carlsen's thoughts instead below.
You can also watch Carlsen's analysis in the video below.
At this point, Carlsen seems to be running away with the tournament, and most of the players on the top boards should be cheering him on to continue winning (except for his future opponents!). Because Carlsen has already qualified for Las Vegas, it means that second place would earn the ticket.
Esipenko and Mamedov are in the best position going into round eight, after wins respectively against GMs Pranesh M and Paulius Pultinevicius.
Esipenko won a nice game that started with the "Bird's Opening," 1.f4. After Black played 12...f4? 13.d5! was a nicely calculated rejoinder, and Esipenko converted the advantage flawlessly. Leitao analyzes that game below.
Meanwhile, Mamedov won a wild, 81-move fistfight against Pultinevicius to stay a point behind Carlsen. His reward? He'll play Carlsen in the morning round on Monday!
German number-one GM Vincent Keymer is one of the 13 players 1.5 points behind Carlsen. He made a draw against GM Aryan Chopra in round six, but importantly won in round seven against GM Sergei Movsesian (in 16 moves!). He laid bare the stakes for the last two rounds: "Anything else than 2/2 [on Monday] is out of the race. I don't think that there's a real chance that someone with 7/9 will take a spot that's not qualified yet."
Anything else than 2/2 [on Monday] is out of the race.
—Vincent Keymer
We will see Mamedov vs. Carlsen on board one, while Keymer is in virtually a must-win situation against Esipenko, on six points, on the second board.
Round 8 Pairings | Top 10
| Bo. | No. | Title | White | Rtg | Pts. | Pts. | Title | Black | Rtg | |
| 1 | 29 | GM | Mamedov, Rauf | 2657 | 6 | 7 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2837 | |
| 2 | 14 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2718 | 5½ | 6 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2696 | |
| 3 | 23 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2672 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2776 | |
| 4 | 25 | GM | Navara, David | 2665 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2738 | |
| 5 | 27 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2661 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2722 | |
| 6 | 16 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2706 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2668 | |
| 7 | 20 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2684 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Bluebaum, Matthias | 2662 | |
| 8 | 43 | GM | Jobava, Baadur | 2600 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2681 | |
| 9 | 2 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2782 | 5 | 5½ | GM | Anton Guijarro, David | 2639 |
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 6:
Round 7:
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:
- Rounds 4 & 5: Carlsen Takes Sole Lead On 5/5
- Rounds 2 & 3: Carlsen On Perfect 3/3 As Favorites Drop Around Him
- Round 1: No Surprises: Carlsen, Arjun, Caruana Start With Wins
