Carlsen Wins With Shining 9/9 Perfect Score
GM Magnus Carlsen has won the 2025 Grenke Chess Freestyle Open with an out-of-this-world, perfect 9/9 score. He had already won the tournament with a round to spare in round eight, but round nine was about cementing his legacy of dominance. With a final win against GM Vincent Keymer, Carlsen's performance will stand in history alongside GM Bobby Fischer's astronomical 11/11 score in the 1963-64 U.S. Championship and other such results.
[Updated 4/22/2025:] GM Parham Maghsoodloo finished in second place by Buchholz tiebreaks, ahead of six other players also on seven points. Since Carlsen has already qualified for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas, Maghsoodloo has earned his ticket. No tiebreak games will be played.
Carlsen finished two points ahead of the field. Just a monstrous performance.
Final Standings After Round 9 | Top 24
| # | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | Points | TB |
| 1 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2837 | 9 | 52.5 | |
| 2 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2684 | 7 | 52.5 | |
| 3 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2696 | 7 | 52 | |
| GM | Svane, Frederik | 2668 | 7 | 52 | ||
| 5 | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2738 | 7 | 50.5 | |
| GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2672 | 7 | 50.5 | ||
| 7 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun, | 2782 | 7 | 50 | |
| GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2776 | 7 | 50 | ||
| 9 | GM | Mamedov, Rauf | 2657 | 6.5 | 56 | |
| 10 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2643 | 6.5 | 54 | |
| 11 | GM | Pranesh M, | 2572 | 6.5 | 53 | |
| 12 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2706 | 6.5 | 52.5 | |
| 13 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2718 | 6.5 | 52 | |
| 14 | GM | So, Wesley | 2748 | 6.5 | 50.5 | |
| GM | Rapport, Richard | 2722 | 6.5 | 50.5 | ||
| 16 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2714 | 6.5 | 50 | |
| GM | Anton Guijarro, David | 2639 | 6.5 | 50 | ||
| 18 | GM | Svane, Rasmus | 2625 | 6.5 | 49.5 | |
| 19 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2722 | 6.5 | 49 | |
| GM | Robson, Ray | 2692 | 6.5 | 49 | ||
| GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2682 | 6.5 | 49 | ||
| 22 | GM | Grandelius, Nils | 2640 | 6.5 | 48.5 | |
| 23 | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | 2660 | 6.5 | 48 | |
| 24 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | 2651 | 6.5 | 47.5 |
Carlsen wins €60,000 and 25 tour points, but more than that he has added another record to his already illustrious resume. The difficulty of his achievement cannot be overstated, as the champion himself noted: "I'm not gonna be able to do that again, that's for sure!" He did mention that he played just one 2700+ opponent, but to his credit he overcame seven grandmasters in an open tournament and with no opening theory to fall back on. (In addition, Maghsoodloo is over 2703 on the live rating list from the previous week, meaning Carlsen played two 2700-grandmasters.)
I'm not gonna be able to do that again, that's for sure!
—Magnus Carlsen
Fischer's already mentioned 11/11 score is the pinnacle of such feats. Carlsen's nine-game winning streak from the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2023 should be mentioned, but that was in the blitz time control. This was in classical.
Other similar achievements are GM Karen Grigoryan's 9/9 at the 2019 VII Torneio Internacional Cidade de Famalicao or, from last year, WGM Andreaa Navrotescu's at the Menchik Memorial Challengers Tournament 2024 (which we covered here). This kind of performance is extremely rare, nearly unheard of.
Since Chess960 played with a classical time control is a new format in itself, this achievement is the first of its kind. And it should be a while before someone even matches Carlsen's performance in Karlsruhe, let alone surpasses it.
- Round 8: Carlsen Wins, 4 Players Vie For Las Vegas Ticket
- Round 9: Carlsen Makes History, Maghsoodloo Misses Out
Round 8: Carlsen Wins, 4 Players Vie For Las Vegas Ticket
Carlsen won again to reach an uncatchable lead of a point and a half. GMs Maghsoodloo, Leinier Dominguez, Keymer, and Frederik Svane won "on demand" to stay as close to Carlsen as was possible.
Going into the round, Mamedov and Esipenko were the two players a point behind Carlsen, but both lost. This allowed the world number-one to win the tournament with a round to spare.
This was the starting position.
Carlsen, with the black pieces against Mamedov, traded queens on move four and won in signature style—in the endgame.
In Capablanca-like fashion, Carlsen converted his advantage into a better knight vs. bishop, and out-maneuvered the Azerbaijani four-time national champion in a way that made it look much easier than it really is.
Keymer, meanwhile, defeated Esipenko, the other closest player to Carlsen. In that game, his pawn center just overrode the black pieces. The highlight was Esipenko's resignation after 24.Nd5, when material was still equal, but it wasn't premature. Black was absolutely paralyzed, with the threats of Nde7+ and Qxh5 coming.
Maghsoodloo mustered a powerful attack against GM Matthias Bluebaum and ultimately won in the queen and rook endgame. Frederik Svane defeated GM Javokhir Sindarov with an attack that started with an exchange sacrifice.
Since Carlsen already won the tournament, it meant that the four players on 6.5 points had the best chance at earning the ticket to Las Vegas, though not one of them managed to win.
Round 9: Carlsen Makes History, Maghsoodloo Misses Out
The stakes were highest on board one. Carlsen would win the tournament with a draw or even a loss, but of course he had to go for the 9/9 score. Keymer, on the other hand, needed to win for a chance at qualifying for Las Vegas by tiebreaks. We were going to get a fight.
About the starting position, commentator Trent remarked, "This one, actually I think of all the nine rounds, is the most insane!"
By move seven, Carlsen said he got "a bit of a London [System]" type of opening and that if Black didn't react dramatically, White's pieces would unravel easily and harmoniously. Keymer disrupted the peace with the dynamic 9...e5, with the idea of playing 11...Qxh4 two moves later, but Carlsen said: "It's kind of hard to believe in [this idea] because the white pieces are not generally badly placed." The engine approved of Black's plan.
By move 11, the position was this one, with Carlsen planning to play g4 and Kg2 next.
By move 22, the position was still objectively equal, but Carlsen felt his position was easier to play: "I don't know if my next move is b3 or a4 or Bc2, but it's understandable that he felt he had to do something." Keymer's clock ticked down, and three moves later, with under a minute against over 10, he made the losing move 25.Nf5?, though Carlsen didn't see another move for his opponent anyway. The game ended very quickly from there.
Of course, this deserves to be our Game of the Day, or even of the tournament, but Carlsen was gracious enough to analyze it in full on the broadcast. So we have included his analysis below and will save GM Rafael Leitao's for another dramatic game.
With the loss, unfortunately, Keymer just barely misses out of the tie on seven points. You can listen to Carlsen's analysis in the video below.
Maghsoodloo had just won the 2025 Reykjavik Open (see our recap here) before flying to Germany, and of the four players behind Carlsen, he had the best chances to win in the last round. If he had converted his winning position against GM Leinier Dominguez, Maghsoodloo would have finished in sole second.
[Updated 4/22/25:] Despite fumbling a winning position, Maghsoodloo qualified anyway.
In an interview with WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, Maghsoodloo said that the variant suits his combative style. He also shared that this was the best playing venue he's ever been to, with so many boards and players.
He said, "I like Freestyle more than normal chess because I think my style is a bit too crazy, like even in classical I just try to mess things up, and yes, in Freestyle it's already like this." He said that he thrived in the classical time control for this variant, which allows him to back up his creativity with accurate calculation.
Leko had already criticized Dominguez's move 2.c4 in the commentary because it initiated a complicated game, a kind of struggle that Maghsoodloo thrives in, whereas Dominguez's strength lies in more technical positions. The Iranian grandmaster sacrificed a pawn at the edge of the board and mustered up a winning initiative.
"It looked dominating from the opening," said Carlsen. Looking at the position with 16...Nc4, he asked, "How did he not win this?" It was heartbreak for Maghsoodloo and a miracle for Dominguez, who are now both in the big tie on seven points and still in with a chance to make it to Las Vegas. GM Leitao analyzes that dramatic game below.
[Updated on 4/22/25:] At first, it seemed Maghsoodloo had messed up his chance of qualifying. After the round, Freestyle Chess first announced that a seven-player tiebreaker would be played, but then awarded Maghsoodloo second place by Buchholz. He edged out Frederik Svane and Esipenko by the slimmest of margins, 52.5 vs. 52.
Frederik Svane finished on seven points after making an accurate draw with GM Ray Robson. Meanwhile, several players won on demand to reach the group on 7/9: GM Arjun Erigaisi (against GM Jorden van Foreest), GM Fabiano Caruana (against GM Amin Tabatabaei), GM Andrey Esipenko (against GM Baadur Jobava), and GM Alexey Sarana (against GM Liem Le).
Alongside the Freestyle event was a regular classical tournaments, also with nine rounds. Indian IM Aswath S won with an impressive 8/9 and a 31.7-point rating gain, edging out U.S. GM Brandon Jacobson on tiebreaks. He also earned a grandmaster norm with his 2779 performance.
Grenke Chess Open | Top 25
| # | Title | Name | FED | Rating | Points | TB |
| 1 | IM | Aswath, S | 2466 | 8 | 57 | |
| 2 | GM | Jacobson, Brandon | 2570 | 8 | 54 | |
| 3 | GM | Saric, Ivan | 2659 | 7.5 | 55 | |
| GM | Yuffa, Daniil | 2649 | 7.5 | 55 | ||
| 5 | GM | Kazakouski, Valery | 2563 | 7.5 | 54 | |
| 6 | GM | Ivic, Velimir | 2623 | 7.5 | 53 | |
| 7 | GM | Bartel, Mateusz | 2595 | 7.5 | 51.5 | |
| 8 | GM | Meier, Georg | 2595 | 7.5 | 51 | |
| 9 | GM | Muradli, Mahammad | 2588 | 7 | 58 | |
| 10 | GM | Subelj, Jan | 2528 | 7 | 56 | |
| 11 | GM | Amar, Elham | 2546 | 7 | 55 | |
| 12 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | 2617 | 7 | 54 | |
| IM | Pfreundt, Jakob | 2467 | 7 | 54 | ||
| 14 | GM | Woodward, Andy | 2536 | 7 | 53.5 | |
| 15 | GM | Engel, Luis | 2544 | 7 | 53 | |
| 16 | IM | Noe, Christopher | 2508 | 7 | 52 | |
| 17 | GM | Sanal, Vahap | 2550 | 7 | 51.5 | |
| IM | Trost, Edvin | 2481 | 7 | 51.5 | ||
| 19 | GM | Indjic, Aleksandar | 2644 | 7 | 50.5 | |
| IM | Harshavardhan G B, | 2431 | 7 | 50.5 | ||
| IM | Schneider, Ilja | 2408 | 7 | 50.5 | ||
| 22 | IM | Maksimovic, Bojan | 2512 | 7 | 49.5 | |
| 23 | FM | Bettalli, Francesco | 2355 | 7 | 48.5 | |
| 24 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | 2429 | 7 | 48 | |
| 25 | Csontos, Aron | 2262 | 7 | 46 |
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 8:
Round 9:
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 6 & 7: Carlsen Perfect After 7 Rounds, Leads By Full Point
- 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
