Yoo Beats Carlsen To Win First Freestyle Friday
Freestyle Friday on April 11 came down to the final round, where GM Christopher Yoo defeated a pressing GM Magnus Carlsen to reach 10/11 and lock up the event by a full point ahead of GM Sam Sevian, GM Leon Luke Mendonca, and IM Jakub Kosakowski. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva won the women's prize in 24th place. Yoo became the eighth different player to win a Freestyle Friday, which has now had 11 iterations.
Yoo lost to GM Alexey Sarana in the fifth round and otherwise scored every possible point. The final perfect player, reaching 7/7, was actually GM Vladimir Fedoseev, but he went on to drop games against Sevian, GM Frederik Svane, and Carlsen in the next three rounds. Sevian only needed 21 moves to win their game, which ultimately helped him take second place.
But Sevian, who missed the third round, lost out on another point in the ninth round when Yoo took him out in a crazy game. It was Sevian, not Yoo, who was up a piece with a crushing advantage when his clock ran out.
Nevertheless, the fifth round remained Yoo's only blemish. In the 10th round, he beat Svane, this time forcing resignation with a mate-in-six on hand and a nearly 50-second clock advantage. Indeed, in blitz, especially in freestyle, playing fast is often as important as playing well.
With a round to go, Yoo led the field with 9/10, and only Carlsen was a half-point behind, meaning a draw would win the tournament for Yoo. Carlsen had a couple of chances to push in their ensuing game, but the position ended up dead equal, with a pawn structure that precluded much direct action between the players' forces—until Carlsen, a draw useless to his pursuit of tournament victory, wound up dropping a pawn and then the game.
April 11 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 21 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2591 | 10 | 65 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @Konavets | Sam Sevian | 2802 | 9 | 66.5 | |
| 3 | 35 | GM | @LionTheLeon_06 | Leon Luke Mendonca | 2415 | 9 | 60 | |
| 4 | 56 | IM | @Kosak12 | Jakub Kosakowski | 2109 | 9 | 53 | |
| 5 | 6 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2718 | 8.5 | 74 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 2815 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 7 | 20 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2536 | 8 | 67 | |
| 8 | 7 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 2671 | 8 | 65 | |
| 9 | 29 | GM | @Annawel | Jules Moussard | 2445 | 8 | 65 | |
| 10 | 175 | FM | @Batko_2010 | Gleb Scheglov | 1663 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 11 | 8 | GM | @LiemLe | Liem Le | 2684 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 12 | 25 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2451 | 8 | 62 | |
| 13 | 11 | GM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 2625 | 8 | 62 | |
| 14 | 17 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 2549 | 8 | 60.5 | |
| 15 | 113 | CM | @Tikhon_Popov | Tikhon Popov | 1880 | 8 | 59 | |
| 16 | 5 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2726 | 7.5 | 71 | |
| 17 | 77 | GM | @Grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 1999 | 7.5 | 66.5 | |
| 18 | 10 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2607 | 7.5 | 62 | |
| 19 | 14 | GM | @NevorLegov | Roven Vogel | 2531 | 7.5 | 59 | |
| 20 | 45 | FM | @yoolund | Joar Olund | 2160 | 7.5 | 57.5 | |
| 21 | 23 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2468 | 7.5 | 54.5 | |
| 22 | 16 | GM | @MarkusRagger | Markus Ragger | 2549 | 7 | 68.5 | |
| 23 | 67 | FM | @SaqoChess_Coach | Sargis Manukyan | 2034 | 7 | 64.5 | |
| 24 | 31 | IM | @SaraBlackPanther | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 2442 | 7 | 64 | |
| 25 | 105 | FM | @MaxLeto | Maxim Omariev | 1854 | 7 | 63 |
Prizes: Yoo $400, Sevian $250, Mendonca $150, Kosakowski $100, Assaubayeva $100.
Carlsen remains stuck on one Freestyle Friday victory, but today he also played in Paris earlier in the day. Nearly winning here anyway proves yet again what we already know about how dangerous he is anytime, anywhere.
Some people just can't get enough of #FreestyleChess, with Magnus playing Freestyle Friday after the first day of the Paris Semifinals! https://t.co/Om4A3CVS5b pic.twitter.com/QVFdkI9sZD
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 11, 2025
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com's weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.
