Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour

Last updated
Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour
2025
MagnusCarlsen24.jpg
Magnus Carlsen is the current tour leader
Tournament information
Sport Chess variant (Chess960)
Location Leg 1: Wangels, Germany
Leg 2: Paris, France
Leg 3: Karlsruhe, Germany
Leg 4: Las Vegas, United States
Final: Cape Town, South Africa
DatesFebruary 7–December 12, 2025
Host(s)Freestyle Chess Operations
  2024

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour is a series of Chess960 tournaments in 2025 organized by Freestyle Chess Operations. It will consist of five "Grand Slam" tournaments following a format similar to the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge, held in 2024. Players will score points based on placement in each event. The player with the highest score at the end of the year will become the Freestyle Chess Champion. [1]

Contents

Background

The tour was co-founded by five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and German investor Jan Henric Buettner. [2] [3] [4] Carlsen has been an advocate for Chess960 as an alternative to classical chess that eliminates opening preparation and theory due to its randomized starting positions. [5] [6] [7] While previous Chess960 tournaments largely utilized rapid time controls, Carlsen proposed using slower time controls, believing the variant requires more time for thought. [8] [9]

Carlsen reportedly pitched his idea of a Chess960 tournament using slower time controls to Buettner when they met at the Qatar Masters Open in 2023. [9] "Freestyle Chess" was devised as a more marketable name for the variant, and in February 2024, the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge was held in Buettner's Weissenhaus resort. [10] Following the event, plans were announced for a tour spanning multiple continents, starting with an event in India in November and further events in Weissenhaus, New York, Cartagena and Cape Town in 2025, and Australia in 2026. [11] [5] In April 2024, the event in India was revealed to have been put on hold. [12]

In July 2024, Left Lane Capital invested $12 million in the venture. [13] [14] [15] By October 2024, dates were confirmed for three events in Weissenhaus in February, New York in July and Cape Town in December. The prize fund for each event was set to be $750,000, with plans to raise it to $1 million for future events. [16] [17]

Launch Event

Freestyle Chess Summit
2024
Tournament information
Sport Chess variant (Chess960)
Location Singapore
DatesNovember 20–22, 2024
FormatBest of 2 games
Host(s)Freestyle Chess Operations
Participants2

On November 21 and 22, Carlsen played a two-game Chess960 exhibition match with Fabiano Caruana in Singapore, ahead of the World Chess Championship 2024 between Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju that would take place in the same city. [6] The first game was played on a yacht, while the second took place at Le Freeport. Carlsen won the first game and drew the second, winning 1½-½. [18]

The event also consisted of a hand and brain match which was played on November 20, wherein Carlsen and Caruana were the "brains", and teamed up with Tania Sachdev and Maurice Ashley, who were the "hands", respectively; Carlsen and Sachdev won the match 2-0. [19]

Format

Play-ins

One player qualifies to each Grand Slam via an online play-in held on Chess.com. The play-ins consist of three stages: [20]

Grand Slams

The format of the Grand Slams underwent multiple changes, involving the players themselves in a democratic process but also motivated through better mainstream markability.

Each grand slam begins with a rapid round-robin stage. The time control for the round-robin stage is 10 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds per move. No draw offers are allowed until move 40. [21]

All eliminated players are required to perform commentary for the knockout stage. Refusal to do so results in a 50% reduction of their prize money. [21]

In all matches, no draw offers are allowed until after move 40. The higher-seeded player starts the match with black in the first game. In the event of a tie, the tiebreak is two 10+10 rapid games followed by two 5+2 blitz games if the tie persists, and then one armageddon game with bidding. [22]

Weisenhaus and Paris Grand Slam: Single-Elimination

The first grand slam had 10 participants. [22] Afterwards, the number of participants was increased to 12 for the following grand slam.

The players finishing 1-8 in the round robin stage qualified for the single-elimination classical time control stage, with players 1-4 being seeded. Starting with player 1, they choose their opponent for the quarter finals from players 5-8. In the semifinals, the winners of the quarterfinals involving players 1 and 4 faced each other, while the winners of the quarterfinals involving players 2 and 3 played the other match. The losers from the quarter-finals determined their final rankings in a fifth-place play-off, while losers from the semi-finals met in a third-place play-off. [21]

The players finishing 9-12 in the round robin stage played a separate single-elimination classical time control stage for 9th place. Similar to above, players 9 and 10 were seeded with player 9 choosing their opponent from players 11 and 12. The winners played a match for 9th place, while the losers finished in a joint 11th place.

Each match in the classical time control stage was a best of two games. The time control was 90 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds per move.

New Double-Elimination Format

Starting with the fourth leg, the format underwent a significant change.

The overall schedule was shortened by one day. For that, all matches were changed to rapid time control with one match taking a single day.

The players will be split into two groups for the round-robin stage.

In the elimination stage, all losing players continue playing after their first loss, opening the possibility to still play for third place.

Prize money and qualification methods

Only the winner of the play-ins qualifies, the rest of the participants are determined by other qualification criteria and wildcards. For the final grand slam, the 12 players with the most accumulated grand slam points up to that point are qualified. [21]

Prize money is awarded as follows:

PlacePrize money (Leg 1)Prize money (Legs 2-4 and Final)
1st$200,000$200,000
2nd$140,000$140,000
3rd$100,000$100,000
4th$60,000$60,000
5th$50,000$50,000
6th$40,000$40,000
7th$30,000$30,000
8th$20,000$20,000
9th$12,500$15,000
10th$7,500$10,000
11th [# 1] n/a$7,500
  1. In leg 1, there were only 10 participants. In legs 2-4 and the grand slam final, two players finish in a joint 11th place.

The scoring system over the whole tour is described in § Standings below.

Schedule

DatesHost cityWinnerRunner-upThird placeReport
February 7–14 Flag of Germany.svg Wangels Flag of Germany.svg Vincent Keymer Flag of the United States.svg Fabiano Caruana Flag of Norway.svg Magnus Carlsen Report
April 8–15 Flag of France.svg Paris Flag of Norway.svg Magnus Carlsen Flag of the United States.svg Hikaru Nakamura Flag of the United States.svg Fabiano Caruana Report
April 17–21 Flag of Germany.svg Karlsruhe Flag of Norway.svg Magnus Carlsen Flag of Iran.svg Parham Maghsoodloo FIDE flag icon.png Andrey Esipenko
Flag of Germany.svg Frederik Svane
Report
July 16–20 Flag of the United States.svg Las Vegas Flag of the United States.svg Levon Aronian Flag of the United States.svg Hans Niemann Flag of Norway.svg Magnus Carlsen Report
December 5–12 Flag of South Africa.svg Cape Town

While a Grand Slam was originally scheduled to take place in Delhi from September 17 to 24, Buettner stated in an interview that the venue might be changed due to lack of investor interest. [23] As of April 18, the Delhi event was no longer listed on the official website. [24] Buettner confirmed on June 26 that the Delhi event was cancelled, and hinted at alternative plans for the September leg. [25] [26]

On April 11, Buettner announced that the fourth Grand Slam, originally set for New York, will be moved to Las Vegas, and will be reduced to a five-day event with a shorter time control and more games per day. [27]

Additionally, it was announced that at least one Grand Slam per calendar will be an open tournament, [21] beginning with the Grenke Freestyle Chess Open on April 17–21, 2025 that replaced the Classic tournament at the annual Grenke Chess Festival. [28] [29]

Standings

Scoring system

Grand slam points are awarded to the top ten players in each Grand Slam as well as the 2025 Grenke Freestyle Chess Open. In the Grand Slam Final, double points are awarded. [21]

Points awarded 1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  10th 
Grand Slam Legs 1-4251815121086421
Grand Slam Final50363024201612842
Source: [21]

Tour Standings

Pos.Player Flag of Germany.svg
Wangels
Flag of France.svg
Paris
Flag of Germany.svg
Karlsruhe
Flag of the United States.svg
Las Vegas
Flag of South Africa.svg
Cape Town
Total

points

Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 3 Leg 4 Final
1 Flag of Norway.svg Magnus Carlsen 3rd1st1st3rd80
2 Flag of the United States.svg Fabiano Caruana 2nd3rd7th5th49
3 Flag of the United States.svg Hikaru Nakamura 5th2nd4th40
4 Flag of Germany.svg Vincent Keymer 1st4th13th9th39
5 Flag of the United States.svg Levon Aronian 9thDNQ33rd1st27
6 Flag of India.svg Arjun Erigaisi 5th7th6th24
7 Flag of Iran.svg Parham Maghsoodloo DNQDNQ2ndWD18
7 Flag of the United States.svg Hans Niemann DNQWD33rd2nd18
9 Flag of Germany.svg Frederik Svane DNQ3rd15
9 FIDE flag icon.png Andrey Esipenko DNQ3rdDNQ15
11 Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Javokhir Sindarov 4thDNQ12th9th14
11 Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Nodirbek Abdusattorov 6th8th9th14
13 Flag of the United States.svg Leinier Dominguez Perez DNQDNQ5th9th12
14 Flag of Serbia.svg Alexey Sarana DNQDNQ5thDNQ10
15 Flag of India.svg R Praggnanandhaa DNQ9th7th8
15 Flag of France.svg Maxime Vachier-Lagrave DNQ6th19thDNQ8
17 FIDE flag icon.png Ian Nepomniachtchi DNQ7th26thWD6
17 Flag of France.svg Alireza Firouzja 7thWD6
19 Flag of India.svg Gukesh Dommaraju 8th11thWD4
19 Flag of the United States.svg Wesley So 14th8th4
21 Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Rauf Mamedov DNQ9th2
22 Flag of India.svg Leon Mendonca DNQ10thDNQ1
22 Flag of Slovenia.svg Vladimir Fedoseev 10thWDDNQ1
22 Flag of Hungary.svg Richárd Rapport 10th14th1
25 Flag of India.svg Vidit Gujrathi DNQ11th13th0
25 Flag of Kazakhstan.svg Bibisara Assaubayeva 46th13th0
25 Flag of the United States.svg Ray Robson 19th13th0
25 Flag of the United States.svg Sam Sevian 13th0
25 Flag of India.svg Viswanathan Anand WD0
Only players who qualified for at least one grand slam or scored at least one point in an open tournament are listed.
Sources: [21] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34]
Key
ColourResult
GoldWinner
SilverSecond place
BronzeThird place
GreenOther points position
BlueNon-scoring position
PurpleDid not qualify (DNQ)
WhiteQualified for upcoming event (Q)
BlankWithdrawn (WD)
Did not participate (empty cell)

Dispute with FIDE

On December 21, 2024, the Freestyle Chess Players Club issued a press release on Twitter stating an agreement on a "friendly co-existence" with FIDE, and ongoing discussions "regarding the mutual recognition of future World Championship titles". [35] [36] FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich replied stating that the press release "includes significant inaccuracies that mispresent the situation" and that FIDE will issue a further statement on the matter. [37] Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik questioned the recognition of "a private event (with all respect) as official WC[ sic ]", and the involvement of Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Chess.com, and exclusion of World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, in the agreement. [38]

On December 27, in an interview with Levy Rozman after withdrawing from the World Rapid Championship over a dress code dispute, Carlsen accused FIDE of "going after players to get them not to sign with Freestyle" and "threatening them that they wouldn't be able to play the World Championship Cycle if they played in Freestyle". [39] [40] [41] Carlsen's claims were supported by Nakamura. [42] [43] FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky denied the claims on Twitter, stating "the claim that FIDE threatened players who were willing to participate in Freestyle Chess Tour is a lie" and "the only thing we insisted on - no Series or Tour can be called World Championship unless FIDE approves it. FIDE is the governing body of chess, and any World Championship should either be conducted or approved by FIDE". [44]

In an interview with ChessBase India's Sagar Shah on January 15, 2025, President Dvorkovich reiterated Sutovsky's statement, adding "...we are very open about finding a solution, and we believe it is about the goodwill from the side of our potential partners. I took the decision to waive a possibility of sanctioning players for 2025 participating in this event since formally, according to the contracts, we can impose some sanctions. However, I do not want to go this way. I do not want to threaten players; I do not want to put them in the difficult position. It is just a signal of our goodwill to find a solution here." [45] In a statement on January 21, FIDE said "the attempts by FCPC [a] to present their project as a World Championship are in contradiction with the well-established status of FIDE and its authority over world championship titles in all relevant variations of chess - including Chess960/Freestyle chess, as outlined in the FIDE Handbook" and "The steps taken by the FCPC project unavoidably lead to divisions in the chess world - and we remember all too well the unfortunate consequences of a similar split that happened in the not so distant past" (referencing the 1993 split between FIDE and the PCA). They clarified that they will not sanction players who participate in the 2025 Freestyle tour. However, players who have qualified to the ongoing 2025–26 World Championship cycle are expected to sign an additional contract, which will include "a clause indicating that participation in any alternative world chess championships in any variation of chess not approved by FIDE would lead to their withdrawal from the two consecutive FIDE World Championship cycles". [46] [47]

On February 10, 2025, twelve members of the Freestyle Chess Players Club met at the Weissenhaus resort with organizer Jan Henric Buettner, "unanimously deciding that the 2025 Grand Slam Tour winner will be titled Freestyle Chess Champion". They planned to form an independent association to represent their interests. [1]

Notes

  1. Freestyle Chess Players Club

References

  1. 1 2 "2025 Grand Slam Tour winner to be titled 'Freestyle Chess Champion'". The Times of India. 2025-02-10. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  2. "$12 million for Freestyle Chess". ChessTech News. 2024-07-25. Archived from the original on 2025-01-15. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  3. Soufi, Daniel (2025-01-04). "El mecenas que se ha aliado con Magnus Carlsen para cambiar la historia del ajedrez". Cinco Días (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  4. Barden, Leonard (2024-03-22). "Richest chess tour announced for 2025 as freestyle wins global appeal". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  5. 1 2 Barden, Leonard (2024-03-18). "Chess: Carlsen and Buettner announce Freestyle Chess Tour for top players". Financial Times . Archived from the original on 2024-03-18. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  6. 1 2 Robinson, Joshua; Beaton, Andrew (2024-11-20). "The Greatest Chess Player of All Time Is Bored With Chess". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 2024-11-20. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  7. Lozo, ByDave. "Chess is about to get a lot more unpredictable". Morning Brew. Archived from the original on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  8. McGourty, Colin (2023-03-21). "Magnus Carlsen: "I feel classical probably will be phased out"". Chess24. Archived from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  9. 1 2 McGourty, Colin (2024-02-09). "Freestyle Chess Day 1: Gukesh Beats Carlsen As Keymer Leads". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  10. "The birth of Freestyle Chess: How Magnus Carlsen's 'perfect tournament' came into being". The Times of India. 2025-02-12. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  11. Pretot, Julien (2024-03-15). "Chess-Carlsen launches Freestyle tour, India first on list". Reuters . Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  12. Ninan, Susan (2024-04-26). "Carlsen-led Freestyle Chess event in India on hold". Hindustan Times . Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  13. "Chess legend Magnus Carlsen, investor Jan Henric Buettner, VC Left Lane Capital, launch new company to revolutionize professional chess" (Press release). PR Newswire. 2024-07-25. Archived from the original on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  14. Agini, Samuel (2024-12-25). "Chess champion Magnus Carlsen leads gambit to capture ancient game". Financial Times . Archived from the original on 2025-01-15. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  15. Doggers, Peter (2024-07-25). "$12 million Raised For 'Revolutionary' Freestyle Series Of Tournaments". Chess.com . Archived from the original on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  16. Agini, Samuel (2024-12-25). "Chess champion Magnus Carlsen leads gambit to capture ancient game". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2024-12-25. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  17. "Freestyle Chess Grand Slam: Three dates confirmed". ChessBase. 2024-10-02. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  18. Levin, Anthony (2024-11-22). "2024 Freestyle Chess Match: Carlsen Wins Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Match Vs. Caruana After Surviving Game 2". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  19. Levin, Anthony (2024-11-20). "Carlsen, Tania Dream Team Scores 2-0 Vs. Caruana, Ashley". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  20. "Freestyle Chess Play-Ins". Chess.com. 2023-01-01. Archived from the original on 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Official Rules and Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  22. 1 2 "Official Rules and Regulations (old)" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-02-13.
  23. "Exclusive | Financial woes threaten India's bid to host D Gukesh in Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour". The Times of India. 2025-01-31. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  24. "Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour". www.freestyle-chess.com. Archived from the original on 2025-04-18. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  25. "Exclusive: No Magnus Carlsen in India! Freestyle Chess event called off over lack of sponsors". The Times of India. 2025-06-26. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  26. Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-06-26). "Freestyle Chess Calls Off India Event, Buettner Steps Down As CEO". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  27. Kamath, Amit (2025-04-12). "Freestyle Chess heading to Las Vegas instead of New York with new changes to format to speed up event". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2025-04-12.
  28. "Cooperation Freestyle Chess and grenke Chess Open". ChessBase. 2025-02-13. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
  29. "grenke Freestyle Chess Open and grenke Chess Open 2025 (Press Release) » WEISSENHAUS – WORLD OF FREESTYLE CHESS". www.freestyle-chess.com. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  30. Doggers, Peter (2025-02-14). "Vincent Keymer Wins First Leg of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam". Freestyle Chess. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  31. Schormann, Conrad (2025-04-14). "Magnus Carlsen Wins Paris Grand Slam Without a Single Tiebreak". Freestyle Chess. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  32. "Magnus Carlsen Achieves the Impossible: 9/9 in Karlsruhe". Freestyle Chess. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
  33. "Results Freestyle Chess Open 2025 - A-Open". Grenke Chess. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
  34. "Freestyle Chess lands in Las Vegas". Freestyle Chess. Retrieved 2025-06-23.
  35. "Freestyle Chess World Championship Regulations" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2025-01-14. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  36. L'immortale (2024-12-22). "Freestyle Chess and FIDE discuss mutual recognition of future World Championship titles". Chess Topics. Archived from the original on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  37. Levin (AnthonyLevin), Anthony (2025-01-02). "FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships—13 Things We Learned". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 2025-01-08. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  38. "Kramnik questions Gukesh's absence from agreement between FIDE and Carlsen-backed elite private tour". Firstpost . 2024-12-28. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  39. Ahmed, Shahid (2024-12-28). "Magnus Carlsen withdraws from World Rapid 2024". ChessBase India. Archived from the original on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  40. "'I'm out, f*** you': Magnus Carlsen disqualified from World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024 for wearing jeans". The Indian Express . 2024-12-28. Archived from the original on 2025-01-03. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  41. Ninan, Susan (2025-01-07). "Whose game is it anyway? The Carlsen vs Fide battle". Hindustan Times . Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  42. Paul, Koushik (2024-12-29). "Magnus Carlsen vs FIDE chess controversy: Looking beyond jeans incident; is it a PR battle?". mint. Archived from the original on 2025-01-01. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  43. Kamath, Amit (2025-01-04). "Random piece positions, 960 possible starts: What is freestyle chess, which led to Magnus Carlsen clashing with FIDE?". The Indian Express . Archived from the original on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  44. "'One may ask Gukesh...': FIDE responds to Magnus Carlsen's claim of threatening players against joining Freestyle Chess". Firstpost . 2024-12-29. Archived from the original on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  45. "FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich interview: "We need a long-term solution"". www.fide.com. 2025-01-17. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  46. "FIDE Statement regarding the "Freestyle Chess" project". ChessBase . 2025-01-21. Archived from the original on 2025-01-29. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  47. Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-01-21). "FIDE Slams Freestyle Chess For Creating 'Unavoidable Divisions,' Threatens Legal Action". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-27.