Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam

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Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam
Tournament information
Sport Chess variant (Chess960)
Location Paris, France
Dates7 April 2025–14 April 2025
Tournament
format(s)
 Single-elimination tournament with round-robin seeding round
Host(s)Freestyle Chess Operations
VenuePavillon Chesnaie du Roy
Participants12
←  Leg 1 (Weissenhaus)
Leg 3 (New York) →

The Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam is an upcoming Chess960 tournament that will take place in Paris, France from 7 April to 14 April 2025. It is the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a series of Chess960 tournaments being held throughout 2025. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Background

After winning the first leg, Vincent Keymer goes into the event as the tour leader. [1] However, in terms of classical FIDE rankings, he ranks only 10th among the twelve qualified players.

Regulation changes

While the first leg only had 10 participants playing in the main event, the number of participants was increased to 12 for the second leg. Nevertheless, only the top eight players after the round-robin stage will qualify for the main knockout bracket, while the remaining four players will play for positions 9–12 in a separate bracket. [4]

Qualification

202 players participated in the Swiss stage held on March 12. The top four players, Amin Tabatabaei, Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn, Rauf Mamedov and Pranesh M advanced to the 16-player knockout stage, held on March 13 and 14. [5] Vidit Gujrathi defeated Richárd Rapport 1½-½ in the final, and qualified for the Grand Slam. [6]

Round of 16 (Mar 13) Quarterfinals (Mar 13) Semifinals (Mar 14) Final (Mar 14)
            
Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Nodirbek Abdusattorov  (UZB)2
S4 Flag of India.svg  Pranesh M  (IND)3
S4 Flag of India.svg  Pranesh M  (IND)½
Flag of India.svg  Vidit Gujrathi  (IND)1½
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Ding Liren  (CHN)½
Flag of India.svg  Vidit Gujrathi  (IND)1½
Flag of India.svg  Vidit Gujrathi  (IND)2
S1 Flag of Iran.svg  Amin Tabatabaei  (IRN)0
Flag of the United States.svg  Levon Aronian  (USA)0
S1 Flag of Iran.svg  Amin Tabatabaei  (IRN)2
S1 Flag of Iran.svg  Amin Tabatabaei  (IRN)1½
Flag of the United States.svg  Leinier Domínguez  (USA)½
Flag of the United States.svg  Leinier Domínguez  (USA)2
Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)0
Flag of India.svg  Vidit Gujrathi  (IND)1½
Flag of Hungary.svg  Richard Rapport  (HUN)½
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Wei Yi  (CHN)0
S3 Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Rauf Mamedov  (AZE)2
S3 Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Rauf Mamedov  (AZE)1½
Flag of Vietnam.svg  Lê Quang Liêm  (VIE)½
Flag of Vietnam.svg  Lê Quang Liêm  (VIE)2½
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Yu Yangyi  (CHN)1½
S3 Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Rauf Mamedov  (AZE)1
Flag of Hungary.svg  Richard Rapport  (HUN)3
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov  (AZE)3Third Place Match (Mar 14)
S2 Flag of Vietnam.svg  Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn  (VIE)2
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov  (AZE)0 S1 Flag of Iran.svg  Amin Tabatabaei  (IRN)2
Flag of Hungary.svg  Richard Rapport  (HUN)2S3 Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Rauf Mamedov  (AZE)0
Flag of Poland.svg  Jan-Krzysztof Duda  (POL)½
Flag of Hungary.svg  Richard Rapport  (HUN)1½

5th-8th Place

The four losers from the quarterfinal round above competed in the 5th-to-8th-place bracket.

(Mar 14) Fifth Place Match (Mar 14)
      
S4 Flag of India.svg  Pranesh M  (IND)1½
Flag of the United States.svg  Leinier Domínguez  (USA)½
S4 Flag of India.svg  Pranesh M  (IND)2
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov  (AZE)0
Flag of Vietnam.svg  Lê Quang Liêm  (VIE)½
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov  (AZE)1½Seventh Place Match (Mar 14)
Flag of the United States.svg  Leinier Domínguez  (USA)2
Flag of Vietnam.svg  Lê Quang Liêm  (VIE)3

Main Event

Participants

Hans Niemann had qualified for the 2025 Grenke Chess Classic by winning the 2024 Grenke Open. However, on February 13, 2025, it was announced that a Freestyle Open would be held in place of the Classic. To compensate, Niemann received a wild card invitation to the Paris Grand Slam. [7]

Qualification methodPlayerAge Rating World
ranking
(February 2025)
The top three finishers in the previous Grand Slam Flag of Germany.svg Vincent Keymer (winner)20273119
Flag of the United States.svg Fabiano Caruana (runner-up)3228032
Flag of Norway.svg Magnus Carlsen (third place)3428331
World Chess Champion Flag of India.svg Gukesh Dommaraju 1827775
The two highest rated players in the February 2025 FIDE rankings Flag of the United States.svg Hikaru Nakamura 3728023
Flag of India.svg Arjun Erigaisi 2128014
Winner of the Tata Steel Masters 2025 Flag of India.svg R Praggnanandhaa 19274114
Winner of the Grenke Chess Open 2024 Flag of the United States.svg Hans Niemann 21273418
Wild cards [a] Flag of France.svg Alireza Firouzja 2127607
Flag of France.svg Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 34272922
FIDE flag icon.png Ian Nepomniachtchi 3427549
Winner of the online play-in Flag of India.svg Vidit Gujrathi 30272125

Notes

  1. ↑ From Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC) members

References

  1. 1 2 "12 of the World's Best Super-Grandmasters Battle for Glory in Paris". www.freestyle-chess.com. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  2. ↑ "Freestyle Chess: Magnus Carlsen set to battle against D Gukesh, Hans Niemann in second leg at Paris". Firstpost. 5 March 2025. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  3. ↑ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  4. ↑ "Official Rules and Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  5. ↑ "Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Paris - Play-in: Swiss Stage". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-03-12.
  6. ↑ McGourty, Colin (2025-03-14). "Vidit Qualifies For Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Honeymoon". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  7. ↑ "Cooperation Freestyle Chess and grenke Chess Open". ChessBase. 2025-02-13. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
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