Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam

Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam

Vincent Keymer, the winner of the Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.
Tournament information
Sport	Chess variant (Chess960)
Location	Wangels, Germany
Dates	7 February 2025–14 February 2025
Tournament format(s)	Single-elimination tournament with round-robin seeding round
Host(s)	Freestyle Chess Operations
Venue	Gut Weißenhaus
Participants	10
Final positions
Champion	Vincent Keymer
Runner-up	Fabiano Caruana
3rd place	Magnus Carlsen
Leg 2 (Paris)  →

The Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam was a 10-player Chess960 tournament that took place in Wangels, Germany from 7 February to 14 February 2025. It was the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a series of Chess960 tournaments being held throughout 2025. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Background

After the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge took place as a stand-alone tournament at the Weißenhaus resort in 2024, the event was renamed for 2025 and became part of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in 2025 as its first leg. The format remained similar to 2024 with the number of participants being increased to 10. ^[4]

Qualification

See also: Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour § Play-ins

All qualification matches were played online and were hosted by Chess.com. ^[5]

Open qualifiers

All non-titled players started qualification in one of two separate open qualifier events, which were held on January 4 and January 5 respectively. 196 players participated, with the top three players from each event advancing to the Swiss stage. ^[6]

Swiss stage

248 players participated in the Swiss stage held on January 6. It was open to all titled players. The top four players, Vladimir Fedoseev, Denis Lazavik, Javokhir Sindarov and Olexandr Bortnyk advanced to the 16-player knockout stage. ^[7]

Knockout stage

Twelve players of the Freestyle Chess Players Club were invited directly to the knockout stage, held on January 7 and 8. They were sorted by their December 2024 classical FIDE rankings and seeded accordingly from 1-12. ^[8]

Vladimir Fedoseev beat Javokhir Sindarov in the final in an armageddon game, after a 2–2 tie, and qualified for the Grand Slam. ^[9] Following Viswanathan Anand's withdrawal, Sindarov also qualified. ^[10]

Round of 16 (Jan 7)

Quarterfinals (Jan 7)

Semifinals (Jan 8)

Final (Jan 8)

S3

Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)

1½

2

Wei Yi  (CHN)

½

S3

Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)

2

7

R Praggnanandhaa  (IND)

0

10

Vidit Gujrathi  (IND)

1

7

R Praggnanandhaa  (IND)

3

S3

Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)

1½

11

Yu Yangyi  (CHN)

½

S2

Denis Lazavik  (FIDE)

3

3

Wesley So  (USA)

2

S2

Denis Lazavik  (FIDE)

0

11

Yu Yangyi  (CHN)

2

11

Yu Yangyi  (CHN)

1½

6

Lê Quang Liêm  (VIE)

½

S3

Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)

2

S1

Vladimir Fedoseev  (SLO)

3

S1

Vladimir Fedoseev  (SLO)

2

4

Leinier Domínguez  (USA)

0

S1

Vladimir Fedoseev  (SLO)

2

5

Jan-Krzysztof Duda  (POL)

0

12

Parham Maghsoodloo  (IRN)

1

5

Jan-Krzysztof Duda  (POL)

3

S1

Vladimir Fedoseev  (SLO)

2½

1

Ian Nepomniachtchi  (FIDE)

1½

9

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave  (FRA)

½

8

Hans Niemann  (USA)

1½

8

Hans Niemann  (USA)

1½

1

Ian Nepomniachtchi  (FIDE)

2½

S4

Oleksandr Bortnyk  (UKR)

½

1

Ian Nepomniachtchi  (FIDE)

1½

Note: The player listed first played as white in the first game of the match. Scores between two players adding up to 2 indicate a win under rapid time controls; adding up to 4, a win under blitz time controls; and adding up to 5, a win in armageddon with bidding.

Main event

See also: Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour § Grand Slams

Participants

The qualifiers to the first leg were as follows: ^[4]

Qualification method	Player	Age	Rating	World ranking	Freestyle Rating [11]
		(February 2025)
The top three finishers in the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge	Magnus Carlsen (winner)	34	2833	1	2841.0
	Fabiano Caruana (runner-up)	32	2803	2	2798.2
	Levon Aronian (third place)	42	2745	12	2749.6
The three highest rated players in the April 2024 FIDE rankings	Hikaru Nakamura	37	2802	3	NA
	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	20	2766	6	2738.4
	Alireza Firouzja	21	2760	7	2779.6
International wild card [a]	Viswanathan Anand (withdrew)	55	2750	10	NA
Local wild card [a]	Vincent Keymer	20	2731	19	2747.2
Winner of the World Chess Championship 2024	Gukesh Dommaraju	18	2777	5	2729.4
Winner of the online play-in	Vladimir Fedoseev (winner)	29	2724	24	NA
	Javokhir Sindarov (runner-up, replacement for Anand)	19	2700	31	NA

Round-robin stage

The event began with a rapid round-robin stage, with a time control of 10 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds per move. The players finishing 1-8 in the round robin stage qualified for the classical knockout stage. ^[12]

On the first day of the tournament, Javokhir Sindarov remained undefeated, winning four out of his five games, including a victory against Magnus Carlsen. By the end of the day, he was tied with Fabiano Caruana after their fifth-round game resulted in a draw. ^[13]

On the second day, Alireza Firouzja defeated Sindarov in the final round, securing first place in the round-robin on tiebreaks and earning the right to be the first to select his opponent for the quarterfinals. Levon Aronian and Vladimir Fedoseev were eliminated from the main competition and were set to compete against each other in a match for ninth place. ^[14]

Rapid round-robin, 7–8 February 2025

#	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Alireza Firouzja  (FRA)	*	1	0	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	6½
2	Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)	0	*	½	1	½	1	1	½	1	1	6½
3	Fabiano Caruana  (USA)	1	½	*	1	0	½	½	½	1	1	6
4	Magnus Carlsen  (NOR)	½	0	0	*	1	1	1	1	0	1	5½
5	Hikaru Nakamura  (USA)	½	½	1	0	*	1	½	½	1	½	5½
6	Vincent Keymer  (GER)	0	0	½	0	0	*	1	½	1	1	4
7	Nodirbek Abdusattorov  (UZB)	½	0	½	0	½	0	*	½	1	½	3½
8	Gukesh Dommaraju  (IND)	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	*	½	½	3½
9	Vladimir Fedoseev  (SLO)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	½	*	1	2½
10	Levon Aronian  (USA)	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	½	0	*	1½

Knockout stage

Matches in the knockout stage consisted of two games using a time control of 90 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds per move. 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. The players who finished 1st-4th in the rapid round robin stage picked their opponents from the players who finished 5th-8th. They also chose whether they would play as white or black in the first game. ^[12]

	Quarterfinals (Feb 9-10)					Semifinals (Feb 11-12)					Final (Feb 13-14)
	1	Alireza Firouzja  (FRA)	½
	6	Vincent Keymer  (GER)	1½
						6	Vincent Keymer  (GER)	1½
						4	Magnus Carlsen  (NOR)	½
	4	Magnus Carlsen  (NOR)	2
	7	Nodirbek Abdusattorov  (UZB)	0
											6	Vincent Keymer  (GER)	1½
											3	Fabiano Caruana  (USA)	½
	8	Gukesh Dommaraju  (IND)	0
	3	Fabiano Caruana  (USA)	2
						3	Fabiano Caruana  (USA)	4			Third Place Match (Feb 13-14)
						2	Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)	3
	2	Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)	2½								2	Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)	0
	5	Hikaru Nakamura  (USA)	1½								4	Magnus Carlsen  (NOR)	2

5th-8th Place

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

	(Feb 11-12)					Fifth Place Match (Feb 13-14)
	7	Nodirbek Abdusattorov  (UZB)	1½
	1	Alireza Firouzja  (FRA)	½
						7	Nodirbek Abdusattorov  (UZB)	0
						5	Hikaru Nakamura  (USA)	2
	5	Hikaru Nakamura  (USA)	2½
	8	Gukesh Dommaraju  (IND)	1½			Seventh Place Match (Feb 13-14)
						1	Alireza Firouzja  (FRA)	1½
						8	Gukesh Dommaraju  (IND)	½

9th-10th Place

	Ninth Place Match (Feb 9-10)
	10	Levon Aronian  (USA)	1½
	9	Vladimir Fedoseev  (SLO)	½

Note: The player listed first played as white in the first game of the match. Scores between two players adding up to 2 indicate a win under normal time controls; adding up to 4, a win under rapid time controls; adding up to 6, a win under blitz time controls; and adding up to 7, a win in armageddon with bidding.

Final classification

Pos.	Player	Prize money	Points
1	Vincent Keymer  (GER)	$200,000	25
2	Fabiano Caruana  (USA)	$140,000	18
3	Magnus Carlsen  (NOR)	$100,000	15
4	Javokhir Sindarov  (UZB)	$60,000	12
5	Hikaru Nakamura  (USA)	$50,000	10
6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov  (UZB)	$40,000	8
7	Alireza Firouzja  (FRA)	$30,000	6
8	Gukesh Dommaraju  (IND)	$20,000	4
9	Levon Aronian  (USA)	$12,500	2
10	Vladimir Fedoseev  (SLO)	$7,500	1
Sources: [12] [15]

Tour standings after the Grand Slam

For full standings, see Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour § Standings.

Pos.	Player	Points
1	Vincent Keymer	25
2	Fabiano Caruana	18
3	Magnus Carlsen	15
4	Javokhir Sindarov	12
5	Hikaru Nakamura	10
Sources: [12] [15]

Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Notes

1. From Freestyle Chess Players Club (FCPC) members

References

1. "Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour". www.freestyle-chess.com. Retrieved 2025-02-10.
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 (old)" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-02-13.
5. "Register for the Qualifiers of the Freestyle Chess Play-In Weissenhaus". Chess.com. 2024-12-31. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
6. "Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Weissenhaus - Play-in: Open Qualifier". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
7. McGourty, Colin (2025-01-06). "Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam: Fedoseev, Lazavik, Sindarov, Bortnyk Reach Knockout". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 2025-01-12. Retrieved 2025-01-12.
8. McGourty, Colin (2025-01-06). "Fedoseev, Lazavik, Sindarov, Bortnyk Keep Weissenhaus Hopes Alive". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
9. Colodro, Carlos Alberto (2025-01-09). "Weissenhaus Play-In: Fedoseev beats Nepomniachtchi and Sindarov, gets spot in Grand Slam". ChessBase . Archived from the original on 2025-01-12. Retrieved 2025-01-12.
10. Schormann, Conrad (2025-01-18). "Javokhir Sindarov joins the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam kick-off". www.freestyle-chess.com. Archived from the original on 2025-01-19. Retrieved 2025-01-20.
11. "Freestyle Chess Grand Slam". Archived from the original on 2025-02-05.
12. "Official Rules and Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-02-15.
13. "Sindarov Impresses on Day 1 of Rapid, Tops Leaderboard With Caruana » WEISSENHAUS – WORLD OF FREESTYLE CHESS". www.freestyle-chess.com. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
14. "Firouzja Wins Rapid On Tiebreak; Aronian, Fedoseev Knocked Out » WEISSENHAUS – WORLD OF FREESTYLE CHESS". www.freestyle-chess.com. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
15. "Vincent Keymer Wins First Leg of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam" . Retrieved 2025-02-15.