WEISSENHAUS, Germany – In a dramatic reversal of fortunes, former world champion Magnus Carlsen defeated reigning titleholder Dommaraju Gukesh in a thrilling second-day clash at the $750,000 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.
The much-anticipated encounter between the chess superstars headlined a day of fast-paced Chess960 action at the picturesque Weissenhaus resort on Germany’s Baltic coast.
Carlsen’s victory carries extra significance as it’s his first over Gukesh since the 18-year-old Indian prodigy spectacularly dethroned Ding Liren in their 2024 world championship match. That stunning result marked a changing of the guard in classical chess, but today Carlsen proved he remains a formidable force in the Chess960 arena.
Elsewhere, we saw Nakamura establish a fire streak, Alireza Firouzja jumping to the top of the leaderboard, Javokhir Sindarov finishing well after having an excellent day 1, while it looks like Fedoseev Vladimir and Aronian Levon are on their way out after finishing with 2.5 and 1.5 respectively.
Carlsen’s Recovery
World #1 Magnus Carlsen, who had suffered an unprecedented three losses on day one, showed signs of recovery in today’s play.
In round 6, he quickly dispatched Nodirbek Abdusattorov and was on the verge of losing against Alireza Firouzja when the latter blundered.
The start of Carlsen’s troubles started after 16…Bc5? 17. g3! and the Black knight on h4 is effectively trapped. After the desperate 17…Qg5 18. Kh1 fxe4 19. gxh4 Qxh4, Magnus was down a piece.
Firouzja seemed to have had this game in the bag until the endgame when things got a bit complicated.
The winning move, according to engines, was 37. Bg7+ Kg8 38. Rxd7 Bg5+ 39. Kg1 Rh4 40. Rg3 h5 41. fxg5 hxg4 42. Rc3 Rxc3 43.Bxc3 Rh3, and the position is clearly winning for White.
But fortunately and unfortunately, we humans can’t see that far like engines. Alireza plays the quiet 37. Kg1?? which brings the engine scales to 0.0 immediately. Magnus sees and plays the draw with 37…Rc1+ 38. Kg2 Rc2+ 39. Kg1 (39. Kf3 allows 39…Bxf6 40. Nxf6 Rh3+ 41. Kg4 Rxd3 and Magnus is back in the game that White has to force a draw themselves) Rc1+ 40. Kg2 Rc2+ 1/2-1/2
Then, the highlight of the last round: Carlsen against Gukesh. It’s their first match since the 2024 world championship, and this turned out in Magnus’s favor from a surprisingly equal position.
Up till 41…Kf5, both sides were doing well although Carlsen had dramatically improved his position from the past few moves and was the one pushing for a win now.
In the position above, Gukesh played 42. Nd5??, a seemingly innocent move, but one the engines condemned with two question marks. The reason is simple: Gukesh allows Magnus to move his c7-rook to the open b-file, and with the Black knight coming to e4, suddenly, there are real mating threats.
Gukesh played a couple of desperate moves to alleviate the situation but all to no avail. By move 46, the young champ resigned.
Nakamura’s Resurgence
After a difficult start on day one, Hikaru Nakamura demonstrated why he’s considered one of the world’s premier rapid specialists. His breakthrough moment came in round 7 against tournament leader Fabiano Caruana in a game that showcased both players’ tactical alertness.
Playing with the white pieces, Nakamura handled a complex middlegame before converting his advantage in a technical knight vs bishop endgame that stretched to 76 moves.
Nakamura carried this momentum into round 8, where he outplayed Vincent Keymer in a sharp tactical battle.
Keymer lost the thread when he allowed a 17. bxc5?? Nd3+! 18. Kd2 Nxf4 19. Qxh8 Rxh8 20. gxf4 dxc5.
Taking a look at each side, Black has two rooks and a bishop against White’s rook, knight and bishop. The material difference is clear. 27 moves later, a nasty fork forced Keymer’s resignation.
Going into the final round, Hikaru landed another win against Fedoseev, who was already struggling to remain in the tournament. That single win narrowly paved the way for Gukesh, who finished with 3.5.
Sindarov’s Brilliant Display
The tournament’s revelation continues to be 19-year-old Javokhir Sindarov, who started day two by holding Hikaru Nakamura to a draw in round 6 before producing one of the day’s most spectacular chess in round 7 against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Against Abdusattorov, Sindarov employed a daring piece sacrifice to rip open Abdusattorov’s queenside and score the full point after the Uzbek had sacrificed his queen for two rooks on move 9.
9… Qxa1!? 10. Bb2 Qxa2 11. Ra1 Qxa1+ 12. Bxa1 and now 23. Qxb7? was the decisive mistake that trapped Nodirbek’s dark-squared bishop. The game ended on move 28.
However, as they say, all good things come to an end. Sindarov’s streak came to an end after drawing Caruana in the 8th round and losing to Alireza in the last round. In any case, an impressive result of 6.5 is more than enough to get the young genius into the knockout stage.
Going Forward
Those wins lifted Carlsen into a tie for 3rd with the resurgent Nakamura on 5.5/8. After a difficult start, the American showcased his legendary speed chess prowess to collect 3 wins in a row, including a memorable technical endgame grind against Caruana.
At the bottom end, losses for GMs Vladimir Fedoseev and Levon Aronian mean they are eliminated.
The other major story was the continued struggles of Gukesh. The reigning Classical World Champion came into the event as a heavy favorite but is still winless after 9 rounds, drawing 7 games and losing 2. He will be desperate to collect a confidence-boosting victory in Sunday’s finale.
Sunday’s round 9 promises fireworks, with Sindarov facing a tough challenge against an in-form Firouzja with the white pieces. A win would all but clinch top seeding for the youngster heading into the knockout.
Other key matchups see a wounded Carlsen striving for the top while Nakamura and Caruana will look to bounce back into contention.
Can Sindarov cap his sensational run? Will a big name like Carlsen or Nakamura find another gear? Or could a dangerous outsider like Firouzja tear up the script?
Brace yourself for a Super Sunday in Weissenhaus as the $750,000 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam builds to a rapid crescendo.
Standings after Round 9:
- GM Javokhir Sindarov – 6.5
- GM Alireza Firouzja – 6.5
- GM Fabiano Caruana – 6.0
- GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura – 5.5
- GM Vincent Keymer – 4.0
- GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov – 3.5
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev – 2.5
- GM Levon Aronian – 1.5
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