Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, Weissenhaus 2025: Winless Gukesh finishes on bottom after losing to Firouzja; Keymer beats Caruana to clinch top spot

Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, Weissenhaus 2025: Winless Gukesh finishes on bottom after losing to Firouzja; Keymer beats Caruana to clinch top spot

D. Gukesh ended in eighth position after losing to Iranian-French grandmaster Alireza Firouzja in the second game of their seventh-place playoff match at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam here on Friday.

Gukesh thus concluded his forgettable campaign in the tournament at Weissenhaus resort without a single win.

A day after his remarkable comeback from a hopeless position to draw game one against Firouzja on Thursday, the ball was in Gukesh’s court to do well as the white pieces, but clearly, the world champion had run out of steam to lose in 30 moves.

In the final game, Firouzja proved superior and cashed in on the opportunities presented to him.

Meanwhile, Vincent Keymer won the first edition of the tournament despite being touted as a rookie. The German winning the first leg over many of his fancied rivals is good news for the event’s sponsors who started it keeping in mind the chess connoisseurs.

It is no secret that FIDE, the world’s apex chess body, does not like Chess 960, also known as Fischer Random Chess, or the Freestyle Chess. But it is here to stay.

Pre-tournament favourite Magnus Carlsen won his second game on the trot at the expense of Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan – the other big find of the tournament.

Sindarov had gotten in after the withdrawal of Viswanathan Anand and proved himself more than worthy of the invite by reaching the Semis.

However with Carlsen on song, the Uzbek did not stand a chance and was punished for the second day in a row by the world’s best player.

Hikaru Nakamura won his mini-match 2-0 against another Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov to end on the fifth spot.