World No 1 Magnus Carlsen lost to the US veteran Levon Aronian in last Friday’s final of the Freestyle Grand Slam in Cape Town, but still finished as the overall winner of the five-event Tour. Carlsen had already won two finals, so only needed to finish fourth in Cape Town for a winning total.
Freestyle chess is also known as Fischer Random and Chess 960. Pieces start randomly placed on the two back rows, thus drastically limiting opening preparation. Its 2025 season was financed mainly by a $12mn investment from the New York venture firm Left Lane Capital, and has included tournaments in Weissenhaus, Karlsruhe, Paris, and Las Vegas before the final in South Africa.
Aronian took a relaxed approach. At age 43, he regarded any playing success as an unexpected bonus, and it arrived in the first of the best of two games final.
Carlsen normally plays the opening fast, but he took nearly 10 minutes for his second move e7-e5, and by move six he was already under nine minutes, while Aronian had nearly all of his original half an hour. The woe continued as Carlsen failed to gain sufficient compensation for a sacrificed pawn, while Aronian calmly consolidated. At the end, Aronian was a clear two pawns ahead in a simple endgame, and Carlsen resigned.
The return game, with Carlsen White, also went badly for the Norwegian, as Aronian avoided complications and steered simply for half a point. Germany’s Vincent Keymer, the current world No 4, took the bronze medal.
Aronian commented: “I’m actually a bit proud of myself. Magnus doesn’t really like losing, so to win against him is a great feeling”. The Armenian-born Aronian was unbeaten in 17 games and four days of matches.
Among the congratulations, the most significant came from Arkady Dvorkovich, president of the global body Fide, which earlier this year had disputed the Freestyle Tour’s wish to call itself a world championship.
Dvorkovich messaged: “The new brand [Freestyle chess] has a potential to be a success story, and we are open to collaborating in a mutually beneficial way . . . Fide recognises [Magnus Carlsen] now as the . . . number one in the world in this exciting version of chess.”
Fide organised its own 960 championships in Oslo 2019, when Wesley So of the US beat Carlsen in the final, and Reykjavik 2022, which Hikaru Nakamura of the US won, with Carlsen eliminated earlier.
The global body has broadened its range of sponsors, which used to be mainly Russian, to include for example Freedom Holdings, based in Kazakhstan but quoted on Wall Street, and locations, such as Doha, Qatar, which will host the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz, with Carlsen heading the entries, starting on December 26.
Fide has also announced a new Total World Championship, with events at a variety of time limits. All this can be interpreted as a wish to rebuild bridges with Carlsen, the player who for many chess fans embodies the best of the modern game.
Puzzle 2654
Arjun Erigaisi vs Hans Niemann, Freestyle Grand Slam, Cape Town 2025. White to move and win.
Click here for solution, back page
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