Magnus Carlsen wins Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025, sets NEW RECORD

Magnus Carlsen is the winner of Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025. The five-time classical World Champion is proving to be unstoppable at Freestyle (aka Chess960 or Fischer Random) too. After Carlsen’s Freestyle victory in Paris, now he managed to secure the Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025 title with a round to spare. (replay Carlsen’s games here)

Magnus Carlsen 🇳🇴 wins @GRENKEChess 2025 with perfect 9,0/9, setting a NEW RECORD for highest performance 💥💥💥 https://t.co/6i95vBEnuT

— Chessdom (@chessdom) April 21, 2025

Carlsen sets NEW RECORD for highest performance

The rampage of Carlsen became clear after he started with 5,0/5. His CPR (a measurement more reliable than TPR, read about it here) then jumped over 3000. He then continued with 7,0/7 on Easter bringing the CPR to 3094. With 8,0/8 he reached 3122 CPR.

With the victory against Keymer in the last round, Carlsen completes the event with 9,0/9 and CPR of 3153! That is the highest mark of modern history, passing the performance of Caruana in Sinquefield Cup 2014.

This is the second chess record of the week, after Tunde Onakoya and Shawn Martinez completed playing chess for 64 hours

Here is the all times best CPR performance list by Dr. Mehmet Ismail before Grenke 2025

The CPR before 1972 are based on only estimated chessmetrics ratings. The official Elo best ones are Carlsen and then Caruana. Dr Mehmet Ismail adds that the “perfect score performance rating” is 3191 (that is the CPR without considering the lowest rated player such as the one of 2227)

🚀🚀 I'm absolutely delighted to announce that Magnus Carlsen's perfect 9/9 in Grenke is the HIGHEST performance rating in history, surpassing Fischer's incredible 11/11 run in the 1964 US Championship by just a few rating points 🤯🤯 🧵 pic.twitter.com/0ZtsKBROt2

— Mehmet Ismail🐴 (@drmehmetismail) April 21, 2025

Magnus wins his R6 and R7 games at @GRENKEChess today and leads the #FreestyleChess with 7,0/7 🤯🤯🤯

Can Magnus go all the way to 9,0/9 tomorrow?https://t.co/ZVbEkmbWdH

— Chessdom (@chessdom) April 20, 2025

And here comes the blunder! 25…Nf5 and Carlsen will finish @GRENKEChess with perfect 9,0/9 💥💥💥 https://t.co/RzuQdVJynZ

— Chessdom (@chessdom) April 21, 2025

Magnus Carlsen 🇸🇯 wins his R8 game and the tournament @GRENKEChess with a round to spear https://t.co/ZVbEkmbWdH Now the only question remaining, can he make a perfect 9,0/9

— Chessdom (@chessdom) April 21, 2025

Chess speaks for itself

While Niemann’s appearance after 12 days of radio silence was the key motif of the first rounds, chess spoke for itself and Carlsen’s performance acted like a magnet for all media covering the event.

Niemann himself finished with a lower than expected score, but he was followed by a team of Netflix, who are shooting yet another episode of Netflix UNTOLD 2025 – Carlsen – Niemann story. This will be an ongoing story, here is a timeline of the events so far:

05.04. Norwegian TV reports that Niemann is withdrawing after he was informed about anti-cheating
05.04 Breaking: Hans Niemann withdraws from Freestyle Chess Paris 2025 (rolling updates)
06.04 Reactions to Hans Niemann withdrawing from Paris Freestyle Chess 2025
06.04 Chess Song: Disappearing stars (Hans Niemann & Alireza Firouza) #TweetOftheDay
06.04 The organizer of Freestyle Chess Paris comments on the withdraw of Hans Niemann
17.04 Hans Niemann shows at round 1 of Grenke Chess after 12 days radio silence
17.04. Round 1 pairings of Grenke with Hans Niemann playing
19.04 Interview with Hans Niemann at Grenke

More about Grenke Chess 2025

There will be more coverage of Grenke, with exclusive stories and news coming in the Chessdom Newsletter, that is scheduled to launch THIS week. It is FREE and you will get it daily in the mailbox, signup with your email in the form below

More about Grenke Live games / Information Interviews Rasmus Svane about the secret to finding the best first move in Freestyle chess / Chess speaks for itself, with Hans Niemann at Grenke / Alexander Grischuk: “I prefer blitz, rapid of freestyle” Chess Song No Foolin’ This Time (Hans Niemann)

Final standings of Grenke Chess Freestyle 2025

1	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2837	9
2	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	IRI	2684	7
3	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	FID	2696	7
	GM	Svane, Frederik	GER	2668	7
5	GM	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	USA	2738	7
	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2672	7
7	GM	Erigaisi Arjun,	IND	2782	7
	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	USA	2776	7
9	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2657	6.5
10	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2643	6.5
11	GM	Pranesh M,	IND	2572	6.5
12	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2706	6.5
13	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2718	6.5
14	GM	So, Wesley	USA	2748	6.5
	GM	Rapport, Richard	HUN	2722	6.5
16	GM	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2714	6.5
	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	ESP	2639	6.5
18	GM	Svane, Rasmus	GER	2625	6.5
19	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2722	6.5
	GM	Robson, Ray	USA	2692	6.5
	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2682	6.5
22	GM	Grandelius, Nils	SWE	2640	6.5
23	GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	USA	2660	6.5
24	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2651	6.5
25	GM	Pultinevicius, Paulius	LTU	2558	6
26	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	2757	6
27	GM	Bluebaum, Matthias	GER	2662	6
	GM	Jobava, Baadur	GEO	2600	6
29	WGM	Heinemann, Josefine	GER	2342	6
30	GM	Navara, David	CZE	2665	6
	GM	Aryan Chopra,	IND	2620	6
32	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2633	6
33	GM	Aronian, Levon	USA	2747	6
	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2736	6
	GM	Gokerkan, Cem Kaan	TUR	2489	6
36	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2681	6
	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2661	6
	GM	Mikhalevski, Victor	ISR	2513	6
39	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	TUR	2618	6
	GM	Kamsky, Gata	USA	2603	6
	IM	Druska, Juraj	SVK	2442	6
42	GM	Piorun, Kacper	POL	2577	6
	IM	Hacker, Jonas	GER	2370	6
44	GM	Le, Quang Liem	VIE	2729	6
45	IM	Koelle, Tobias	GER	2459	6
46	GM	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2650	6
	GM	Kollars, Dmitrij	GER	2623	6
	GM	Sonis, Francesco	ITA	2576	6
	GM	Schoppen, Casper	NED	2529	6
	IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	KAZ	2494	6
51	GM	Kadric, Denis	MNE	2533	6
52	GM	Livaic, Leon	CRO	2536	6
53	GM	Fridman, Daniel	GER	2582	6
54	GM	Wagner, Dennis	GER	2607	6
55	GM	Smeets, Jan	NED	2568	5.5
56	GM	Yoo, Christopher Woojin	USA	2588	5.5
	IM	Sorensen, Hampus	SWE	2436	5.5
58	GM	Klekowski, Maciej	POL	2474	5.5
59	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram VR.	IND	2749	5.5
	GM	Raja Harshit,	IND	2474	5.5
61	GM	Grigoriants, Sergey	HUN	2552	5.5
	IM	Feuerstack, Aljoscha	GER	2458	5.5
63	IM	Kilic, Eray	TUR	2473	5.5
64		Boev, Viktor	BUL	2235	5.5
65	CM	Kumala, Aleksander	POL	2131	5.5
66	IM	Reuker, Jari	GER	2406	5.5
67	IM	Gschnitzer, Adrian	GER	2430	5.5
68	GM	Huschenbeth, Niclas	GER	2601	5.5
	IM	Wagner, Dinara	GER	2435	5.5
	FM	Ringuet, Noe	FRA	2304	5.5
71	GM	Deviatkin, Andrei	RUS	2442	5.5
72	FM	Dragicevic, Drazen	SWE	2334	5.5
	FM	Becker, Matthias	GER	2320	5.5
74	IM	Bournel, Antoine	FRA	2423	5.5
	FM	Jahncke, Giso	GER	2241	5.5
76	FM	Ruiz Buendia, Miguel	ESP	2353	5.5
	WIM	Muetsch, Annmarie	BEL	2329	5.5
78	IM	Thavandiran, Shiyam	CAN	2398	5.5
79	FM	Mostertman, Milan	NED	2218	5.5
80	GM	Liang, Awonder	USA	2692	5
81	GM	Wirig, Anthony	FRA	2433	5
82	FM	Sklokin, Sergey	FID	2305	5
		Kukushkin, Ivan	BUL	2030	5
84	IM	Finek, Vaclav	CZE	2501	5
85	IM	Beltran Rueda, Santiago	ESP	2278	5
86	IM	Pantzar, Milton	SWE	2445	5
	FM	Dauner, Benedikt	GER	2324	5
	WGM	Berend, Elvira	LUX	2252	5
89	GM	Bogner, Sebastian	SUI	2545	5
	FM	Tuncer, Tuna	TUR	2328	5
		Shevkunov, Vladyslav	USA	2050	5
92	FM	Dathe, Frederick	GER	2311	5
		Wolter, Detlev	GER	2169	5
94	IM	Seul, Georg	GER	2329	5
95	FM	Moehn, Hans	GER	2385	5
96		Morgenthaler, Stefan	SUI	2074	5
97		Mueller, Elias	GER	2115	5
98	IM	Langheinrich, Ferenc	GER	2347	5
	IM	Scholz, Christian, Dr.	GER	2284	5
		Hess, Markus, Dr.	GER	2057	5
101	CM	Soucek, Jan	CZE	2309	5
		Lohr, Maximilian	GER	2151	5
103	IM	Hess, Max	GER	2400	5
	IM	Abel, Dennes	GER	2389	5
	FM	Wehner, Roland	GER	2249	5
		Zolfagharian, Kevin	GER	2207	5
107	FM	Miller, Eduard	GER	2338	5
		Richter, Leonard	GER	2198	5
109		Duson, Robin	NED	2131	5
110		Loheide, Michel	GER	1955	5
111	FM	Moeller, Hendrik	GER	2217	5
112		Dieterle, Patrik	GER	2125	5
113		Farmani Anosheh, Yasha	GER	2114	5
114	GM	Movsesian, Sergei	ARM	2591	4.5
115	IM	Leisch, Lukas	AUT	2407	4.5
116	IM	Loeffler, Stefan	GER	2345	4.5
117	IM	Dionisi, Thomas	FRA	2410	4.5
118	GM	Tang, Andrew	USA	2529	4.5
	FM	Szalay-Ocsak, Bank	HUN	2126	4.5
120	IM	Kucuksari, Kaan	SWE	2440	4.5
121	CM	Nissinen, Niilo Man	HKG	2268	4.5
	CM	Meyers, Mark	GER	2267	4.5
		Koehler, Christian Friedrich	GER	2223	4.5
124	IM	Aizenberg, Benny	ISR	2450	4.5
	FM	Hoeffer, David	GER	2295	4.5
		Stichter, Constantin Paul	GER	2189	4.5
		Maisch, Julian	GER	2153	4.5
128		Kearns, Christopher	GER	2186	4.5
	FM	Olsson, Linus	SWE	2166	4.5
130		Schimnatkowski, Lukas	GER	2185	4.5
		Casagrande, Federico	ITA	2180	4.5
		Szakmary, Domonkos	HUN	2154	4.5
	CM	Germer, Philipp	GER	2129	4.5
134	IM	Souleidis, Georgios	GRE	2418	4.5
135	IM	Pastar, Slaven	BIH	2359	4.5
	FM	Franc, Borna	CRO	2281	4.5
	IM	Brendel, Oliver	GER	2278	4.5
		Kuehn, Kolja	GER	2126	4.5
139		Paeslack, Luis	GER	2032	4.5
140	IM	Song, Julien	FRA	2309	4.5
		Diyap, Murat	GER	2168	4.5
142	FM	Ciolek, Andreas	GER	2198	4.5
143		Ahner, Thomas	GER	2164	4.5
144	IM	Cotonnec, Melkior	FRA	2265	4.5
145	CM	Sliwicki, Damian	POL	2157	4.5
146	CM	Laemmel, Sebastian	GER	2210	4.5
	CM	Quilter, Thomas A	ENG	2162	4.5
148		Thomsen, Phil	GER	2156	4.5
149		Mrotzek, Alexander	GER	2071	4.5
150		Keller, Yannik	GER	2083	4.5
151	FM	Kueppers, Timo	GER	2292	4
152	FM	Zienkiewicz, Jan	FRA	2348	4
153	IM	Dobrikov, Marco	GER	2404	4
154		Kremser, Michael	GER	2024	4
155	IM	Rosner, Jonas	GER	2430	4
156	FM	Huber, Benedikt	GER	2261	4
	FM	Ruff, Maximilian	GER	2235	4
		Isacesco, Frederic	FRA	2066	4
159	GM	Yankelevich, Lev	GER	2413	4
160	FM	Moritz, Aron	GER	2305	4
	CM	Ferey, Antonin	FRA	2236	4
		Ellis, Antoine	FRA	2156	4
		Kribben, Matthias, Dr.	GER	2060	4
164		Jeschke, Jan	GER	2139	4
		Berresheim, Helmut	GER	2033	4
166	FM	Noy, Eyal	ISR	2346	4
167	IM	Zatonskih, Anna	USA	2300	4
	CM	Heron, Andrew	LIE	2100	4
169	FM	Bach, Matthias	GER	2207	4
		Nickel, Ruediger	GER	1983	4
171		Brandt, Sebastian	GER	2198	4
		Klein, Joachim	GER	2186	4
		Colonetti, Fabio	ITA	2170	4
		Blaschke, Henri Johannes	GER	1964	4
175	FM	Tomaszewski, Kacper	POL	2330	4
	FM	Knudsen, Simon	GER	2289	4
		Wu, Luka	GER	2109	4
178	FM	Zieher, Hartmut	GER	2144	4
		Kommer, Bas	NED	2086	4
180		Siegert, Gregor	GER	2113	4
181		Hofmann, Lorenz	GER	2104	4
182		Dietze, Sebastian	GER	2151	4
183		Uhlmann, Tim	GER	2108	4
184		Bratu, Mircea	GER	2046	4
185		Schottmueller, Christoph	GER	1943	4
186	GM	Kraemer, Martin	GER	2577	3.5
187	GM	Vogel, Roven	GER	2557	3.5
188		Leck, Gerrit	GER	2028	3.5
189	IM	Injac, Teodora	SRB	2455	3.5
190	FM	Poeck, Ole	GER	2304	3.5
		Rosenboom, Niko	GER	2030	3.5
192		Herms Agullo, Jordi	ESP	2068	3.5
		Braeutigam, Thomas	GER	2032	3.5
194	IM	Lammers, Markus	GER	2304	3.5
		Doenitz, Christian, Dr.	GER	2015	3.5
196	WFM	Khrapko, Marharyta	GER	2146	3.5
197	FM	Gallasch, Jonas	GER	2277	3.5
		Kern, Nicolas	FRA	2080	3.5
		Wu, Leon	GER	2067	3.5
		Nicolai, Tim	GER	2053	3.5
201	FM	Loew, Gerald	GER	2142	3.5
		Schinkowski, Christoph	GER	2130	3.5
		Alshihawi, Obai	GER	1963	3.5
204		Zenari, Marco	ITA	2142	3.5
		Cervelli, Eduard	SUI	2052	3.5
206		Merz, Leander	GER	1957	3.5
		Wadhwa, Aayush	USA	1916	3.5
208		Pfatteicher, Lukas	GER	2210	3.5
209	FM	Ahn, Martin	BEL	2124	3.5
		Ott, Mathias	GER	2017	3.5
211		Schallner, Marc	GER	2101	3.5
212		Emans, Job	NED	2134	3.5
213		Nickel, Arno	GER	2052	3.5
214		Hoffmann, Jens	GER	2057	3.5
		Tencati, Giuseppe	ITA	2031	3.5
216		Wagner, Bernd	GER	2069	3.5
217		Spieker, Michael	GER	2024	3.5
218		D’angerio, Alessandro	ITA	2106	3.5
219		Richter, Daniel	SUI	1937	3.5
220		Heinke, Jasper	GER	2052	3
		Tibke, Jonas	GER	2030	3
		Bleuzen, Cedric	FRA	2003	3
223	GM	Abergel, Thal	FRA	2415	3
		Tischler, Michel	AUT	2080	3
		Leck, Jakob	GER	2046	3
226		Leibbrand, Udo	GER	2027	3
		Rombach, Michael	GER	2019	3
228	FM	Bremond, Eric	FRA	2129	3
		Geist, Tim	GER	2054	3
230	IM	Krause, Benedict	GER	2420	3
231		Player, Edmund C	ENG	2161	3
232	FM	Haag, Wolfgang	GER	2175	3
233		Gramb, Marius	GER	2165	3
	FM	Balint, Vilmos	HUN	2140	3
		Jaeschke, Benno	GER	2008	3
		Cabela, Filip	CZE	2000	3
237		Schormann, Conrad	GER	2111	3
238	FM	Mundorf, Johannes	GER	2288	3
		Seidel, Knut	GER	1974	3
		Degro, Heiko	GER	1948	3
241		Werner, Martin, Dr.	GER	2021	3
		Valean, David-Andrei	GER	1961	3
243	GM	Basso, Pier Luigi	ITA	2508	3
	CM	Sadeghi, Hassan Roger	SUI	2038	3
		Wong, Yen-Hsiu Elliot	SGP	1987	3
246		Heyl, Thomas	GER	1935	3
		Kuever, Bastian	GER	1920	3
248		Stork, Christopher	GER	2132	3
249		Vogel, Constantin	GER	2193	3
		Schoettker, Jochen	GER	1955	3
251		Steinhart, Karl-Heinz	GER	2110	3
		Volk, Oskar	GER	2001	3
253		Germer, Marcel	GER	2130	3
		Bahmann, Micha	GER	2061	3
255		Markina, Sofiia	CZE	1887	3
256		Hillermann, Vinzenz	GER	2227	2.5
257	IM	Zeller, Frank	GER	2318	2.5
258		Hoffmann, Tim	GER	2011	2.5
259		Barthel, Ansgar	GER	2042	2.5
	WFM	Matskevich, Varvara	POL	1989	2.5
261		Musaelyan, Arshavir	SUI	1961	2.5
262		Sesselmann, Christoph	GER	2031	2.5
		Gabriel, Josef	GER	1994	2.5
		Wiesner, Alexander	GER	1962	2.5
265		Arns, Alexander	GER	1985	2.5
266		Hoffmann, Achim Gunter	AUS	2035	2.5
267		Mueller, Mark	GER	1979	2.5
268		Baeumer, Frank	GER	1966	2.5
269		Hell, Pascal	FRA	2103	2.5
270		Reimold, Jonas	GER	2039	2.5
271		Hematyar, Fardin	NED	1990	2
272		Medvedovski, Michael	GER	2058	2
273		Dunn, Andrew M	ENG	2117	2
274		Gold, Jan Christian	GER	1997	2
		Luhn, Robert	GER	1988	2
276		Standhartinger, Joachim	AUT	1980	2
277		Aleskerov, Faik	AZE	2315	2
278		Stara, Zuzana	CZE	2060	2
279		Huhn, Stefan	GER	2076	2
280		Halas, Julia	GER	1978	2
281		Bugaj, Hanna	POL	1953	2
282		Woelk, Marvin	GER	1958	1.5
283		Schmitt, Hans Walter	GER	1986	1.5
284	FM	Fichter, Fabian	GER	2235	1.5
285		Wiesner, Frank	GER	2048	1.5
286		Precour, Juergen	GER	2010	1.5
		Schaub, Marc	FRA	1956	1.5
288	IM	Caprio, Guido	ITA	2405	1.5
289	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2748	1.5
290		Narr, Kevin	GER	2128	1.5
291		De Silva, Joel Niels	GER	2142	1
292	CM	Hauser, Carlos, Dr.	GER	2219	1
293		Hamid, Emran	GER	2203	1
294		Haxhiaj, Premtim	GER	1963	1
295		Sessler, Joachim, Dr.	GER	2178	1
296	CM	Gottstein, Claudius-Thomas	GER	2113	0
297		Falk, Ulrich, Prof. Dr.	GER	2238	0