Magnus Carlsen is sole leader of Grenke Chess after R5 [full report]

It took only five rounds for Magnus Carlsen to be sole leader of the massive Grenke Freestyle Chess Open 2025. The 5,0/5 dominant performance comes after Carlsen’s victory in Paris and in mathematical terms is equal to 3003 CPR (see more about CPR)

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The rules of Grenke Chess 2025 allow players to switch from Classical to Freestyle after round 4. By switching, the players keep the points and new pairings are constructed. Awonder Liang, one of the leaders in the open section, has decided to make that switch and will be paired against Magnus Carlsen in round 6. Scroll down for the full pairings

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)

Hundreds of players, most of the world's elite in one competition, but Magnus Carlsen 🇳🇴 is sole leader of @GRENKEChess only after five roundshttps://t.co/AS0kjRLx7d

— Chessdom (@chessdom) April 19, 2025

Hans Niemann continues to draw media attention

Hans Niemann is near the top of the table and is performing well in the strong field of Grenke. His next match is against Sergei Movsesian. However, this is not what draws public interest around him. It is rather the controversy that started with his Paris Freestyle withdrawal, and continued with 12 days of radio silence and surprising appearance at Grenke. Additionally, the presence and secrecy of Vladimir Kramnik around him daily in Grenke fuel speculation. This is the spring story of Hans Niemann 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

Netflix UNTOLD 2025 will take a look at the chess cheating scandal Carlsen – Niemann. “All-new films for UNTOLD are coming in 2025 — including the 2009 locker room gun incident between Washington Wizards players Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton; the chess grandmaster cheating scandal; and the Liver King’s steroid scandal,” says the official announcement of Netflix. The episode Carlsen – Niemann on Netflix is scheduled for April and will be aired soon. Full info here But there is more: Netflix have already predicted the success of the episode Carlsen – Niemann, even before airing. At this moment they are collecting material for Episode 2. The organizers of Grenke 2025 have confirmed that the actual team of Netflix shooting on site is composed of 13 people.

Grenke Freestyle round 6 pairings

Bo.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg
1	GM	Liang, Awonder	2692	4½	–	5	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	2837
2	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2643	4½	–	4½	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2684
3	GM	Sarana, Alexey	2672	4½	–	4½	GM	Pultinevicius, Paulius	2558
4	GM	Jobava, Baadur	2600	4½	–	4½	GM	Bluebaum, Matthias	2662
5	GM	Keymer, Vincent	2718	4	–	4	GM	Aryan Chopra,	2620
6	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2651	4	–	4	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	2776
7	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2757	4	–	4	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	2639
8	GM	Svane, Rasmus	2625	4	–	4	GM	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	2738
9	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2736	4	–	4	GM	Movsesian, Sergei	2591
10	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	2618	4	–	4	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2714
11	GM	Mikhalevski, Victor	2513	4	–	4	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2696
12	GM	Yoo, Christopher Woojin	2588	4	–	4	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2681
13	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2661	4	–	4	GM	Fridman, Daniel	2582
14	GM	Pranesh M,	2572	4	–	4	GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	2660
15	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	2657	4	–	4	GM	Gokerkan, Cem Kaan	2489
16	GM	Erigaisi Arjun,	2782	3½	–	3½	GM	Bogner, Sebastian	2545
17	GM	Livaic, Leon	2536	3½	–	3½	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram VR.	2749
18	GM	Schoppen, Casper	2529	3½	–	3½	GM	So, Wesley	2748
19	IM	Kilic, Eray	2473	3	–	3	IM	Song, Julien	2309
20	GM	Aronian, Levon	2747	3½	–	3½	GM	Kadric, Denis	2533
21	IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2494	3½	–	3½	GM	Le, Quang Liem	2729
22	GM	Rapport, Richard	2722	3½	–	3½	IM	Finek, Vaclav	2501
23	IM	Feuerstack, Aljoscha	2458	3½	–	3½	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2722
24	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	2706	3½	–	3½	GM	Klekowski, Maciej	2474
25	GM	Robson, Ray	2692	3½	–	3½	GM	Raja Harshit,	2474
26	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	2682	3½	–	3½	IM	Koelle, Tobias	2459
27	IM	Pantzar, Milton	2445	3½	–	3½	GM	Svane, Frederik	2668
28	GM	Navara, David	2665	3½	–	3½	IM	Druska, Juraj	2442
29	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2650	3½	–	3½	IM	Sorensen, Hampus	2436
30	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	2633	3½	–	3½	GM	Wirig, Anthony	2433
31	GM	Kollars, Dmitrij	2623	3½	–	3½	IM	Gschnitzer, Adrian	2430
32	GM	Kamsky, Gata	2603	3½	–	3½	IM	Leisch, Lukas	2407
33	IM	Hacker, Jonas	2370	3½	–	3½	GM	Huschenbeth, Niclas	2601
34	WGM	Heinemann, Josefine	2342	3½	–	3½	GM	Piorun, Kacper	2577
35	GM	Sonis, Francesco	2576	3½	–	3½	FM	Kueppers, Timo	2292
36	FM	Huber, Benedikt	2261	3½	–	3½	GM	Smeets, Jan	2568
37		Boev, Viktor	2235	3½	–	3½	GM	Vogel, Roven	2557
38	GM	Grigoriants, Sergey	2552	3½	–	3½		Kukushkin, Ivan	2030
39	GM	Grandelius, Nils	2640	3	–	3	FM	Dathe, Frederick	2311
40	GM	Kraemer, Martin	2577	3	–	3	FM	Tuncer, Tuna	2328
41	FM	Becker, Matthias	2320	3	–	3	GM	Basso, Pier Luigi	2508
42	FM	Sklokin, Sergey	2305	3	–	3	IM	Aizenberg, Benny	2450
43	IM	Zatonskih, Anna	2300	3	–	3	IM	Kucuksari, Kaan	2440
44	IM	Wagner, Dinara	2435	3	–	3	FM	Moritz, Aron	2305
45	IM	Scholz, Christian, Dr.	2284	3	–	3	IM	Rosner, Jonas	2430
46	CM	Meyers, Mark	2267	3	–	3	IM	Krause, Benedict	2420
47	IM	Souleidis, Georgios	2418	3	–	3	FM	Ringuet, Noe	2304
48	WGM	Berend, Elvira	2252	3	–	3	GM	Abergel, Thal	2415
49	GM	Yankelevich, Lev	2413	3	–	3	IM	Beltran Rueda, Santiago	2278
50	IM	Dionisi, Thomas	2410	3	–	3	FM	Wehner, Roland	2249
51		Casagrande, Federico	2180	3	–	3	IM	Reuker, Jari	2406
52		Szakmary, Domonkos	2154	3	–	3	IM	Dobrikov, Marco	2404
53	IM	Hess, Max	2400	3	–	3	CM	Ferey, Antonin	2236
54	CM	Kumala, Aleksander	2131	3	–	3	IM	Pastar, Slaven	2359
55	FM	Zienkiewicz, Jan	2348	3	–	3		Zolfagharian, Kevin	2207
56	FM	Szalay-Ocsak, Bank	2126	3	–	3	IM	Loeffler, Stefan	2345
57	FM	Miller, Eduard	2338	3	–	3		Jeschke, Jan	2139
58		Tibke, Jonas	2030	3	–	3	FM	Dragicevic, Drazen	2334
59	FM	Tomaszewski, Kacper	2330	3	–	3		Kremser, Michael	2024
60		Hillermann, Vinzenz	2227	2½	–	2½	GM	Wagner, Dennis	2607
61		Koehler, Christian Friedrich	2223	2½	–	2½	GM	Tang, Andrew	2529
62	IM	Injac, Teodora	2455	2½	–	2½	FM	Ciolek, Andreas	2198
63	FM	Moeller, Hendrik	2217	2½	–	2½	GM	Deviatkin, Andrei	2442
64		Stichter, Constantin Paul	2189	2½	–	2½	IM	Thavandiran, Shiyam	2398
65	IM	Abel, Dennes	2389	2½	–	2½		Wolter, Detlev	2169
66	FM	Moehn, Hans	2385	2½	–	2½	FM	Olsson, Linus	2166
67		Kearns, Christopher	2186	2½	–	2½	FM	Ruiz Buendia, Miguel	2353
68	IM	Langheinrich, Ferenc	2347	2½	–	2½		Maisch, Julian	2153
69		Colonetti, Fabio	2170	2½	–	2½	IM	Seul, Georg	2329
70	WIM	Muetsch, Annmarie	2329	2½	–	2½		Lohr, Maximilian	2151
71	FM	Zieher, Hartmut	2144	2½	–	2½	FM	Dauner, Benedikt	2324
72		Duson, Robin	2131	2½	–	2½	IM	Zeller, Frank	2318
73	CM	Soucek, Jan	2309	2½	–	2½		Kuehn, Kolja	2126
74		Schormann, Conrad	2111	2½	–	2½	IM	Lammers, Markus	2304
75	FM	Poeck, Ole	2304	2½	–	2½		Wu, Luka	2109
76	CM	Heron, Andrew	2100	2½	–	2½	FM	Hoeffer, David	2295
77	FM	Franc, Borna	2281	2½	–	2½		Isacesco, Frederic	2066
78	IM	Brendel, Oliver	2278	2½	–	2½		Hess, Markus, Dr.	2057
79	FM	Gallasch, Jonas	2277	2½	–	2½		Paeslack, Luis	2032
80		Arns, Alexander	1985	2½	–	2½	CM	Nissinen, Niilo Man	2268
81		Alshihawi, Obai	1963	2½	–	2½	IM	Cotonnec, Melkior	2265
82	FM	Jahncke, Giso	2241	2½	–	2½		Kuever, Bastian	1920
83	IM	Bournel, Antoine	2423	2	–	2½		Valean, David-Andrei	1961
84	FM	Noy, Eyal	2346	2	–	2	FM	Ahn, Martin	2124
85	FM	Knudsen, Simon	2289	2	–	2		Mueller, Elias	2115
86		Dieterle, Patrik	2125	2	–	2	FM	Mundorf, Johannes	2288
87	FM	Ruff, Maximilian	2235	2	–	2		Schallner, Marc	2101
88		Uhlmann, Tim	2108	2	–	2	FM	Mostertman, Milan	2218
89		Hofmann, Lorenz	2104	2	–	2	CM	Laemmel, Sebastian	2210
90		Tischler, Michel	2080	2	–	2	FM	Bach, Matthias	2207
91		Brandt, Sebastian	2198	2	–	2		Morgenthaler, Stefan	2074
92		Richter, Leonard	2198	2	–	2		Kribben, Matthias, Dr.	2060
93		Medvedovski, Michael	2058	2	–	2		Vogel, Constantin	2193
94		Geist, Tim	2054	2	–	2		Klein, Joachim	2186
95		Schimnatkowski, Lukas	2185	2	–	2		Hoffmann, Jens	2057
96		Diyap, Murat	2168	2	–	2		Shevkunov, Vladyslav	2050
97		Gramb, Marius	2165	2	–	2		Braeutigam, Thomas	2032
98		Cervelli, Eduard	2052	2	–	2		Ahner, Thomas	2164
99	CM	Quilter, Thomas A	2162	2	–	2		Rosenboom, Niko	2030
100		Berresheim, Helmut	2033	2	–	2		Player, Edmund C	2161
101	CM	Sliwicki, Damian	2157	2	–	2		Leck, Gerrit	2028
102		Leibbrand, Udo	2027	2	–	2		Ellis, Antoine	2156
103		Thomsen, Phil	2156	2	–	2		Bleuzen, Cedric	2003
104		Dietze, Sebastian	2151	2	–	2		Rombach, Michael	2019
105	WFM	Khrapko, Marharyta	2146	2	–	2		Wong, Yen-Hsiu Elliot	1987
106		Ott, Mathias	2017	2	–	2	FM	Loew, Gerald	2142
107		Nickel, Ruediger	1983	2	–	2	FM	Balint, Vilmos	2140
108		Seidel, Knut	1974	2	–	2		Stork, Christopher	2132
109		Schinkowski, Christoph	2130	2	–	2		Blaschke, Henri Johannes	1964
110		Loheide, Michel	1955	2	–	2	FM	Bremond, Eric	2129
111	CM	Germer, Philipp	2129	2	–	2		Schoettker, Jochen	1955
112		Pfatteicher, Lukas	2210	1½	–	2		Degro, Heiko	1948
113		Zenari, Marco	2142	1½	–	1½		Heinke, Jasper	2052
114		Emans, Job	2134	1½	–	1½		Leck, Jakob	2046
115		Dunn, Andrew M	2117	1½	–	1½		Doenitz, Christian, Dr.	2015
116		Nickel, Arno	2052	1½	–	1½		D’angerio, Alessandro	2106
117		Kommer, Bas	2086	1½	–	1½		Reimold, Jonas	2039
118		Werner, Martin, Dr.	2021	1½	–	1½		Keller, Yannik	2083
119		Kern, Nicolas	2080	1½	–	1½		Merz, Leander	1957
120		Wagner, Bernd	2069	1½	–	1½		Wadhwa, Aayush	1916
121		Baeumer, Frank	1966	1½	–	1½		Herms Agullo, Jordi	2068
122		Musaelyan, Arshavir	1961	1½	–	1½		Bahmann, Micha	2061
123		Markina, Sofiia	1887	1½	–	1½		Nicolai, Tim	2053
124	FM	Haag, Wolfgang	2175	1	–	1		Sesselmann, Christoph	2031
125		Spieker, Michael	2024	1	–	1		Germer, Marcel	2130
126		Hoffmann, Tim	2011	1	–	1		Narr, Kevin	2128
127		Farmani Anosheh, Yasha	2114	1	–	1		Jaeschke, Benno	2008
128		Siegert, Gregor	2113	1	–	1		Cabela, Filip	2000
129		Steinhart, Karl-Heinz	2110	1	–	1		Gold, Jan Christian	1997
130		Hell, Pascal	2103	1	–	1		Hematyar, Fardin	1990
131		Luhn, Robert	1988	1	–	1		Huhn, Stefan	2076
132		Schaub, Marc	1956	1	–	1		Mrotzek, Alexander	2071
133		Wu, Leon	2067	1	–	1		Schmitt, Hans Walter	1986
134		Stara, Zuzana	2060	1	–	1		Mueller, Mark	1979
135		Bratu, Mircea	2046	1	–	1		Woelk, Marvin	1958
136		Barthel, Ansgar	2042	1	–	1		Bugaj, Hanna	1953
137		Heyl, Thomas	1935	1	–	1	CM	Sadeghi, Hassan Roger	2038
138		Schottmueller, Christoph	1943	1	–	½		Wiesner, Frank	2048
139		Richter, Daniel	1937	½	–	½		Tencati, Giuseppe	2031
140		Wiesner, Alexander	1962	½	–	½		Precour, Juergen	2010
141		Volk, Oskar	2001	½	–	½		Standhartinger, Joachim	1980
142	WFM	Matskevich, Varvara	1989	½	–	½		Halas, Julia	1978
143		Gabriel, Josef	1994	0	–			bye
144	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2748	1½	–			not paired
145	IM	Caprio, Guido	2405	1½	–			not paired
146		Aleskerov, Faik	2315	2	–			not paired
147		Falk, Ulrich, Prof. Dr.	2238	0	–			not paired
148	FM	Fichter, Fabian	2235	1½	–			not paired
149	CM	Hauser, Carlos, Dr.	2219	1	–			not paired
150		Hamid, Emran	2203	1	–			not paired