freestyle chess – Chessdom https://www.chessdom.com Chess, chess news, live chess games Tue, 24 Jun 2025 11:09:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 Las Vegas Freestyle Chess participants announced https://www.chessdom.com/las-vegas-freestyle-chess-participants-announced/ Tue, 24 Jun 2025 11:07:32 +0000 https://www.chessdom.com/?p=100151 The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas is a major Chess960 (Fischer Random) tournament, part of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.

Las Vegas Freestyle will take place July 16–20, 2025, at the Wynn Las Vegas, specifically in the 50,000-square-foot Lafite Ballroom. It’s the third leg of the 2025 tour – after Paris Freestyle and Grenke Freestyle – and the first Freestyle Chess event in the U.S. open to live spectators. It features 16 top grandmasters in a five-day event with a group stage (round-robin, 10+10 time control) followed by a double-elimination knockout (30+30 for key stages). The prize fund is $750,000, contributing to the tour’s points system to crown the first Freestyle Chess Champion in Cape Town, scheduled for December 2025. Co-founded by Carlsen and Jan Henric Buettner, Freestyle Chess emphasizes raw talent over opening preparation due to randomized starting positions. The Las Vegas event marks a push for a high-energy, spectator-friendly format, backed by a $20 million investment.

Las Vegas Freestyle participants

Magnus Carlsen (Norway, calendar)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA, calendar)
Fabiano Caruana (USA, calendar)
Arjun Erigaisi (India, calendar)
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan, calendar)
Leinier Dominguez (USA, calendar)
Vincent Keymer (Germany, calendar)
Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID, calendar)
Levon Aronian (USA, calendar)
Wesley So (USA, calendar)
Praham Maghsoodloo (Iran, calendar)
Praggnanandhaa R (India, calendar)
Hans Niemann (USA, calendar)
Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan, calendar)
Vidit Gujrathi (India, calendar)
Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan, calendar)


More on the Las Vegas Freestyle tournament

This is a developing story and you may want to bookmark this article, as rolling updates will appear here before and during the event. Chessdom will provide wide coverage of one of the Top Events in The Chess Calendar, including expert opinions, live games, news coverage, and more.

]]> Anish Giri: “Carlsen makes the same mistake with Freestyle as he did with Classical” https://www.chessdom.com/anish-giri-carlsen-makes-the-same-mistake-with-freestyle-as-he-did-with-classical/ Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:00:42 +0000 https://www.chessdom.com/?p=98721 Magnus Carlsen recently Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025 with 9,0/9 . 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). Anish Giri, however, is worried. He says, “Carlsen is making the same mistake in his new game as he made in chess. He is completing it too quickly.”

Anish Giri’s opinion differs from the one of the bodyguard of Hans Niemann , but sums up the overall sentiment of the chess fans. Giri, who signed with Esports club Team Secret, ahead of the Esports World Chess Cup 2025 is scheduled to play Sharjah Masters 2025 this month of May.

More from Giri on Freestyle: Classical, a lot of drawing. Freestyle, a lot of withdrawing

]]> Grenke Chess 2025 LIVE https://www.chessdom.com/grenke-chess-2025-live/ Sat, 19 Apr 2025 09:36:08 +0000 https://www.chessdom.com/?p=98518 Grenke Chess 2025 is a massive chess event that takes place 17-21 April in Germany. Thirteen days before the start of the event it crossed the 2900 players mark, and eventually collected 3500+ players. The festival contains the Grenke Open and the Grenke Freestyle Chess with Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Arjun Erigaisi, etc. Games will be live on Chessdom and Grenke will be part of the FIRST edition of the Chessdom newsletter, that is scheduled to start next week. Signup for free in the form below

Hans Niemann controversy continues: Hans Niemann shows up at Grenke after 12 days radio silence / More on Twitter

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

Special note: Good Friday will have no broadcast of Grenke. Games will be uploaded the next day manually. The rules of the holiday in Germany also forbid dancing. Information, schedule and participants: Grenke Freestyle Chess / Grenke Open

]]> Freestyle chess – Carlsen vs Caruana as preview of the World Chess Championship 2024 https://www.chessdom.com/freestyle-chess-carlsen-vs-caruana-as-preview-of-the-world-chess-championship-2024/ Thu, 21 Nov 2024 07:14:48 +0000 https://www.chessdom.com/?p=96961 Freestyle Chess is another name for Fischer random chess, otherwise known as Chess960, a variant of chess where there are 958 different possible starting positions. A Freestyle Chess match Carlsen vs Caruana will take place as a preview and warmup for the World Chess Championship 2024. Games will happen 21-22 November in Singapore.

The Freestyle chess tournament is organized and sponsored by Jan Henric Buettner, with Magnus Carlsen as co-organizer. It was recently announced that Freestyle chess expands into a Grand Slam, including events in different cities in 2024 and 2025. Carlsen’s new Freestyle Chess startup, already backed by millions in venture capital money with 25 of the world’s top players committed to play on the tour, underscores his belief that the format can grip fans across the globe. “What we’re playing now is in many ways a purer, long-form game than normal classical chess,” says Carlsen. “You’re sitting down at the board, and you have to think from the very beginning, and it just feels fresh

Immediately after Freestyle chess starts the World Chess Championship 2024 – Gukesh vs Ding Liren. Live games from Gukesh – Ding match will be daily on Chessdom.com, with live video, games commentary, analysis and more.

All details on Gukesh – Ding: Preview / Schedule / Venue / Live / Promo video

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