Warsaw: Grand Chess Tour 2025 Warsaw (replay) / Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Warsaw, Rapid info
Bucharest: Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Bucharest (replay) / Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Bucharest, Classical info
Zagreb: Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Zagreb (replay) / Carlsen wins Grand Chess Tour Croatia
Next: Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025 and Sinquefield Cup

Carlsen stated after his victory “From the morning I felt this will be a tough day. […] It was a very tough tournament, very strong field […] and I am happy to come out on top.” The victory was not easy for Carlsen after a strong rapid part by Gukesh and a messy blitz section. That is why Carlsen celebrated his victory in Grand Chess Tour Zargeb with a cryptic tweet of a nail falling next to a phone. Accompanied by the word “Haters” the message is that “Haters are so quiet you can hear the nail drop”.

Update: Carlsen has deleted the “Haters” tweet now (image: Reddit Chess)

Grand Chess Tour 2025 so far

Warsaw: Grand Chess Tour 2025 Warsaw (replay) / Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Warsaw, Rapid info
Bucharest: Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Bucharest (replay) / Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Bucharest, Classical info
Zagreb: Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Zagreb (replay) / Carlsen wins Grand Chess Tour Croatia
Next: Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025 and Sinquefield Cup

The World Champion Gukesh dominated the rapid section of the Grand Chess Tour Croatia, co-leading after day 1, continuing to sole lead in day 2, and finally Gukesh finished top of the table after the rapid stage. However, things turned around in the blitz, after a Carlsen turned on beast mode in blitz day 1 and collected 7,5/9. Carlsen finished the job in the second day of the blitz, scoring 5,0/9

This is the sixth consecutive tournament victory for Magnus Carlsen this year. Carlsen celebrated it with a cryptic tweet

After his victory, Magnus Carlsen stated that his victory was mainly due to his first blitz day play. “From the morning I felt this will be a tough day. […] It was a very tough tournament, very strong field […] and I am happy to come out on top.” See the whole interview with Magnus Carlsen here.

The quick draw of Gukesh and Carlsen in day 2

Carlsen misses the blitz record

Vladimir Fedoseev had a standout performance in the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, particularly in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, the first event of the tour held from April 26–30 in Warsaw. As a wildcard participant, Fedoseev dominated the tournament, securing the title with three rounds to spare and finishing with an impressive 26.5/36 points, one of the highest scores in Grand Chess Tour rapid and blitz history, only surpassed by Magnus Carlsen (27 points in Kolkata 2019) and Fabiano Caruana (27 points in Zagreb 2024). He remained undefeated in the rapid portion, scoring 11/18, and lost only one game out of 27 across both rapid and blitz, against Jan-Krzysztof Duda in Blitz Round 12. In the blitz portion, he scored a record-breaking 15.5/18, eclipsing Carlsen and Firouzja’s previous best. In Croatia Carlsen had the chance to surpass the record of Fedoseev, after starting with 7,5/9 the blitz section of the Grand Chess Tour Croatia. See more here

Recent: Vladimir Fedoseev replaces Quang Liem Le in the Biel Chess Masters 2025

Grand Chess Tour blitz records

15.5 pts – Fedoseev (Poland 2025)
15 pts – Firouzja (Saint Louis 2022) and Carlsen (Croatia 2023)
14.5 pts – Carlsen (Belgium 2017)
14 pts – Carlsen (Poland 2023 & 2024)

More: Grand Chess Tour Croatia 2025 LIVE rapid / Grand Chess Tour 2025 Rapid Zagreb information / Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Zagreb Blitz information / Pairings Day 1: Four players tied at the top Day 2: Gukesh defeats Carlsen, leads the Grand Chess Tour Day 3: Gukesh tops the Grand Chess Tour Croatia after the rapid stage Day 4: Carlsen in beast mode, defeats Gukesh and leads Grand Chess Tour blitz

But few saw what was coming in the first day of the blitz – Carlsen in beast mode! Carlsen completed day 1 of the blitz with 7,5/9, defeating Caruana, Firouzja, Pragg, Abdusattorov, and Gukesh along the way. The loss of Gukesh from Carlsen was not the only bad news for the Indian player, as he finished with only 1,5/9, losing seven of the nine games he played.

Calendar: Magnus Carlsen next tournaments / Wesley So next tournament / Gukesh next tournaments

Carlsen commented on Gukesh’s day for chess24: “The score is shocking… The good thing for Gukesh is it couldn’t really have gone any worse… Hopefully for his sake he can calm down and play with a different attitude tomorrow, because now he doesn’t really have anything to lose.” Duda also praised Carlsen, “I’m not sure I can do anything, to be honest, because it’s mostly about Magnus. Once he’s on a roll, he makes 9/9 or something, you can’t really do anything. I just have to focus on my chess!” referring to the Magnus Carlsen’s win at the Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025

Grand Chess Tour SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia

Former World Champion Magnus Carlsen surged into the lead with a powerful performance, bringing his total score to 17.5 points after nine blitz rounds. Meanwhile, World Champion Gukesh D, who led the field after the rapid portion, had a difficult day on the board, scoring just 1.5 out of 9 in blitz. The setback drops him to third place with 15.5 points, behind Carlsen and Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who now holds sole second place with 16.0 points. With nine more blitz rounds still to play, the title race remains open.

More: Grand Chess Tour Croatia 2025 LIVE rapid / Grand Chess Tour 2025 Rapid Zagreb information / Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Zagreb Blitz information / Pairings

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.

See he future tournaments of the Norway Chess 2025 champion in the Magnus Carlsen chess calendar

This is a flash report. Stay tuned for the full report

Gukesh Dommaraju (Gukesh calendar), Magnus Carlsen (Carlsen calendar), Hikaru Nakamura (Nakamura calendar), Arjun Erigaisi (Erigaisi calendar), Fabiano Caruana (Caruana calendar), Wei Yi (Yi calendar) are going to play a a double-round-robin format with special Norway Chess rules. Games are played with a time control of 120 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds starting from move 41. If a game is drawn, an Armageddon game is played to determine the winner. Norway Chess 2025 schedule and information

Live games from Norway Chess 2025 will be daily on Chessdom. For more tournament coverage sign up for the Chessdom Newsletter in the form below, it is free

Norway Chess 2025 live

Norway Chess 2025 video

More: Norway Chess 2025 schedule and information / Norway Chess 2025 live / Norway Chess 2025 Women live

Levy Rozman, aka GothamChess, publishes a video on Carlsen’s game vs Arjun Erigaisi. GothamChess says, “Today, Magnus Carlsen in a tournament in his home country, Norway, played one of his best games of the year. Nearly 100% accurate, and as far as I am concerned a 100% accurate.”

Only a month ago Carlsen achieved a perfect 9,0/9 at Grenke Freestyle and set a performance record. 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.

At Norway Chess 2025, Carlsen is again leading in the performance table. Here is a detailed analysis of Dr. Mehmet Ismail and the Game Theory corner

Invited players: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh D, Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wei Yi. Live games will be daily on Chessdom, while additional news can be found in the Chessdom Newsletter – you can sign up for free in the form below

New: If you are looking for more action by Carlsen and Nakamura, do not forget to check out the complete Magnus Carlsen calendar and the complete Hikaru Nakamura calendar, which are now integral parts of The Chessdom Chess Calendar

Chess.com Classic 2025

Play in knockout

Play in Swiss

The Chess.com Classic kicks off with the qualifiers for non-grandmasters on May 18 at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST. The Play-In starts a day later at the same time, with the Playoffs taking place from May 20 to May 23.

More: Nakamura vs Leela with knight odds / Carlsen wins Grenke with 9,0/9 / Replay Ding Liren vs Gukesh / Magnus Carlsen Clinches Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Title in Thrilling Final Against Hikaru Nakamura

Chess.com Classic Qualifier (May 18)

Starts: 8:00 PT / 11:00 ET / 17:00 CEST

Non-grandmaster titled players compete in a Swiss, with the top three making it to the Play-In.

• Open to all non-grandmaster titled players
• Players contest a nine-round Swiss
• Time control: 10+0
• The top three players are eligible to compete in the Play-In

Chess.com Classic Play-in (May 19)

Starts: 8:00 PT / 11:00 ET / 17:00 CEST

Qualified players join grandmasters to compete in two phases, Swiss and Match Play. The winner of the Swiss goes straight to the Playoffs. Players ranked second through 15th go to Match Play, with the winners reaching the Playoffs.

• Open to all grandmasters and the top three players from the Qualifier
• Time control: 10+0
• Players compete in a nine-round Swiss
• The top player from the Swiss goes straight to the Playoffs and selects their bracket position
• Players ranked second through 15th advance to Match Play
• Players ranked second through eighth choose their opponents
• The 14 players who compete in the Match Play phase contest a two-game match
• The winner of each Match Play match moves on to the Playoffs

Chess.com Classic Playoffs (May 20 – 23)

Starts: 8:15 PT / 11:15 ET / 17:15 CET

Eight invited players join the eight players who made it to the Playoffs to compete for top prize money and CCT Points, which may grant them a spot at the Esports World Cup.

• Eight invited players join the eight players who made it to the Playoffs
• Players contest a double-elimination bracket
• Winners Bracket matches consist of four games
• Losers Bracket matches consist of two games
• Grand Final match consists of four games
• Grand Final Reset, if necessary, consists of two games
• If the match ends in a tie, a bidding armageddon game with a base time of 10 minutes decides the winner

Divisions Cash Prizes