New world chess champion Gukesh joins us: che Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 kicks off / Open qualification for the final ticket
The new world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju will take part in the opening tournament of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 in Germany. The 18-year-old Indian signed up shortly after winning the title. From 0February 7 to 14, WEISSENHAUS Private Nature Luxury ResortGukesh will face two former world champions: Magnus Carlsenwho has dominated the world rankings for over 13 years and is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time, and his idol, Viswanathan Anandthe father of the chess boom in India.
Cheered on by millions of his compatriots, Gukesh wrested the title from the reigning champion, Ding Lirenduring the final round of the World Championship in Singapore. Since December 12, this exceptionally talented player from the southeast Indian metropolis of Chennai (formerly Madras) has been the 18th and youngest World Chess Champion in history.
“It was always clear to us that we wanted the reigning world champion to be present at the start of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour at WEISSENHAUS,” explains Jan Henric Buettner, co-founder of Freestyle. Today, we’re delighted that things have happened so quickly. On the shores of the Baltic Sea, the world champion will have the opportunity to prove his class in Freestyle, in a group of elite players.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” says Gukesh, who already took part in the first edition of Freestyle in February 2024 at WEISSENHAUS. Freestyle chess should suit him. During the three weeks of the World Championship, Gukesh revealed that he prefers to play chess with a long, classical control and that Freestyle is his preferred variant. At the Grand Slam Tour, he has both: Freestyle played with classical time control.
With the confirmation of the World Champion, nine of the ten WEISSENHAUS participants have been named. Tenth place will go to the winner of the open qualification, which starts online at chess.com on January 04. All chess fans are invited to take up the challenge in two open online tournaments on January 04 and 05.
Here, too, they’ll be up against some tough opponents. In the qualifying round, the winners of the two opening tournaments will face the members of the Freestyle Chess Players Club, all super-GMs. In the final on January 08, the last ticket to the WEISSENHAUS will be up for grabs.
The nine confirmed participants:
– Magnus Carlsen (Norway, world no. 1)
– Fabiano Caruana (USA, n°2)
– Hikaru Nakamura (USA, n°3)
– Gukesh Dommaraju (India, n°5)
– Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan, n°6)
– Alireza Firouzja (France, n°7)
– Viswanathan Anand (India, n°10)
– Levon Aronian (United States, no. 11)
– Vincent Keymer (Germany, n°19)
About Freestyle Chess
The contractor Jan Henric Buettner and world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen founded Freestyle 2024. Freestyle is a chess game with a special feature: the placement of the pieces on the last row is randomized before the game. This eliminates the need for traditional chess opening theory, making each game new from the start. Players navigate uncharted territory from the very first move.
After the inaugural WEISSENHAUS Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge in February 2024, the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour will kick off in February 2025 with the first of five tournaments:
- Weissenhaus/Germany (February 07-14),
- Paris/France (April 08-15),
- New York/USA (July 17-24),
- New Delhi/India (September 17-24),
- Cape Town/South Africa (December 05-12).
