After the Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. fast game tournament and the quarter-finals on February 11th and 12th, the semi-finals take place on February 13th and 14th. Quarter-final winners play for 1st to 4th place, while losers play for 5th to 8th place. Classic 2-game matches at a rate of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from the 41st move.
In the event of a tie after the two classical games: two fast games in 15 minutes + 10 seconds per move; if again a tie, two blitz games in 5 minutes + 2 seconds per move, and if the tie persists, another blitz, until a winner is found.
Semi-final 1
Magnus Carlsen (2930)
1-0
10
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2744)
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2744)
–
––
Magnus Carlsen (2830)
Magnus Carlsen on his match against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the semi-final:
“He’s the guy who’s played by far the best chess here.”
Semi-final 2
Levon Aronian (2725)
1-0
10
Fabiano Caruana (2804)
Fabiano Caruana (2804)
–
––
Levon Aronian (2725)
Seats 5 to 8
Ding Liren (2780)
0-1
01
Alireza Firouzja (2759)
Alireza Firouzja (2759)
–
––
Ding Liren (2780)
Seats 5 to 8
Dommaraju Gukesh (2742)
0-1
01
Vincent Keymer (2738)
Vincent Keymer (2738)
–
––
Dommaraju Gukesh (2742)
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Part 1)
The match between Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov could have gone either way. After 29.a5the Uzbek kept a good position with 29…bxa5! 30.â™–xa5 ♕e4.
On the other hand, the immediate 29…♕e4? before the pawn exchange is lost because of 30.♕xe4 â™–xe4 31.axb6! That’s the difference, the Black King is in a checkmate network. 31…â™–xg4 32.â™–ea2 â™–g1+ 33.â™”e2 â™–xa1 34.â™–xa1 â™–e8 35.â™–h1! Essential move to keep the advantage.
35…â™–f8? More resistant was 35…â™—xf5 36.♘xf5 â™—f4!?. 36.♘d6 1-0. The Cavalry is too strong, for example: 36…â™–d8 37.♘e6 â™–g8 38.♘c5 â™—e8 39.â™–h7 â™—c6 40.b5.
Magnus Carlsen : “It doesn’t feel like a rollercoaster for the players, because we don’t know the oscillations… but all of a sudden we swapped Queens and I realized I was winning, which was a bit surprising!”
Magnus Carlsen: “You have strategic plans, but these guys are too good: they always find ways to make things difficult!”
Ding Liren 0-1 Alireza Firouzja (Part 1)
We know that Ding Liren is going through a very bad period, and some sources even say he’s ill. Today, against Alireza Firouzja, the Chinese missed a rather simple tactic after : 1.d4 f5 2.c3 c6 3.f3 e5 4.♘d3 ♘g6 5.♘g3 f4 6.♘h5 ♘ge7! Set a trap. 7.♕h4?! g5!. Will the world champion fall in.
8.♕xg5? Yes, and with both feet! 8…â™–f5! 9.♕g4 â™–xh5 with one more piece, but a big development delay. 10.dxe5 And two pawns for the piece. 10…â™—c4?! Clearly stronger was 10…♘d5. 11.♘xf4 â™–xe5 12.â™—d4 â™–a5 With pressure on the a2-pawn which cannot be defended by 13.b3.
13.0-0 ♘b6 14.♖d1 ♗c7 15.b4 ♖a3 16.♗xh7 0-0-0 We find it a little hard to believe that Ding Liren has calculated this whole line, although he ends up with 3 pawns for the piece.
17.â™—d3 ♕f7 18.♘h3 â™—xd3 19.exd3!? â™–g8 The black pieces come into play and the 3 white pawns are not enough to compensate. 20.♘g5 ♕g6 21.h4 ♘f5 22.c4 Now that the pieces have regained their coordination, we can more easily realize that the Black attack is very strong, especially since Alireza Firouzja places a superb 22…♘d5!
23.cxd5 ♘xd4 24.dxc6 24.♕xd4?? is forbidden because of 24…â™—b6! and win the Queen thanks to the enfilade. 24…bxc6 25.♕e4 ♕d6 26.â™”f1 ♕h2 0-1
After his victory with the Blacks against Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja has one foot in the “small final” for fifth place. In a conversation with Peter Doggers, the World Championship Candidate hopes that “to play a few more good games”.. The Frenchman recognized that his opponent is not in form in this tournament, and the mistake made by the Chinese just shows that he is not at his best.
Against Magnus Carlsen, Alireza said he was wrong to play for the win. “I should have drawn. I thought I had a good chance, but I underestimated his pawn push. After that, it was very difficult to hold the draw. I analyzed it a bit; I need to find several critical moves.” Source www.freestyle-chess.com/news/i-just-played-the-logical-moves
After the rapid games tournament, the “Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T.” continues with a quarter-final (February 11 & 12), a semi-final (February 13 & 14) and a final (February 15 & 16). Matches in 2 classic games at a rate of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from the 41st move.
In the event of a tie after the two classic games: two fast games in 15 minutes + 10 seconds per move; if again a tie, two blitz games in 5 minutes + 2 seconds per move, and if the tie persists, another blitz, until a winner is found. Winners will play for 1st to 4th place, while losers will play for 5th to 8th place.
Magnus Carlsen: “I’ve wanted this format for a long time. I think you need more time to play Fischer chess, or Freestyle, as it’s called here, because you have to think from the first move, whereas in normal chess we have the theory and so we don’t need to think much. Consequently, it’s more difficult to play Fischer chess with a short thinking time.” Before adding: “… there’s no increment until move 40, with the sadistic idea that these GMs will probably all have time problems, because they’ll be thinking a lot in the opening, and we’ll all have huge problems with the clock, and to be honest, that’s fine with me!”
Quarter-final 1
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2744)
1-0
10
Ding Liren (2762)
Ding Liren (2762)
½-½
½½
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2744)
Ding Lirenin the first part: “The opening phase didn’t go very well for me – maybe 2…♘f6 was a mistake… “ The world champion said that he had given away a pawn in the manner of Gambit Marshall and now had to play solely for the division of the point.
Quarter-final 2
Vincent Keymer (2738)
½-½
½½
Levon Aronian (2725)
Levon Aronian (2725)
1-0
10
Vincent Keymer (2738)
Quarter-final 3
Fabiano Caruana (2804)
1-0
10
Dommaraju Gukesh (2742)
Dommaraju Gukesh (2742)
½-½
½½
Fabiano Caruana (2804)
Quarter-final 4
Alireza Firouzja (2760)
1-0
10
Magnus Carlsen (2830)
Magnus Carlsen (2830)
1-0
10
Alireza Firouzja (2760)
Magnus Carlsen about his defeats: “I missed tactics, I couldn’t see the whole board. I want to leave an impression other than being horrible in this area, I kind of avoided the worst.”
Quarter-final 4 tie-break (fast)
Alireza Firouzja (2760)
0-1
01
Magnus Carlsen (2830)
Magnus Carlsen (2830)
1-0
10
Alireza Firouzja (2760)
Tie-breaking: 2 games in 15 minutes + 10 seconds per move; if tied, 2 blitzes in 5 minutes + 2 seconds per move; if still tied, another blitz, until a winner is found.
In the first part of the tie-breakan unfortunate central exchange by Magnus Carlsen with 9…cxd4?! forced the Norwegian into unfavorable complications with a dubious quality sacrifice. However, it all came down to the endgame with Bishop and two pawns, against Knight and 1 pawn for Alireza Firouzja. Under time pressure, the Frenchman missed a few draw lines and lost on the 82nd move.
In the second part of the tie-breakAlireza Firouzja, disappointed to have missed his chance in the first game, in which he was practically the winner before losing the final, found himself in a losing situation in ten or so moves with the black pieces. The Norwegian thus joins Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Levon Aronian in the semi-finals, and remains in contention for overall victory, while Alireza Firouzja, Ding Liren, Vincent Keymer and Dommaraju Gukesh will play for 4th and 8th place.
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Alireza Firouzja (Part 2)
If you don’t understand much of what’s going on in the games, rest assured you’re not alone. Peter Leko and Tania Sachdev do what they can to try and find a few identifiable elements, but the most common comment is: “an interesting position…”. Another example: the “shot of the day” of the first day, presented by the official website on video, was : 36.â™–c6+ â™”h5 37.â™–g6 1-0 of the game Firouzja vs Carlsen. For this reason, we prefer the franchise of Kevin Bordi who recognizes that there’s nothing to understand, except to calculate, while waiting to obtain coherent positions.
In the second game, the two Bishops on h1/h8 and g8/h8 pushed 3 of the 4 games to play more or less the same type of development: 1.e4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.c3 g6 4.♘e3 ♘e6 5.♘e2 ♘e7
6.â™–f1. Magnus Carlsen : “First of all I’d like to apologize to all fans of chess aesthetics, because before my last move the whole “e” column was occupied by pieces, whereas now it’s not!” 6…â™–f8 7.f4 f5 Alireza Firouzja maintains symmetry. 8.fxe5 fxe4 9â™–xf8+ ♘xf8 End of symmetry. 10.♕xe4 ♕xe5
Magnus Carlsen avoided an early Queen’s exchange with 11.♕b4 and Alireza Firouzja replied with 11…b6?! which the machine doesn’t like and which could be the turning point of the game. 11…0-0-0?! didn’t inspire confidence because of 12.♘c4 â™—xc4 13.♕xc4 and the a7 pawn is attacked. The best was 11…a5 12.♕xb7 â™–b8 13.♕a6 â™–xb2.
Peter Leko said on the live broadcast that he had a conversation with Magnus Carlsen before the tournament and wondered whether they should go back to a 7-hour time control to give players a better chance of understanding Chess960’s positions!
12.d4 with white advantage. The Frenchman played 12…♕a5 but its finish is really ugly. 13.♕xa5 bxa5 14.d5 cxd5 15.0-0-0 We’re back to an understandable position and an easy-to-identify white advantage.
15…â™–c8 16.♘xd5 ♘c6 Black’s position is indefensible. 17.â™—e3 ♘e6 18.â™—g2 â™”e8 19.a3 â™—f7 20.♘ef4 g5 21.♘h3 There’s not much to comment on; the Blacks are at their worst and waiting for a white foul to survive.
21…h6 22.♘f2 d6 23.♘e4 â™—e5 24.♘ef6+ â™”f8 25.♘d7+ â™”g7 26.♘xe5 dxe5 27.b4 axb4 28.axb4 g4 With clocks at 22 minutes and 7 minutes.
Although the position resembles one that might have occurred in “orthodox” chess, it should be noted that many of the moves played are not in the first 3 lines proposed by the machines; like this 28…g4 for example. 29.â™”b2 â™–b8 30.♘c7 is the machine’s first move. 30.♘xc7 ♘xc7 31.â™—xc6 ♘b5 The white majority on the queenside must win. 32.â™–d7! â™”f6 33.â™—xa7 ♘xa7 34.â™–xa7 and now with an extra pawn, the case is made.
34…â™—g6 35.â™–a6 â™”g5 36.â™–a8 â™–b6 37.b5 â™—d3 38.â™–a5 e4 39.â™”b3 e3 40.c4 â™”f5
Players get 30 minutes back for the rest of the game, now with a 30-second increment per move. 41.â™–a8 Alireza could obviously have given up a few moves ago. 1-0
Levon Aronian 1-0 Vincent Keymer (Part 2)
After 19…d6Levon Aronian forced Vincent Keymer’s withdrawal with the strong 20.â™–xd6+ 1-0. If 20…â™–xd6 21.â™–xe8+ â™”xe8 22.♕xg8+ â™”d7 23.♕xb8 Or if 20…cxd6 21.â™—b6+ â™”c8 22.â™–c4+ ♕c7 23.♕xc7# A victory that takes Levon Aronian through to the semi-finals.
Alireza Firouzja 1-0 Magnus Carlsen (Part 1)
Magnus Carlsenthe first player of the tournament to go into the confessional to share his thoughts about his 3…♘ce7 after more than 20 minutes of reflection: “It was more a desperate measure than anything else – I don’t like my position!” For her part, Anish Girimaliciously, on X (ex-twitter): “The future of chess will be decided today.” After a quick, half-hearted tournament, if Magnus Carlsen is not getting good results in the classics, the Norwegian may indeed be losing interest.
1.e4 e5 2.b4 b5 3.♘h3 ♘ce7 4.f4 exf4 5.0-0 ♘g6 6.d3 â™—f6 7.â™—xf6 ♘xf6 8.♘xf4 ♕e5 9.♕g3 â™–e8 10.♘xg6+ hxg6 11.♕xe5 â™–xe5 12.â™–b3 a6 with white advantage. Alireza’s next moves will demonstrate this.
13.â™–a3 â™—b7 14.â™–c3 ♘e8 15.♘b3 The target is the a6 pawn. 0-0 16.♘c5 â™—c8 17.â™–a3 The infantryman is about to fall. 17…♘f6.
18.♘xa6 ♗xa6 19.♖xa6 d5!? Magnus Carlsen tries to counter-attack. 20.exd5 ♘xd5 21.a3 ♘e3 22.♖e1 ♖fe8 The position has finally become normal and Magnus Carlsen is on the ropes because of the white majority on the queenside.
23.♖c6 ♘xd1 24.♖xd1 ♖8e7 25.♖d2 g5 With a pawn down and a devalued majority on the kingside, Black cannot maintain balance. 26.h6 ♖f5 27.d4 ♖e1+ 28.♔h2 ♖ff1 Magnus Carlsen finds some play against the white king.
29.â™–c3!? According to the machine, the best was 29.â™–d3 f5 30.â™–f3. 29…f5 30.â™”g3! If 30.â™–f3?! â™–xf3 31.gxf3 â™–e3 with equality. 30…â™”h7 31.â™–f2 f4+ 32.â™”f3 â™–g1 with clocks at 8 minutes and 4 minutes. 33.â™”g4! â™”h6 34.â™–xc7 â™–e3 35.â™”f5 â™–ge1 36.â™–c6+ â™”h5 37.â™–g6 1-0.
While Magnus Carlsen has chosen the system of play, the pace and even his opponents, elimination in the quarter-finals would be a terrible setback for the world number one.
This “Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge” begins with a fast-paced, closed tournament on February 9 and 10, lasting 25 minutes + 10 seconds per move and decided by direct encounter, number of wins and Sonneborn-Berger. The ranking of the rapid tournament will determine the player numbers for the match pairings.
It’s an intergenerational battle said Magnus Carlsen to Verdens Gang (“the march of the world”), better known by its abbreviation VG. “There are four young and four old. And I’m one of the elders. They (Weissenhaus Holding Verwaltungs) contacted me some time ago and asked me what format I wanted. Now I’ve got what I want.”
Torstein Bae estimates that : “Fischer Chess is the only official branch of the World Chess Championship where Magnus Carlsen has never been World Champion. In Høvikodden in 2019, he lost the final to Wesley So and in Reykjavik in 2022, he lost to Jan Nepomniachtchi in the semi-finals. “ Source https://www.vg.no/sport/i/kElGqL/magnus-carlsen-spiller-fischer-turnering-paa-vg-jeg-har-faatt-det-jeg-vil
Chess960 final ranking (fast)
1
Abdusattorov, Nodirbek (2733)
5,5
2
Keymer, Vincent (2627)
5,0
3
Caruana, Fabiano (2729)
4,5
4
Firouzja, Alireza (2724)
4,0
5
Carlsen, Magnus (2823)
3,5
7
Aronian, Levon (2746)
2,0
| Round 1 | ||||||
| Gukesh, D | 2743 | 0-1 | Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | ||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2830 | ½-½ | Keymer, Vincent | 2738 | ||
| Aronian, Levon | 2725 | ½-½ | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2744 | ||
| Ding, Liren | 2762 | 0-1 | Caruana, Fabiano | 2804 | ||
| Round 2 | ||||||
| Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2744 | 1-0 | Ding, Liren | 2762 | ||
| Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | ½-½ | Caruana, Fabiano | 2804 | ||
| Keymer, Vincent | 2738 | 1-0 | Aronian, Levon | 2725 | ||
| Gukesh, D | 2743 | 1-0 | Carlsen, Magnus | 2830 | ||
| Round 3 | ||||||
| Aronian, Levon | 2725 | 0-1 | Gukesh, D | 2743 | ||
| Ding, Liren | 2762 | 0-1 | Keymer, Vincent | 2738 | ||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2830 | ½-½ | Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | ||
| Caruana, Fabiano | 2804 | ½-½ | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2744 | ||
| Round 4 | ||||||
| Keymer, Vincent | 2738 | 1-0 | Caruana, Fabiano | 2804 | ||
| Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | 0-1 | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2744 | ||
| Gukesh, D | 2743 | 1-0 | Ding, Liren | 2762 | ||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2830 | 1-0 | Aronian, Levon | 2725 | ||
| Round 5 | ||||||
| Ding, Liren | 2762 | 0-1 | Carlsen, Magnus | 2830 | ||
| Caruana, Fabiano | 2804 | 1-0 | Gukesh, D | 2743 | ||
| Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2744 | ½-½ | Keymer, Vincent | 2738 | ||
| Aronian, Levon | 2725 | ½-½ | Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | ||
| Round 6 | ||||||
| Gukesh, D | 2743 | 0-1 | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2744 | ||
| Aronian, Levon | 2725 | 1-0 | Ding, Liren | 2762 | ||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2830 | ½-½ | Caruana, Fabiano | 2804 | ||
| Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | 1-0 | Keymer, Vincent | 2738 | ||
| Round 7 | ||||||
| Caruana, Fabiano | 2804 | 1-0 | Aronian, Levon | 2725 | ||
| Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2744 | 1-0 | Carlsen, Magnus | 2830 | ||
| Ding, Liren | 2762 | ½-½ | Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | ||
| Keymer, Vincent | 2738 | 1-0 | Gukesh, D | 2743 | ||
Round 1: While three of the four games ended in a kind of semi-final, with the checkers exchanged, after just fifteen moves, the encounter between Levon Aronian and Nodirbek Abdusattorov was interesting. Alireza Firouzja gained two pawns and won easily against Gukesh, while Ding Liren gave a piece to Fabiano Caruana.
Round 2: Nodirbek Abdusattorov wins a pawn on move 10 and Ding Liren loses on 78. Alireza Firouzja’s beautiful fortress despite a walled-in bishop on g3 against Fabiano Caruana. Vincent Keymer wins an easy final against Levon Aronian. Gukesh’s victory leaves Magnus Carlsen 0.5 on 2.
Round 3: Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja, with their first move, made the small castling. Others played it after 1.c4, and only Levon Aronian didn’t castling in the opening. “Large castling for world champion Ding Liren with three defeats. Germany’s Vincent Keymer alone in the lead going into the final round of the first day.
Alireza Firouzja 0-1 Nodirbek Abdusattorov
In round 4Magnus Carlsen miniaturized Levon Aronian in just 19 moves! For once we had an “orthodox” attack, it had to be at the expense of Alireza Firouzja! After 1.g3 c6 2.c4 g6 3.f4 ♘gf6 4.e4 d6 5.d3 ♘c7 6.♕c2 0-0 7.♘ef3 b5 8.cxb5 c5 9.â™—g2 ♕xb5 10.♘h3 ♘g4 11.0-0 the players have obtained a “normal” position.
11…â™—a6 12.â™–d1 â™–ab8 13.â™–b1 ♘e6 14.b3 ♘d4 15.♘xd4 cxd4?! 16.♕e2 ♘e3?! 17.â™—xe3 dxe3 18.♕xe3 â™–fc8 19.â™–bc1 â™—b2 20.â™–c4 ♕h5 21.â™–xc8+ â™–xc8 22.♘f2 â™–c2 23.â™—f3
23…â™—d4 24.♕xd4 ♕xf3 25.â™–e1 â™—xd3 26.♕e3 â™—xe4 27.♕xf3 â™—xf3 28.h4 â™–xa2 with two more pawns for the Uzbek player. 0-1 at shot 41.
Some people object to the fact that Magnus Carlsen has chosen his opponents. In particular Jacob Aagaard https://twitter.com/GMJacobAagaard/status/1756208358153920659 who writes: “The format of this event is interesting. Perhaps a round trip would have been better, with the same position played against the same opponent, colors reversed. Magnus Carlsen is not on good terms with Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura and Samuel Sevian. The last two Chess960 World Champions and the winner of the St Louis 9XL. Their absence is therefore a serious disadvantage. It has been said that this tournament was organized to give Magnus Carlsen a chance to prove his G.O.A.T. status in all formats. However, as the event does not feature the three main players in this format, it can only be considered a “private” event. It’s nice, I’m glad it exists, I’m just tired of a person’s ‘status’ being more important than sporting considerations.”
Note that Tarjei J. Svensen states that Hikaru Nakamura was invited but declined. Whereas Nakamura said he hadn’t been invited.
In round 5Magnus Carlsen dragged Ding Liren into a final without the ladies from the 16th move, and the Chinese logically lost. Alireza Firouzja found himself in trouble early on against Levon Aronian, but the Frenchman still managed to take the half-point. As for Vincent Keymer, who seemed to be on his way to another victory, he too shared the point with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, but the German remained alone in the lead.
In round 6Ding Liren continued his run of bad luck with a sixth consecutive defeat, handing Levon Aronian his first victory in the process.
Levon Aronian 1-0 Ding Liren
The continuation could have been: 18…â™–xg7 19.fxg7+ â™”g8 20.â™—xh7+ â™”xh7 21.gxf8♕etc.
Alireza Firouzja 1-0 Vincent Keymer
In round 6, a roughly “normal” position was achieved in Alireza Firouzja vs Vincent Keymer, and after 19.♘f4!? An “understandable” combination.
19…exf4 20.d6+ â™–e4 21.d7 â™”c7 22.d3 â™–e7 23.dxc8♘ Fun. 23…♕xc8 24.â™—f6 â™–d7 25.â™–h7 g5 26.♕e2! g4?
27.♕e6?! Even stronger was: 27.â™–xf7 â™–xf7 28.♕e5+ â™”b7 29.♕d5+ â™”a6 30.♕xf7+- 27…♘d6 28.â™–h8 ♕b7 29.â™—e5 ♕c6 30.â™—xf4 b5 31.cxb5 ♕xg2 32.â™—xd6+ â™–xd6 33.â™–h7+ 1-0 White is left with one more Rook.
After the leader’s defeat, Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s victory over Dommaraju Gukesh leaves the Uzbek alone in the lead going into the final round of the rapid games tournament.
In the 7th and final roundAlireza Firouzja, no doubt out of kindness, quickly cancelled against Ding Liren, allowing the Chinese to score half a point in this tournament. Nodirbek Abdusattorov won a Tours final against Magnus Carlsen, and the Uzbek, already leader, thus secured his victory in the rapid games tournament. The Uzbek grandmaster was the only unbeaten player.
From Sunday onwards, it’s time for the classic 2-game matches, the real novelty of this event, with a quarter-final on February 11 and 12, a semi-final on February 13 and 14, and finally a final on February 15 and 16. We’ll see if the Chess960 90-minute format for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move from the 41st move onwards, attracts more interest from the public, because it has to be said that, so far, audiences for the “Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T.”, whether on Twitch or YouTube, have been absolutely disastrous, despite the lavish resources deployed by the organizers.
The “Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge”, a tournament in Fischer Random (or Chess 960), takes place from February 9 to 16, 2024 at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort, a five-star resort about an hour from Hamburg, Germany. Total prize money is $200,000 (approx. €185,000), with $60,000 (approx. €55,500) going to the winner. All games start at 1:00 p.m. Official website https://www.freestyle-chess.com
“Magnus Carlsen has introduced a unique competition format for the “Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T.” challenge. G.O.A.T. in chess refers to a player with the highest Elo rating in history; Magnus Carlsen with 2882, who selected the seven other challengers. This innovative approach aims to attract a younger audience, made up of high-potential individuals with a general interest in the sport, to enthusiasts around the world.” Press release from the official website.
Participants in the “Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge” participants
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2830 | |
| 2 | Fabiano Caruana | 2804 | |
| 3 | Ding Liren | 2762 | |
| 4 | Alireza Firouzja | 2760 | |
| 5 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2744 | |
| 6 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2742 | |
| 7 | Vincent Keymer | 2738 | |
| 8 | Levon Aronian | 2725 |
Format, cadences and tie-breakers
This “Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge” starts with a fast-paced, closed tournament on February 9 and 10, lasting 25 minutes + 10 seconds per move, and is decided by direct encounter, number of wins and Sonneborn-Berger. The ranking of the rapid tournament will determine the player numbers for the match pairings. Then, for the quarter-final (February 11 & 12), semi-final (February 13 & 14) and final (February 15 & 16), classic 2-game matches will be played at a rate of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds per move from the 41st move. In the event of a tie in the matches: two fast games in 15 minutes + 10 seconds per move; if tied, two blitz games in 5 minutes + 2 seconds per move, and if still tied, another blitz, until a winner is found.
History of randomized chess
Fischer Random Chess is a variant of chess in which the initial position of the pieces in the first row is drawn at random. According to Bobby Fischer, drawing the initial position of the pieces at random promotes chess creativity and talent rather than memorization and analysis of multiple opening variants. The other name for Fischer Random is Chess 960, as there are 960 different initial positions for the pieces in the draw.
This chess variant – Chess 960, Fischer Random or Échecs Aléatoires – even though it bears the Fischer name, is not a recent invention. It was referred to as the “Brunner system” in the magazine Les cahiers de l’échiquier français in 1928. Moreover, chess’s centuries-old Burmese cousin, sit-tu-yin, also has a different starting position for each game. There’s also an even older version, “La partie aux pièces déplacées”, cited in the 1851 issue of La Régence.
What’s new with Fischer Random
The rules are exactly the same as in orthodox chess, except for castling. The final position of castling is exactly the same as in chess, regardless of the initial position. In Europe Chess, when castling is possible, simply place the King on the Rook with which you wish to castle.
