World Champion D. Gukesh qualified for the knockout stage in the inaugural event of the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, despite losing to the world’s top-rated player, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, in the ninth and final round of the qualifiers.
Gukesh finished the event with a total of 3.5 points, marking a rare occasion where he did not achieve a single win—drawing seven matches and losing two. Nonetheless, this performance secured him eighth place in the ten-player tournament, which is considered one of the strongest chess events, featuring altered initial piece positions.
In his match against Carlsen, Gukesh, playing with the white pieces, had several opportunities to secure a draw. However, true to his ambitious nature, he pressed for more and ultimately lost the game.
Iranian-turned-French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja and Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov topped the standings with 6.5 points out of a possible nine in the round-robin rapid format, which allotted ten minutes for each player, along with a ten-second increment.
Fabiano Caruana from the United States finished third with 6 points, while Carlsen ranked fourth with 5.5 points after initially struggling; he managed to secure three victories and one draw in his final four games. American Hikaru Nakamura also ended with 5.5 points, placing 1.5 points ahead of local representative Vincent Keymer, who took sixth position.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan and Gukesh were tied for seventh with 3.5 points each, both advancing to the knockout stage. The last two finishers, Vladimir Fedoseev from Slovenia and Levon Aronian from the United States will compete for the ninth spot.
The event boasts a total prize pool of USD 750,000, along with a USD 150,000 bonus for the overall winner of the Grand Slam.
