D.Gukesh's World Championship Dreams End in Freestyle Chess Freestyle Grand Slam
D.Gukesh, the current world chess champion, was left with nothing but disappointment as he failed to win a single game at the ongoing Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournament held at Weissenhaus resort. His latest loss to Iranian-French grandmaster Alireza Firouzja in the second game of their seventh-place playoff match dealt a fatal blow to his campaign.
In a stunning turn of events, Gukesh had made a crucial mistake during the middle game, surrendering his queen for two pieces, which ultimately sealed his fate. The tournament favourite, however, showed resilience and made good use of his material advantage to secure a draw.
On the other hand, 17-year-old Vincent Keymer from Germany has emerged as a dark horse in the tournament, taking home the prestigious title with a first edition win despite being touted as a rookie at the start. This victory is a significant milestone for the young player and an endorsement for the event's sponsors.
The FIDE's stance on Chess 960 remains unchanged, but it seems that fans of this variant are here to stay. The tournament also saw impressive performances from other top players such as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.
The latter, one of the world's top seed, won his mini-match 2-0 against Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov to finish the tournament on the fifth spot.
In the final standings, Vincent Keymer has taken the first position, followed closely by Fabiano Caruana. The standings are as follows:
- Vincent Keymer
- Fabiano Caruana
- Magnus Carlsen
- Javokhir Sindarov
- Hikaru Nakamura
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov
- Alireza Firouzja
- D.Gukesh