Caruana faces Carlsen in the Freestyle Wch finals @ Weissenhaus
GM Fabiano Caruana will now have a second shot at a world title, albeit Freestyle, at Weissenhaus tomorrow. And standing between the American and the trophy will be his highly familiar rival GM Magnus Carlsen.
Earlier, top seeded Norwegian survived a stiff test from GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the first two games, but was on his own winning the next two moving into the finals of the $ 300,000 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship at Weissenhaus, Germany. Carlsen vs Caruana finals will be similar to their London 2018 match for the classical FIDE World Championship title. While G.O.A.T Carlsen will look out for his 21st world title, Caruana will look to lock in his first.
With northern Germany reeling under fierce winter weather, a cold and snowy Weissenhaus warmed up with hotly contested games of the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. Not to disappoint his wife Ella Victoria Carlsen who had turned up to cheer her husband, Carlsen gifted her with a fine semi-final match victory on Valentine’s day. Also present were Carlsen’s dad Henrik Albert Carlsen and his long time second GM Peter Heine Nielsen.
In the match up for the third place Keymer faces Abdusattorov, while Erigaisi takes on Niemann for the fifth spot. Playing to avoid the cellar will be Aronian and Sindarov. In addition to the sizable prize money, the top three finishers are directly seeded for the Freestyle Chess World Championship 2027. So, the third place match between GMs Keymer and Abdusattorov will be keenly contested.
The final day’s play on Sunday will see the placement matches and the much awaited four game Freestyle finals all under 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment where we’d get to see the newly crowned FIDE Freestyle Chess World Champion. The total prize fund of $ 300,000 will be shared with the first place taking $ 100,000, the second $ 60,000, the third $ 40,000, the fourth $ 30,000, the fifth $ 25,000, the sixth $ 20,000, the seventh $ 15,000 and finally $ 10,000 goes to the last placed player. Not a bad pay day for three days of work in office for these top chess maestros.
The Women’s exhibition tied up at 1-1 after both the viz., GMs Bibisara Assaubayeva and Alexandra Kosteniuk traded wins and would look to seal the match tomorrow. Day three, featuring the finals & lower placement matches, will start by Sunday, 15th February at 9 AM ET / 3 PM CET / 7:30 PM IST.
Results (Semi-finals): Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 1-3, Vincent Keymer (Germany) lost to Fabiano Caruana (USA) 1.5-2.5
Results (5-8 placements): Hans Moke Niemann (USA) beat Levon Aronian 2.5-1.5, Erigaisi Arjun (India) beat Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) 3-1
Complete Results (Game 1): Abdusattorov drew with Carlsen, Keymer lost to Caruana, Niemann beat Aronian, Erigaisi drew with Sindarov
(Game 2): Carlsen drew with Abdusattorov, Caruana drew with Keymer, Aronian beat Niemann, Sindarov drew with Erigaisi
(Game 3): Carlsen beat Abdusattorov, Caruana lost to Keymer, Aronian lost to Niemann, Sindarov lost to Erigaisi
(Game 4): Abdusattorov lost to Carlsen, Keymer lost to Caruana, Niemann drew with Aronian, Erigaisi beat Sindarov
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2697) – Magnus Carlsen (2887) 1. b3 f6 2. c4 b5 3. cxb5 Rxb5 4. f3 e5 5. Ng3 Ne6 6. Qf2 Qf7 7. Bc2 c5 8. e3 d5 9. Nce2 Nd6 10. O-O O-O 11. f4 d4 12. b4 cxb4 13. fxe5 fxe5 14. Qe1 Bf6 15. exd4 exd4 16. Bb3 Bd5 17. Bxd5 Rxd5 18. Rxb4 h5 19. d3 h4 20. Ne4 Nxe4 21. dxe4 Re5 22. Qb1 Qg6 23. Qb3 Kh7 24. Nxd4 Nc5 25. Qc2 Rxe4 26. Rc4 Bxd4+ 27. Bxd4 Rxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Nd3 29. g3
29…Qf5+ 0-1
Complete Results
Photo Courtesy: Lennart Ootes/ Stev Bonhage / Freestyle Chess
Official Site: https://www.freestyle-chess.com/2026-germany-weissenhaus/
