Bluebaum Takes First Freestyle Friday Of New Season
GM Matthias Bluebaum won the return tournament of Freestyle Friday on October 2 with nine points, taking the tournament outright ahead of GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk, Pranav Venkatesh, and SL Narayanan on 8.5/11. Pranav clinched an appearance in next year's Freestyle World Championship earlier in the year, but the start to the October-December season was even better for the other three as they jockey for position in the knockout tournament that will determine other qualifiers.
James Dash and GM Vidit Gujrathi commentated on the proceedings, which you can view here:
Several top players lost in the first few rounds, but Bortnyk, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and IM Renato Terry remained perfect through four rounds. Duda got there remaining in control against GM Rasmus Svane... except for one move, but Svane missed the chance. Duda's conversion wasn't easy, but Svane eventually cracked.
Only Bortnyk went on to 5/5. Terry and Pranav, the latter of whom was on 3.5/4 after an earlier draw, agreed to split the point before Duda, a round after winning an exchange-up endgame, lost an exchange down.
Bortnyk didn't stay on 100 percent, but he did turn a seeming loss into a draw with Black against Terry. Elsewhere, Bluebaum defeated GM Pranav Anand to join Bortnyk on 5.5/6.
In the seventh round, Bluebaum found himself under fierce attack following a Bortnyk piece sacrifice. Bluebaum not only survived, but turned the tide and took the sole lead.
Terry, GM Hans Niemann, and IM Quoc Hy Nguyen trailed Bluebaum by a half point, with Bortnyk and GM Nodirbek Yakubboev back a full point. Bluebaum had to win with Black against Niemann to retain his lead but could only draw, which allowed Terry and Nguyen to tie him on 7/8.
Coming out of the break in the ninth round, Bluebaum defeated Terry, despite giving his opponent "three to five chances" according to Vidit (and the engine).
Bluebaum moved to eight points and led the field by a full point thanks to Nguyen and Niemann losing to Pranav V and GM Parham Maghsoodloo, respectively. In addition to Terry and Nguyen, Pranav V, Narayanan, and Maghsoodloo were now on 7/9.
In round 10, Bluebaum again had difficulty converting, and this time he was indeed held to a draw, now by Pranav V. That was still enough to keep the sole lead, and just one person got within a half-point: Narayanan checkmated Terry in just 20 moves.
Another draw, this time with Black, would be perfectly welcome to Bluebaum as he would clinch the tournament with it. Narayanan pushed and had some minuscule chances to win, but the players eventually agreed to the tournament-ending draw. Narayanan fell to fourth place as Bortnyk and Pranav V passed him on tiebreaks.
The women's prize, which contributes to its own 2027 World Championship, went this week to IM Rose Atwell in 25th place.
October 2 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 20 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2672 | 9 | 67 | |
| 2 | 11 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2710 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 2757 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 4 | 10 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 2691 | 8.5 | 59 | |
| 5 | 8 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2705 | 8 | 76 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | @aquarium76 | Nodirbek Yakubboev | 2740 | 8 | 67 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 2821 | 7.5 | 70 | |
| 8 | 17 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 2647 | 7.5 | 66 | |
| 9 | 7 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 2694 | 7.5 | 64 | |
| 10 | 14 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2674 | 7.5 | 63.5 | |
| 11 | 13 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2679 | 7.5 | 61 | |
| 12 | 39 | FM | @Romik2012 | Roman Nosach | 2530 | 7.5 | 60.5 | |
| 13 | 23 | IM | @Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin-Bagiyan | 2605 | 7.5 | 57.5 | |
| 14 | 33 | IM | @Carnivoras | Quoc Hy Nguyen | 2590 | 7 | 73 | |
| 15 | 15 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2660 | 7 | 66.5 | |
| 16 | 22 | NM | @Little_Skib | Ethan Sheehan | 2595 | 7 | 60.5 | |
| 17 | 34 | GM | @ContrVersia | Valery Kazakouski | 2543 | 7 | 59.5 | |
| 18 | 27 | IM | @SahibSinghKnight | Sahib Singh | 2560 | 7 | 57.5 | |
| 19 | 9 | IM | @Harmonized_kakophonia | Dau Khuong Duy | 2678 | 7 | 57 | |
| 20 | 69 | CM | @TurkishWunderkind | Sayyid Usmon Shamsuddin | 2405 | 7 | 55 | |
| 21 | 31 | GM | @LionTheLeon_06 | Leon Luke Mendonca | 2552 | 7 | 53.5 | |
| 22 | 41 | GM | @Aygehovit1992 | Nikita Matinian | 2494 | 6.5 | 62 | |
| 23 | 16 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2636 | 6.5 | 61 | |
| 24 | 28 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2556 | 6.5 | 58.5 | |
| 25 | 55 | IM | @RoseAtwell | Rose Atwell | 2437 | 6.5 | 57 |
Prizes: Bluebaum $400, Bortnyk $250, Pranav V $150, Narayanan $100, Atwell $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com's weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.
