Carlsen, Gukesh, Niemann Clash In Paris For 2nd Leg Of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 continues with the second stop in Paris on April 7-14. It's a remarkably star-studded field that will feature twelve of the world's best players, with 11 now confirmed. The final spot will be determined through a $50,000 Chess.com qualifier on March 8-12.

GM Vincent Keymer was the surprise winner of the first event of the 2025 Tour on home soil in Weissenhaus, where he cashed in the $200,000 first prize. The German youngster will of course be back to play the Paris leg of the tour, which for the first time will feature 12 players.

World number-one Magnus Carlsen, and World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju are also confirmed for the $750,000 event, along with GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and Arjun Erigaisi. That means the world's five highest-ranked players are competing in Paris, and eight of the world's top-ten.

As Chess.com reported last month, GM Hans Niemann is also among the invitees after he was given a surprise wildcard due to winning the Grenke Chess Open last year. Since the traditional Grenke Chess Classic that qualified him to is no longer taking place, Freestyle Chess CEO Jan Henric Buettner decided to invite Niemann to Paris.

The 12th and final spot remains up for grabs through an open qualification event on Chess.com, with a whopping $50,000 prize pool. Here are the details:

• March 8-9: Open qualifiers on Chess.com
• March 12: Swiss-system tournament for titled players
• March 13-14: Knockout Stage—top four from the Swiss join 12 invited members of the Freestyle Chess Players Club to compete for the final Paris seat

It's bound to be an incredible fierce fight for the remaining spot, with four players joining 12 invited members of the Freestyle Chess Players Club in the Knockout.

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Paris will be hosted at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy, nestled within the historic Bois de Vincennes. As in Weissenhaus, the event kicks off with a two-day round-robin phase, after which the top-eight players will advance to a knockout stage. The final six days will feature classical time-control matches.

The event marks the beginning of an incredibly busy period for top players and fans of the game. Just days after Paris ends, from April 17-21, the €225,000 (~$237,000) Grenke Freestyle Chess Open will take place in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Top GMs such as Carlsen, Caruana, Erigaisi, So, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Keymer have already been confirmed, with the tournament winner earning a spot to the third Grand Slam event in the U.S. (July 17-24).

GM Sebastian Siebrecht, Freestyle’s Chief Chess Officer, expressed his excitement: "I’m thrilled that most players of the Freestyle Chess Players Club have accepted our invitation, making Karlsruhe the strongest tournament ever held on German soil, embedded in a festival with thousands of participants. This will be a landmark event for Freestyle Chess.”

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025 organizers said the debut in February at Weissenhaus exceeded all expectations.

Freestyle COO Thomas Harsch said: “The reach of this event has been incredible—almost three times as much as last year! On top of that, the Community Stream was a tremendous success, showing how powerful this format can be in making chess more accessible. It’s amazing to see the growing passion for Freestyle and the energy of the community behind it."

The remaining events in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025, are:

• April 7-14: Paris, France
• April 17-21: Karlsruhe, Germany
• July 17-24: New York, USA
• September 17-24: Delhi, India
• December 5-12: Cape Town, South Africa