Niemann Coasts To Freestyle Friday Victory
GM Hans Niemann won Freestyle Friday with a round still to play on November 14, becoming the ninth multi-time winner of the event. Niemann raced out to a 6/6 start before facing his only setback, a seventh-round loss to GM Haik Martirosyan, then won his last four games for a dominant 10/11 score. Niemann is just the second player in the last three months to reach that mark.
In the fifth round, Niemann defeated GM Jules Moussard, which turned out to be one of his biggest results after Moussard wound up finishing the tournament in sole second place on 8.5/11. Against Niemann, however, Moussard miscalculated and lost a piece, resigning soon after.
By the time Niemann fell to 6/7 86% against Martirosyan, they both found themselves in a three-way tie for first along with GM Sanan Sjugirov. Niemann was the only one of the three to win in the eighth round, however, and he never looked back from there. Sjugirov, for his part, would end up in third place on 8/11, ahead of fourth-place GM Pranesh M on tiebreaks.
With two rounds to go, Niemann did luck out just a little bit in the 10th in order to render the 11th irrelevant. Now leading Moussard by half a point, but having already played him, Niemann allowed IM Khuong Duy Dau—the young Vietnamese master who has been making a good deal of noise in online blitz lately—a devastating tactic on just the fifth move of their game. Fortunately for Niemann, he went on to win after his opponent missed the tactic in kind.
Meanwhile, it was GM Alexey Sarana who faced Moussard. Sarana missed his most spectacular chance to win, but eventually his passed pawns overcame a faulty exchange sacrifice, and with that Niemann's last rival for first place was out of contention.
Niemann thanked Sarana for the help by dispatching him in the final round, running up his score to 10/11. For his part, Moussard recovered to take second place after defeating GM Maxim Matlakov.
IM Karina Ambartsumova finished in 22nd place, taking the women's prize.
November 14 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 2837 | 10 | 67 | |
| 2 | 10 | GM | @Annawel | Jules Moussard | 2715 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 3 | 20 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2649 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 2717 | 8 | 60 | |
| 5 | 12 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 2685 | 7.5 | 73 | |
| 6 | 11 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 2677 | 7.5 | 70.5 | |
| 7 | 17 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 2647 | 7.5 | 68.5 | |
| 8 | 19 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2626 | 7.5 | 64 | |
| 9 | 5 | IM | @ChessFighter_2011 | Dau Khuong Duy | 2694 | 7.5 | 63 | |
| 10 | 9 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2682 | 7.5 | 62.5 | |
| 11 | 30 | FM | @puz2010 | Semyon Puzyrevsky | 2550 | 7.5 | 62 | |
| 12 | 37 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2494 | 7.5 | 48.5 | |
| 13 | 3 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2738 | 7 | 71.5 | |
| 14 | 26 | GM | @FormerProdigy | David Navara | 2575 | 7 | 71 | |
| 15 | 6 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 2688 | 6.5 | 73.5 | |
| 16 | 15 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2625 | 6.5 | 65.5 | |
| 17 | 35 | FM | @GrigorDilanyan | Grigor Dilanyan | 2509 | 6.5 | 63 | |
| 18 | 32 | IM | @TimAina | Timothe Razafindratsima | 2492 | 6.5 | 60.5 | |
| 19 | 33 | FM | @God_speedmove | Dinesh Rajan M | 2489 | 6.5 | 58 | |
| 20 | 36 | IM | @chesniu | Yihan Meng | 2469 | 6.5 | 56 | |
| 21 | 53 | CM | @WMirBV | Miroslav Baturin-Vinogradov | 2314 | 6.5 | 54.5 | |
| 22 | 39 | IM | @karinachess1 | Karina Ambartsumova | 2399 | 6.5 | 51 | |
| 23 | 50 | FM | @fan_of_chess1908 | Michail Vassis | 2567 | 6 | 61 | |
| 24 | 34 | IM | @SahibSinghKnight | Sahib Singh | 2469 | 6 | 57 | |
| 25 | 52 | FM | @RoseAtwell | Rose Atwell | 2336 | 6 | 56 |
Prizes: Niemann $400, Moussard $250, Sjugirov $150, Pranesh $100, Ambartsumova $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.
