Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov had finished the first day of the two-day preliminary tournament in Paris as the leaders. Abdusattorov had stepped in at short notice after Hans Niemann announced his withdrawal from the tournament two days before it began.
The top eight of the twelve-player field advance to the knockout stage to compete for Grand Slam points and prize money. Four players are eliminated and play for places nine to twelve.
Behind the two leaders, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the remaining representative of the host country, and Ian Nepomniachtchi were the players in third and fourth place with the best chances of reaching the knockout stage, half a point and one point behind the leaders respectively.
Alireza Firouzja was also supposed to play as France's second representative, but he had declined because he either didn't agree with the terms of the contract, wanted more money, or both. Richard Rapport had come into the tournament in his place.
You might have expected that the Hungarian would cope well with the unfamiliar positions of Freestyle Chess, because his playing styles often lead very quickly away from the usual patterns in normal chess. But that was not the case. At the end of the first day, Rapport was at the bottom of the table together with Vidit Gujrathi, both players with only one point on the scorecard.
Vincent Keymer had not started well, but he had started better. With four defeats and two wins, the winner of the Weissenhaus Grand Slam scored two points, half a point more than Gukesh. The World Champion had won the prestige duel against his compatriot Erigaisi and drawn against Vachier-Lagrave.
Before the second day of the preliminary, Vincent Keymer was in ninth place, and needed to improve to reach the knockout stage.
Richard Rapport | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Nodirbek Abdusattorov was unable to maintain the pace of the first day, started with defeats against Erigaisi and Carlsen and fell back a little.
Magnus Carlsen scored 3.5 points on the second day of the tournament and was caught by Ian Nepomniachtchi, who was the top player of the day with 4.5 out of 5.
Friends and rivals: Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Vincent Keymer had to play against two world champions at the start of the second day, against Gukesh and Carlsen. He lost against Gukesh, but got a draw against Carlsen, found his rhythm, and finished the tournament with victories against Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa and Caruana.
Photo: Lennart Ootes
1.d4 d5 2.b3 b5 3.Nd3 Ne6 4.Ng3 Nf6 5.0-0 h5 6.c4 bxc4 7.bxc4 7...g6? 8.cxd5 Bxd5 8...Nxd5 9.e4 Nf6 10.d5 Ng7 11.Ne2+- 9.e4 Nxe4 10.Nxe4 Bxe4 11.d5 Ng7 11...Rxd5 12.Nf4 Rxd1 13.Rxd1 0-0 14.Qc3+- 12.Qc3 Rh7+- 13.Nb4 Bxg2 13...Bxb1 14.Nc6 Re8 15.Rxb1+- 14.Kxg2 c5 14...Qg4+ 15.Kh1 c5 16.Nc6 Re8 17.Nxb8 Rxb8 18.Rde1+- 15.Nc6 Bd6 16.Nxd8 Qxd8 17.Rfe1 h4 18.h3 Nh5 19.Qf3 Nf6 19...Nf4+ 20.Kh1 Qd7 21.Be5+- 20.Bxf6 exf6 21.Kh1 Rh5 22.Rg1 Rh6 23.Rg4 Kg7 24.Rdg1 Be5 25.Bf5 Bd4 26.R1g2 Qa5 27.d6 1–0 Final standings preliminary
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