4/8/2025 – Hans Niemann, who received a wild card for the 2025 Freestyle tournament in Paris after winning the Grenke Open in 2024, has cancelled his participation in Paris at very short notice - for personal reasons. In a video interview with chess.com, organiser Jan Henric Buettner talks about the circumstances of Niemann's withdrawal.
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Mastering piece setups in various pawn structures and transitioning to a dominant middlegame, this course equips you with the insight and flexibility to outmanoeuvre your opponents in the Closed Catalan.
€39.90
Jan Henric Buettner, driving force, sponsor and organiser of the Freestyle Grand Slam, said that he was very surprised when he received the news from Niemann that he would not be taking part in Paris.
According to Buettner, communication with Niemann was very good after it became clear that Niemann would receive a wild card for Paris. However, a meeting with the players was scheduled for the evening of 5 April, but Niemann did not attend. Niemann also failed to respond to a request from Buettner during the day.
On the evening of the 5th, tournament director Sebastian Siebrecht received a message from Niemann, not via What's App but, unusually, by email, in which Niemann announced that he was in talks with a substitute player to take his place in the tournament. Buettner's queries via What's App remained unanswered.
When Buettner received the email, he was very concerned about the organisation of the tournament, not only because of the need to find a replacement player, but also because of the many organisational changes involved.
At that moment, Buettner had not thought at all about the reasons why Niemann withdrew at such short notice. The Norwegian platform TV2 speculated in a post that the particularly high anti-cheating precautions at this tournament could be the reason for Niemann's withdrawal. Buettner, however, reports that these measures have been known to Niemann for a long time. Niemann's intention had even been to clear his name with a good performance under the high anti-cheating measures.
How do you play the Queen's Gambit Accepted? Does White have promising variations or can Black construct a water-tight repertoire? The Powerbook provides the answers based on 300 000 games, most of them played by engines.
The Queen's Gambit Accepted Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 11827 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 240 are annotated.
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
Focus on the Sicilian: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more.
€14.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.