Niemann withdraws from Paris Freestyle Chess tournament

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
4/6/2025 – Shortly before the Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam is set to begin, US grandmaster Hans Niemann has withdrawn from the tournament citing personal reasons. He is the second player to exit the event this week, following Alireza Firouzja's earlier withdrawal. Niemann will be replaced by Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The tournament, featuring twelve players for the first time, runs from 7 to 14 April at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy in Paris. | Photo: Frans Peeters
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Abdusattorov to replace Niemann

Grandmaster Hans Niemann has withdrawn from the upcoming Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, citing personal reasons. The announcement came just days before the prestigious tournament is set to begin in the French capital, and marks the second high-profile withdrawal from the event this week.

Niemann, 21, becomes the second grandmaster to pull out of the competition, following GM Alireza Firouzja's earlier exit. Like Niemann, Firouzja also cited personal reasons for his withdrawal.Firouzja has been replaced by Hungarian GM Richard Rapport, who will be making his Freestyle Chess debut despite losing the final of the Play-In stage.

Niemann's departure sees world number-six GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov drafted in as his replacement. The Uzbek star will now join the twelve-player field at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy, located in the historic Bois de Vincennes.

The absence of Niemann will be felt by fans eager to witness another potential clash with GM Magnus Carlsen. The rivalry between the two players remains one of the most talked-about in recent chess history, following their highly publicised and controversial encounters in 2022.

The series' main sponsor Jan Henric Buettner declined to speculate on Niemann's reasons for withdrawing, and no further public statements have been made by the US grandmaster.

On Monday, Niemann had shared an AI-generated image suggesting he was preparing - with Vladimir Kramnik? - to play in the Paris tournament.

The Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, which runs from 7 to 14 April, is the second stop on the 2025 Grand Slam Tour, following its inaugural edition in Weissenhaus earlier this year, where Germany's Vincent Keymer claimed victory. This will be the first Freestyle Chess Grand Slam event to feature a 12-player field.

The format includes a two-day round-robin phase, from which the top eight players will advance to a knockout stage. The final six days of the tournament will feature classical time-control matches, promising a rigorous and competitive environment for players and an engaging spectacle for spectators.

The lineup now includes:

  1. Magnus Carlsen
  2. Gukesh Dommaraju
  3. Hikaru Nakamura
  4. Fabiano Caruana
  5. Vincent Keymer
  6. Arjun Erigaisi
  7. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu
  8. Nodirbek Abdusattorov
  9. Ian Nepomniachtchi
  10. Vidit Gujrathi
  11. Richard Rapport
  12. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

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Topics: Hans Niemann, Paris Grand Slam 2025
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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