Weissenhaus QF: Carlsen, Caruana and Keymer start knockout with wins

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
2/10/2025 – The knockout stage of the Freestyle Chess tournament in Weissenhaus began with the first classical games of the quarterfinals and the ninth-place playoff. Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Vincent Keymer took the lead in their matches, while Hikaru Nakamura and Javokhir Sindarov remain level after a draw. In the ninth-place playoff, Levon Aronian defeated Vladimir Fedoseev with white. Sunday's starting position led to dynamic struggles, with all white players opting for 1.f4. The second classical games will now determine who advances or forces tiebreaks. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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Tactical struggles

The knockout stage of the Freestyle Chess tournament in Weissenhaus began on Sunday, with the first classical games of the quarterfinals and the ninth-place playoff taking place. Following the round-robin stage, which was won by Alireza Firouzja, the top eight players advanced to the main phase of the event, while Levon Aronian and Vladimir Fedoseev, who finished ninth and tenth, are facing each other in a separate match to determine their final standings. Like the quarterfinals, their match follows a two-game classical format, with rapid and blitz tiebreakers if necessary.

Three players took the lead in their matches, as Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer all scored wins on the first day of the knockout. Hikaru Nakamura and Javokhir Sindarov, meanwhile, remain level after drawing their encounter. Carlsen's victory over Nodirbek Abdusattorov came in just 23 moves, with the Uzbek grandmaster making a mistake as early as move three. Caruana got the better of world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a tense, double-edged battle, while Keymer capitalised on Firouzja's overly ambitious opening play to take the lead in their match.

Nakamura had a strong position against Sindarov but was unable to convert his advantage in an endgame with knight against bishop. However, having played with the black pieces, he will now get the opportunity to push for a win with white in the second game.

Sindarov v. Nakamura
Black has a completely winning position with his extra pawn and greatly placed knight. Nakamura was rightfully frustrated after failing to convert this into a win.

Meanwhile, in the ninth-place playoff, Aronian claimed a clear victory over Fedoseev with the white pieces, putting himself in a strong position ahead of their second encounter.

Sunday's starting position led to dynamic, tactical struggles across the board. Every player with the white pieces opted for 1.f4, immediately opening the diagonal for their dark-squared bishop to target the weak a7-square.

This led to active play, with most games featuring direct fights for the initiative, as players sought attacking chances early on. With the first classical encounters completed, the players now turn their focus to the second games, where those trailing in their matches will need to strike back to stay in contention.

Javokhir Sindarov

Javokhir Sindarov | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Carlsen 1 - 0 Abdusattorov

Carlsen, Magnus28331–0Abdusattorov, Nodirbek2766
Freestyle Chess GST Weissenhaus KO 2025
09.02.2025[CC]
1.f4 f5 2.Bxa7 Bxa2 3.e4
3...Bxb1 After playing the risky 1...f5, instead of the more cautious 1...Nb6, Abdusattorov falters early on, perhaps fearing that he will not be able to capture the rook later on. 3...fxe4 is stronger, and e.g. 4.Rxe4 d5 5.Re1 e6 6.g3 Bf6 and now 7.Bxb8 In case of 7.Ne3 there is 0-0-0 7...Kxb8 4.Kxb1 fxe4 5.g3 c6 6.Qxe4 g6 7.Ne3 Bb6 8.Bxb8 Kxb8 9.Nb3 Nc7 10.Qb4 Bxe3 11.dxe3 Nd5 12.Qa5
White's pieces, especially the queen, are much more active. Carlsen showed his class to convert his advantage into a win. 12...e5 13.Bf3 e4 14.Bg2 Qg7 15.c4 Nf6 16.Kc2 Qf7 17.Bf1 d6 18.Ra1 N8d7 19.Nd4 Nc5 20.b4 Na6 21.b5 cxb5 22.Qb6 Nb4+ 23.Kd2
1–0

Gukesh 0 - 1 Caruana

Gukesh D27770–1Caruana, Fabiano2803
Freestyle Chess GST Weissenhaus KO 2025
09.02.2025[CC]
1.f4 Nb6 2.Nb3 f5 3.e4 fxe4 4.Rxe4 Bd5 5.Re1 Qg8 6.Bf2 Ng6 7.f5 Nf4 8.Ne3
Both players have developed their pieces harmoniously. 8...e5 Caruana goes for activity, giving up his strong light-squared bishop. 8...Bc6 9.Qf1 e5 10.g3 Nfd5 11.Na5 8...Bf7 9.Qf1 e5 10.fxe6 Nxe6 9.Nxd5 Nfxd5 10.g4 c6 11.Ra1 Nf4 12.a4 a5 13.Nc5 Nbd5 14.Ne4 Qf8 15.g5
A brave choice by Gukesh, weakening his structure. 15...Bb6 Not 15...Qxf5 due to 16.Nd6+ 16.Bxb6 Nxb6 17.f6 Kc7 18.Qg1 d5 19.fxg7 Qb4 20.Nc5 d4 A mistake by Caruana, which Gukesh fails to punish. 21.Nb3 White emerges with a superior position after 21.g8Q Rxg8 22.Rxe5 and e.g.: Nbd5 23.Ne6+ Nxe6 24.Rxe6 21...Re7 Now the other rook would capture on g8 in case of g7-g8Q. 22.Re4 Nc4 23.Qf1 Nd6 24.c3 Qc4
Gukesh still had a better position here, but both players were in time trouble. The world champion now gave up his advantage by trading queens. 25.Qxc4 25.Qxf4 is the way to go, and White is better after exf4 26.Rxe7+ Kd8 27.Re5 though it is understandable for a player to simplify the position while in time trouble. 25...Nxc4 26.Nxd4 Nd6 27.Rxf4 exf4 28.Bb3 Kd7 28...Rxg7 fails to 29.Ne6+ 29.g8Q Rxg8 30.Bxg8 Re1+ 31.Kc2 Rxa1 32.Bxh7 Caruana has emerged from the complications with an extra exchange and a passer on the f-file. However, winning this position is not trivial at all while facing Gukesh and with less than 3 minutes on the clock. White has counterplay with his connected passed pawns on the g and h-files. Ke7 33.h4
This natural-looking move was the deciding mistake. 33...Rh1 34.Nf3 Rh3 Black places the rook on a great square - to both deal with the white passers and continue to make progress. 35.Ne5 f3 36.Kd3 Ke6 37.g6 Nf5 38.Nf7 Kf6 39.g7 f2+ 40.Ke2 Rf3 A beautiful final move.
0–1

Gukesh Dommaraju, Fabiano Caruana

Gukesh Dommaraju facing Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Stev Bonhage

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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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