Freestyle Chess Weissenhaus - Live!

by ChessBase
2/14/2025 – The inaugural tournament of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam is taking place in Weissenhaus, Germany on 7-14 February. The elite participants, including Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh Dommaraju, first play a single round-robin with a 10+10 time control. Eight out of ten players then move on to the knockout stage, played with a classical time control. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 13.00 CET (7.00 ET, 17.30 IST)

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Knockout stage - Finals

The event will be structured into two distinct stages.

Stage 1: Round-robin (rapid time control)

  • Time control: 10 minutes + 10-second increments per move.
  • Format: Single round-robin (each player faces all others once).
  • Elimination: The top 8 players advance to the knockout stage.
  • Placement match: The players ranked 9th and 10th will play a playoff to determine the final 9th place ranking.

Schedule:

  • Friday: 5 rounds played.
  • Saturday: 4 rounds played.

Stage 2: Knockout (classical time control)

  • Time control: 90 minutes + 30-second increments per move.
  • Format: Single-elimination bracket.

Schedule:

  • Quarterfinals: Sunday and Monday (one classical game per day).
  • Semifinals: Tuesday and Wednesday (one classical game per day).
  • Finals: Thursday and Friday (one classical game per day).

Tiebreak system in the knockout stage

If a match ends in a tie, the winner will be determined through a playoff:

  • Two rapid games (10+10 time control).
  • If still tied, two blitz games (5+2 time control).
  • If still tied, a bidding Armageddon game:
    • Base time: 5 minutes.
    • Players bid for the amount of time they are willing to play with as Black (who has draw odds).

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Live games and commentary

ChessBase India

Pro stream

Community stream

All games - Knockout stage

Final standings - Rapid stage

All games - Rapid stage

Links

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See also

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam kicks off in Weissenhaus: Format and general information

2/6/2025 – The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour is set to begin with its inaugural tournament in Weissenhaus, Germany, from 7 to 14 February. This new five-event series, featuring elite players competing in the Freestyle Chess format (a.k.a. chess960), marks a significant addition to the chess calendar. With a structured format combining rapid and classical games and a $660,000 prize fund, the tour aims to establish itself as a premier competition. World number one Magnus Carlsen and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju will both be competing. | Photos: Gregor Poniewasz
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Weissenhaus Play-In: Fedoseev beats Nepomniachtchi and Sindarov, gets spot in Grand Slam

1/9/2025 – The Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Tournament is set to kick off the inaugural Freestyle Chess Grand Slam with an exciting lineup of top players, including Magnus Carlsen, Gukesh Dommaraju and Vishy Anand. However, it was a gripping online play-in stage that determined the final spot in the elite 10-player field. Javokhir Sindarov and Vladimir Fedoseev battled through a fierce knockout bracket to reach the dramatic final. Fedoseev emerged victorious following a sensational Armageddon decider.
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Video

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.