Following the defeat of Gukesh D. in the Freestyle Grand Slam Chess Tour 2025 round 2 of the quarter-finals, he’s no longer a contender for the title though he will be competing against Hikaru Nakamura for 5th and 7th position.
He was one of the top contenders for the title after winning the World Championship 2024. His elimination cleared the road for these 4 top players who are currently leading the points table and are set to face each other in 2 upcoming matches for the title. So let’s take a look at the mighty fours.
Magnus Carlsen: World Number 1, Magnus Carlsen achieved a score of 5.5 in the Round Robin stage where each player faced one another in 9 rounds. Magnus won 3 matches and drew the other 4. He lost 2 matches against Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov.
He also won the inaugural Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Challenge in 2024 making him the top contender for the title this year. He will be facing Vincent Keymer in the semi-finals after he defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the quarter-finals.
Fabiano Caruana: Caruana has had an extremely successful run in the tournament till now. During the Round Robin stage, he won 4 matches, drew 4 and lost only 1 to Hikaru Nakamura. He also beat the World Number 1, Magnus Carless and drew to the World Champion Gukesh D.
He defeated Gukesh twice in both rounds of the quarter-finals, one of them with 97% accuracy. He will be facing Javokhir Sindarov in the semi-finals, which if he wins will face the winner of Carlsen vs Keymer in the finals. The semi-finals are set to take place on 11 February 2025.
Vincent Keymer: Keymer won his first match against Vladimir Fedoseev in the tournament. He won 3 matches in the round Robin stage and drew 4. He ended up losing 4 matches but made a comeback after beating Alireza again in the quarterfinals and secured his position in the semi-finals. He will face the defending champion of the title, Magnus Carlsen in the next round.
Javokhir Sindarov: Sindarov defeated Magnus Carlsen on the first day of the tournament in the Round Robin stage. He originally was a replacement for Viswanathan Anand after he pulled back from competing in the Freestyle Grand Slam Chess Tour 2025.
He only lost one match against Alireza and won 5 in the first stage with 3 draws. He beat Nakamura in the quarter-finals and made it to the semi-finals where he will be competing against Fabiano who’s also a strong opponent.
Also Read: Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025: Stage 1 Overview, Format, And Key Players
