Recently FIDE ordained, after a consensus vote from the cognoscenti of the chess world, that Carlsen was the GOAT of all time. Carlsen himself mentioned Kasparov at the award ceremony as being equally good. However, Carlsen, having stepped down as World Champion too, has pursued a hectic calendar of playing international chess events with the world’s top elite players and coming out on top on numerous occasions. He has stated that his thirst to win is unabated and as long as he feels that, he will carry on.
One such recent tournament was The Grenke Chess Festival Open 2025, Karlsruhe, Germany, 17th–21st April. Carlsen won the Freestyle Classical competition 9-rounder with a round to spare. His round eight score of 8 wins from 8 games secured his triumph, and the last 9th round against GM Vincent Keymer was, as one commentator put it, ‘cementing his legacy of dominance’. The chess world was once again astounded by Carlsen’s performance and immediately began the comparison with other world leaders from the past, such as GM Bobby Fischer’s gargantuan score from the US Championship 1963/4 of 11 wins from 11 games. Carlsen finished 2 points ahead of the field in the above tournament, and in the post-match ceremony said, ‘I’m not gonna be able to do that again, that’s for sure.’
In second place after Carlsen on 7/9 points was Parham Maghsoodloo, who, by dint of winning by Buchholz tiebreaks against six other players all on 7 points, will go through to the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas. Carlsen had already qualified for the Grand Slam, so Parham qualified as the runner-up from this competition.
Carlsen won €60,000 and 25 tour points from his win, defeated 7 GMs in an open tournament and no open theory to assist – quite an illustrious performance by any stretch of one’s imagination.
Freestyle chess or Chess 960 played with Classical time controls is a new phenomenon and Carlsen’s huge win sets the record played in this format. His performance rating was 3385, with over 3,000 players actively in attendance to witness the historic occasion. Carlsen did have an amazing 9-point winning score in The Super United Rapid and Blitz tournament in Croatia 2023 although this was Blitz time control, not Classic time control, a huge difference. Other recent huge scores by other players can be compared to Carlsen’s although they are few and far between, such as Karin Grigoryan’s 9/9 at the 2019 VII Torneio Internacional Cidade de Famalicão, and for example WGM Andreaa Navrotescu’s similar score at the Menchik Memorial Challengers Tourny 2024.
Freestyle Chess, also called Fischer Random and also Chess 960, is a chess variant that has been around since Bobby Fischer’s days. A chess variant where the starting position of the pieces on the back rank are randomised. This is stated as encouraging creative play and reducing reliance on remembering opening theory. It would be fair to say that numbers of players I know are fairly sceptical of any advantages this chess variant has to offer and do consider it unnecessary. I would have liked to have been around in the early 1490s in Northern Spain when the game of chess went through what was a terminal design change and the lowly Fers chess piece went through the astonishing transformation in becoming a Queen to the King, and unlike its predecessor which could only move one square at a time in any direction, the newly created Queen could move any number of squares in any direction. This also had a political gesture in acknowledging the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Catherine’s conquests in driving the Arab invaders out from the Iberian Peninsula. I wonder too if there was dissent, euphoria, arguments etc. around such a move. I wonder too who were those promoting the idea and what were the mechanisms used for that change? Was it Royal decree for example?
The randomised starting position for Freestyle Chess, with standard Classical pieces on the back rank, are arranged in a specific predetermined way. The pieces (not pawns) are shuffled randomly following rules:
- The King must be placed between the two Rooks.
- The Bishops must be placed on opposite coloured squares.
Because the starting position is random, memorising specific opening theory doesn’t give an advantage. Players must rely on their tactical skills, strategic understanding and ability to adapt to the unique positions that arise. Introduced by Bobby Fischer, its intentions were to make chess more unpredictable and encourage more creative play. ‘Freestyle Chess’ is a marketing name, while the generic, formal name is Chess 960. Freestyle Chess is often used particularly in tournaments and events organised by Magnus Carlsen and other chess enthusiasts.
A new Freestyle addition to world events, a first-time ever allowing everyone the chance ‘to team up and play against The GOAT’: 20th May, Magnus Carlsen v The World, where each side has 24 hours per move and the global participants’ top choice of move is played against Carlsen. This is only the third time a world match in this manner has been staged, the global entire world against Kasparov in 1999, and Anand in 2024. The latest event has reached 143,800 participants and a new world record. It certainly encourages the playing of Freestyle chess and introduces it to world consumers – what could be better?
Carlsen, on being interviewed following the Grenke tournament, was asked about his participation in the Norway Chess Tourny only a few weeks away. He replied he would rest in between but declined to comment on the fact that he would be facing D. Gukesh, the current World Champion, at some stage – the first time following the latter’s global ascendancy over the board in a Classical time match. At the press conference on 25th May, held at the Clarion Hotel Energy, Stavanger, Norway, and the drawing of lots, fate had its way and the two were drawn to face each other in the first round. More of that later.
Norway Chess and Norway Chess Women features parity between the two groupings, not least with the same prize money, the same format, in the same playing hall, a 6-player double round robin. Good to see equal spoils and action within the two groupings. An Armageddon action guarantees decisive results in every game, giving the tournament’s spectators guaranteed edge-of-the-seat excitement and the unexpected thrills such formats create. If a classical game ends in a draw, the players immediately face off in a decisive Armageddon game, giving a positive result.
The illustrious contestants are top of the range and the usual suspects at this level: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Erigaisi, Gukesh Dommaraju, Wei Yi, Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, Koneru Humpy, Anna Muzychuk, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Sara Khadem.
The puzzle this time is taken from the Grenke Tournament
Mamedov v Carlsen, April 2025, considered by many as one of the player’s most beautiful endgames. See below:
The Czech-German great chess star, as many will remember him, Vlastimil Hort, passed away on 13th May aged 81. He was one of the world’s leading players in the 1960s and ’70s and famously participated in the ‘Rest of the World’ team against the USSR in 1970, and was included in the Candidates Tournament in 1977.
Born in Czechoslovakia and later positioning himself in West Germany in the 1980s, he famously played a simul against 636 opponents. An indefatigable esprit de corps and never one to doubt the power of the spectacle, he was a natural showman, a conspicuous colourful contributor to world chess in the days of Russian superiority and hegemony.
Both at the board and commentating about chess, he was a champion of the young and introduced a whole generation of German chess fans to the game and styles of play. He was considered extremely good in his illuminating commentary, often with GM Helmut Pfleger, and was a forefront presenter in our BBC ‘Mastergame’ series in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
In conversation with Raymond Keene GM and this author, Raymond told me that Hort was a strong and awkward player to play against, and in the few matches he played against Hort he only drew one game and lost the others.
The Challange
This chess puzzle is taken from the game between Rauf Mamedov 2657 v Magnus Carlsen 2837, Round 8, Grenke Chess Freestyle Festival 2025, April. The Queens were traded off on move 4 and one of the player’s styles was stated as ‘winning in grand style in an endgame Capablanca-like’. Which one was it?
See the accompanying diagram where Mamedov as White has played 56. Rd8,… What was Carlsen as Black’s response?
The Solution
56. Rd8 Kf5 (if 56. Rg8+ checking only helps Black improve his king’s position – Kf5 57. Rf8+ Ke4; or 56. Be7+ Kg6). 56… Kf5 57. Re8 h4 58. Re2 Rd3 59. Kb1 Nxd4 (Carlsen now takes off the pawn with a better position) 60. Re5+ Kf6 (Taking on d5 walks into …Ke6, so White resigns) 0–1
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