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The five-eight spot playoffs game of the 2025 Freestyle Grand Slam Chess Tournament between world champion D Gukesh and USA’s Hikaru Nakamura ended in a stalemate. Gukesh strove to gain confidence in the game as he confronted his USA counterpart after facing a semi-final defeat at the hands of Fabiano Caruana.
The day also witnessed maestro Magnus Carlsen losing to Germany’s 20-year-old Vincent Keymer while Nodribek Abdusattorov earned a truce against France’s Alireza Firouzja. Caruana shared the points with Nodribek’s compatriot Javokhir Sindarov.
Gukesh, who was required to make a comeback, matched Nakamura’s move for a move until the game’s conclusion. The tactic helped Gukesh gain positional advantage over his opponent. The 18-year-old reached the draw in the rook and pawn’s endgame. With this game, he has accumulated the eighth draw in the tournament. Earlier, he gained seven draws during the nine-round preliminaries.
Keymer stuns world number one Carlsen; Sindarov upsets Nakamura
The highlight of the day was Vincent Keymer’s intriguing victory against Magnus Carlsen in game one of the tournament’s semi-final. Keymer has beaten the world number one for the second time in marquee tournaments. Earlier, the youngster handed Carlsen a defeat in the FIDE World Cup 2023.
In the round-robin stage, Keymer faced a loss against Carlsen in the rapid contest. This time, the German player held his nerves and outclassed Carlsen. In the initial stages of the match, Keymer looked aggressive and put himself in a comfortable position to have control over the game. Carlsen was also in no mood to surrender as he equalised and returned in the contest. However, the Norwegian’s final blunder cost him which gave Keymer the opportunity to record success.
Besides Keymer’s triumph, Javokhir Sindrov’s missed an opportunity against Fabiano Caruana. The match between both chess icons concluded in a stalemate.
