D Gukesh's Winless Run in Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025
Image credits: Instagram/freestyle_chess
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 has been an exciting event for chess fans, with the first leg in Weissenhaus, Germany, seeing Vincent Keymer emerge as the winner. However, for Indian fans, the event was a bit of a disappointment, as D Gukesh, the reigning world champion, had a winless run and ended up in eighth position. Despite being in dominant form before the Grand Slam event, Gukesh struggled to adapt to the Chess960 variant, which randomizes the starting position of the pieces on the back rank, reducing the impact of opening theory and promoting creativity in gameplay.
Gukesh's chief trainer, Grzegorz Gajewski, shared his analysis on why many top GMs were finding it hard to perform at Weissenhaus, stating that it was a totally different ballgame to the standard variant. Chess legend Judit Polgar agreed with Gajewski's viewpoint, saying that the Chess960 variant requires a completely different mindset and priorities. Polgar explained that in Chess960, players need to have a fresh look and be careful about which moves they are calculating, as many moves that intuitively seem fine in classical chess are pure mistakes in Chess960.
The results from the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 have sparked debate about whether Gukesh has lost form or motivation. However, experts say that the Chess960 variant is a completely different sport that requires a different approach. Gukesh's participation in the next Grand Slam event, scheduled for April in Paris, has been confirmed, and he will be joined by compatriots Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa. The Indian contingent will be looking to make a strong impression in Paris, and Gukesh will be hoping to bounce back from his winless run in Weissenhaus.
Some of the key takeaways from the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 include the importance of intuition in Chess960, the need for players to be careful about which moves they are calculating, and the value of analyzing games together. American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura noted that Gukesh's biggest weakness is his intuition, especially when low on time, and struggles through calculations. However, Gukesh's coach, Grzegorz Gajewski, said that it's the Chess960 intuition that Gukesh needs to work on, not his classical intuition.
The following are some of the match scores from the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025:
- Vincent Keymer beat Magnus Carlsen in the semi-finals
- Vincent Keymer beat Fabiano Caruana in the final
- Gukesh drew 11 games and lost 6 games in the rapid and classical time controls
- First leg: Weissenhaus, Germany
- Second leg: Paris, France (scheduled for April)
- Vincent Keymer (1st)
- Fabiano Caruana (2nd)
- Magnus Carlsen (3rd)
- Gukesh (8th)
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