Random Positions, Natural Order as Carlsen Wins Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge

While “Freestyle” chess, under one name or another, has enjoyed several marquee events featuring top grandmasters over the past few years, the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge promised something new: fresh positions at a classical time control.

After two days of preliminary rapid games determined the seeding order for the knock-out format, the eight invitees paired off for head-to-head matches at a classical pace (with rapid and blitz tiebreaks, if necessary).

Courtesy of the organizers

Top-seeded GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov took care of business against a struggling classical world champion in their quarterfinal match, winning the first game with relative ease in the type of positional grind that would have suited a more in-form Ding.

While GM Levon Aronian finished next-to-last to earn the seventh seed in the knockout portion, he “woke up” in his match against second-seeded GM Vincent Keymer, winning 1½–½ thanks to a lovely miniature.

Whether he is the seventh seed or the second seed, Aronian (R) is still the man most likely to have brought his own colorful jacket to the event (courtesy Maria Emelianova)

Third-seeded GM Fabiano Caruana also won his match 1½–½, winning with the white pieces against GM Gukesh D. Throughout the event, though, Caruana struggled to get as much out of his openings with the white pieces as several of his peers, including in this come-from-behind win.

All eyes were on the “four-versus-five” match between Carlsen and GM Alireza Firouzja, which was the only match to require a playoff. Similarly to their last online encounter, Firouzja stormed out to an early lead only for Carlsen to even the score and dominate the final phase. Firouzja’s first win, though, was especially nice, as it saw him outplay the former champ in a rook endgame.

Firouzja working through the maze in their first playoff game (courtesy Maria Emelianova)

Magnus replied in typical fashion in his turn with the white pieces, grinding out an abstract but steady positional advantage without needing any obvious errors from Firouzja to convert.

The first rapid game was headed towards a draw until Carlsen restored the natural order, squeezing water from stone in an equal endgame.

But even though Carlsen seemed in control of the second rapid playoff game, both players found themselves under a minute in a complicated position where three results were possible, with Carlsen eventually emerging victorious.

The format of the tournament was not, strictly speaking, a knockout, as the losers of each match still competed in subsequent matches to determine the order of places five through eight. Firouzja indeed finished fifth, ahead of Gukesh, Keymer, and Ding, respectively.

In the semifinals, Carlsen extracted revenge against Abdusattorov, winning their match 1½–½ in a particularly “freestyle” position where Carlsen’s knight pair proved dominant over Abdusattorov’s measly pair of bishops.

The Caruana – Aronian match turned out to be the pinnacle of drama, however, with Caruana eventually winning 4–3 in the only match to require blitz playoffs. Aronian came out sharp in the first game, thoroughly outplaying Caruana, only to struggle in the return game to ever untangle his pieces out of the opening.

The set of rapid games followed the same pattern, again illustrating the “luck of the draw” with different starting positions chosen for each game and many of them proving quite difficult to defend with the black pieces.

After splitting the pair of blitz games, Black finally came through in an Armageddon game that was easily one of the most complex of the whole tournament.

The finals were then set, with Carlsen having the black pieces first against Caruana.

courtesy Maria Emelianova

Unfortunately for the American, he ended up with one of the more tame starting positions, and was unable to get anything out of Carlsen.

In contrast, Magnus had a particularly unique and imbalanced position in their second game, choosing between castling long on move one and pushing the g-pawn on his first turn. He eventually pushed the g-pawn first and had to settle for castling “late” on move two.

Information on how the $200,000 prize fund was distributed is available here. Overall, the event demonstrated that this variant could not only attract a wide audience, but actually hold its attention over the course of eight days, even at a slower time control. Organizer and host Jan Henric Buettner announced that he hopes to expand on this format to create a five-continent tour.

courtesy Maria Emelianova

The champion was also pleased, describing the tournament as a “dream come true” for him. Perhaps he should dream bigger, though, as Buettner is already discussing quintupling the prize fund for each tournament in the future!