Freestyle Chess Tour Paris Day 1 Highlights: Gukesh suffers four defeats; Erigaisi emerges as best among Indian GMs

Paris Freestyle Chess round-robin standings

1. Magnus Carlsen: 5
2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 5
3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: 4.5
4. Ian Nepomniachtchi: 4
5. Hikaru Nakamura: 3.5
6. Arjun Erigaisi: 3.5
7. R Praggnanandhaa: 2.5
8. Fabiano Caruana: 2.5
9. Vincent Keymer: 2
10. D Gukesh: 1.5
11. Richard Rapport: 1
12. Vidit Gujrathi: 1

Round 6 results

Fabiano Caruana (White pieces) drew vs Ian Nepomniachtchi

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (White pieces) defeated Richard Rapport

Vidit Gujrathi (White pieces) lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Arjun Erigaisi (White pieces) defeated Vincent Keymer

Magnus Carlsen (White pieces) defeated R Praggnanandhaa

D Gukesh (White pieces) lost to Hikaru Nakamura

Round 5 results

D Gukesh (White pieces) lost to Fabiano Caruana

Hikaru Nakamura (White pieces) lost to Magnus Carlsen

R Praggnanandhaa (White pieces) drew vs Arjun Erigaisi

Vincent Keymer (White pieces) defeated Vidit Gujrathi

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (White pieces) drew vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Richard Rapport (White pieces) lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi

Praggnanandhaa tried his best but could not avoid a defeat against Carlsen.

Vidit Gujrathi loses to Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the Round 6. He is at the bottom of the table.

Another win for Arjun Erigaisi as he beats Weissenhaus leg winner Vincent Keymer in Round 6. Here’s the recap of the match as Arjun Erigaisi wins in 44 moves.

Despite having the White pieces, Gukesh fails to make it count as Nakamura obliterates him in Round 6. The recap of the match can be watched in the below GIF.

Game over! Nakamura finishes Gukesh challenge in 36 moves as he collects a solid 1 point.

Carlsen is having no such issue as he has made full use of his White pieces and enjoys a solid lead over Praggnanandhaa.

Gukesh hasn’t been able to press the White pieces advantage as Nakamura is close to winning the Round 6 match.

Gukesh faces Nakamura in the final match of the day. Here’s a look at the randomised back positions for all the players.

Gukesh faces Nakamura in the final match of the day. Here’s a look at the randomised back positions for all the players.

Here’s the line-up for the final round of the day.

Paris Freestyle Chess round-robin standings

1. Magnus Carlsen: 4
2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 4
3. Ian Nepomniachtchi: 3.5
4. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: 3.5
5. Hikaru Nakamura: 2.5
6. Arjun Erigaisi: 2.5
7. R Praggnanandhaa: 2.5
8. Fabiano Caruana: 2
9. Vincent Keymer: 2
10. D Gukesh: 1.5
11. Richard Rapport: 1
12. Vidit Gujrathi: 1

Gukesh lost to Caruana with White pieces

Praggnanandhaa (White pieces) drew against Erigaisi

Keymer defeated Gujrathi

It took 53 moves for Carlsen to beat Nakamura. Here’s the full recap.

Another win for Carlsen as he beats good friend Nakamura and collects one more important point.

Carlsen has a small advantage with 34 moves done. Here’s a quick recap of whatever has happened so far.

Two back-to-back errors by Gukesh against Caruana in the Round 5 match. The engine didn’t like Rcf1 by Gukesh on the 25th move and then Qe3 on the 27th. The saving grace is that Caruana has played b6 on the 27th and the engine thinks it’s a blunder.

The back positions for Round 5 have been revealed.

Gukesh will be playing with White pieces against Fabiano Caruana in the fifth round. Check the complete line-up in the table below.

Paris Freestyle Chess round-robin standings

1. Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 3.5
2. Magnus Carlsen: 3
3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: 3
4. Ian Nepomniachtchi: 2.5
5. Hikaru Nakamura: 2.5
6. Arjun Erigaisi: 2
7. R Praggnanandhaa: 2
8. D Gukesh: 1.5
9. Fabiano Caruana: 1
10. Vincent Keymer: 1
11. Richard Rapport: 1
12. Vidit Gujrathi: 1

Round 4 results

Fabiano Caruana (White pieces) beats Richard Rapport

Ian Nepomniachtchi (White pieces) draws vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (White pieces) beats Vincent Keymer

Vidit Gujrathi (White pieces) loses to R Praggnanandhaa

Arjun Erigaisi (White pieces) loses to Hikaru Nakamura

Magnus Carlsen (White pieces) beats D Gukesh

Here’s a quick recap through a GIF on how Carlsen dismantled Gukesh in Round 4.

It’s over! Gukesh was under pressure till Carlsen made a mistake on 31.Rg3 to give the world champion a bit of relief. Gukesh, however, made a mistake on move 34 playing Be4 and lost the match in 59 moves.

Erigaisi is playing with white pieces but Nakamura seems to have a better structure.

Meanwhile, it’s an all-Indian match between Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi in Round 4. Here’s a recap of the match so far. Praggnanandhaa with black pieces has a small extra pawn advantage here.

This isn’t looking good for Gukesh as Carlsen has a big lead over the eval bar.

The starting positions have been revealed for the Carlsen vs Gukesh match and Round 4 contests. The starting positions will be the same for all matches.

Here’s a look at what is up in the store for Round 4.

Paris Freestyle Chess round-robin standings

1. Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 3
2. Arjun Erigaisi: 2
3. Ian Nepomniachtchi: 2
4. Magnus Carlsen: 2
5. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: 2
6. D Gukesh: 1.5
7. Hikaru Nakamura: 1.5
8. Richard Rapport: 1
9. Vincent Keymer: 1
10. R Praggnanandhaa: 1
11. Vidit Gujrathi: 1
12. 12: Fabiano Caruana: 0

Round 3 results 

Magnus Carlsen (White pieces) beats Fabiano Caruana

D Gukesh (White pieces) beats Arjun Erigaisi

Hikaru Nakamura (White pieces) beats Vidit Gujrathi

R Praggnanandhaa (White pieces) loses to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Vincent Keymer (White pieces) loses to Ian Nepomniachtchi

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (White pieces) beats Richard Rapport

It took just 23 moves for Gukesh to beat Erigaisi after the former committed an error with Nce7 on the last move. Here’s a quick recap of the match.

Gukesh will now face Carlsen with Black pieces in Round 4.

Stunner from Gukesh! He beats in-form Arjun Erigaisi, who just moments ago thrashed Magnus Carlsen. This is a massive victory for Gukesh as only the top eight will qualify for the knockouts. This is also Gukesh’s first win in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.

Gukesh is struggling against Erigaisi. He has made two big mistakes on back-to-back moves on 8 and 9th respectively. He played Rf3 and then Qf1, both flagged as blunders by the engine.

Vidit Gujrathi stunned his junior teammate and world champion D Gukesh in 51 moves after the former made a Kc8 blunder on the 49th move with his Balck pieces. Check the quick wrap of the match in GIF.

Paris Freestyle Chess round-robin standings

1. Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 2
2. Arjun Erigaisi: 2
3. Magnus Carlsen: 1
4. Richard Rapport: 1
5. Vincent Keymer: 1
6. R Praggnanandhaa: 1
7. Ian Nepomniachtchi: 1
8. Vidit Gujrathi: 1
9. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: 1
10. Hikaru Nakamura: 0.5
11. D Gukesh: 0.5
12. 12: Fabiano Caruana: 0

Only the top eighth will qualify for the knockouts.

Here’s a look at the back positions for Round 3.