 "Hans Niemann has won both of his rounds so far in the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open. Image: Hans Niemann on X")
American Grandmaster Hans Niemann showed up at the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open in Karlsruhe, Germany on Friday after staging a last-minute withdrawal from the Paris Grand Slam earlier this month. What made his participation in the event more interesting was the fact that he was competing alongside world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, an individual he has quite the history with.
Here’s Niemann showing up on Day 1 of the event at Karlsruhe:
The 21-year-old was scheduled to made his Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour debut in Paris earlier this month, only to mysteriously pull out two days before the event without offering a proper explanation. Uzbekistani GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov replaced him in the lineup while Carlsen went on to be crowned champion, defeating Hikaru Nakamura in the final.
Niemann had been accused of cheating by Carlsen in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, USA which led a $100 million lawsuit filed against the latter as well as world No 2 Hikaru and Chess.com.
Though both parties later reached a settlement and the lawsuit dismissed, Niemann and Carlsen have shared frosty relations ever since , with the former targeting the five-time world champion in the recent ‘jeans scandal’ and accusing him of trying to ruin his life.
Top names breeze through first round of Grenke Chess Freestyle Open
Arjun Erigaisi and Fabiano Caruana are among the other big names in action at the annual chess festival that first took place in 2013 and returned to action in 2024 after a five-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Niemann has won both of his games so far, defeating Germany’s Andreas Ciolek and Russian Grandmaster Andrei Deviatkin in the first two rounds of the event.
There were any surprises as far as the other boards were concerned either, with the opening round witnessing Carlsen, Caruana, Erigaisi and the other top names facing low-ranked players with an Elo Rating in the 2200-range.
The Freestyle event is being held simultaneously alongside the Grenke Chess Open, which happens to be among the world’s biggest open events.
The tournament is being conducted in a nine-round Swiss system with a 90+30 time control, in which the winner will earn a spot in the next event of the Grand Slam Tour – in Las Vegas, USA in July.
The event also carries a prize money of €225,000, with the winner pocketing €60,000. Grand Slam Tour points are also on offer, with the winner being awarded 25 points and the runner-up 18.