 "Magnus Carlsen says he is having a tough time in Freestyle Chess currently. Image: Freestyle Chess")
Magnus Carlsen had a lucky escape against Uzbekistan Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov on Thursday as he progressed to the semi-finals of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 Paris leg. The world No.1 Carlsen will be hoping to win the Paris leg of the Grand Slam after finishing third in the inaugural Weissenhaus leg.
However, the Norwegian was tested to his limits by the 20-year-old Abdusattorov on Thursday after winning the first game in the quarter-finals match. Carlsen had a 1-0 lead but Abdusattorov, who was playing with White pieces, secured more active positions from the opening and used a tactical fork in the middlegame to win an exchange.
Abdusattorov’s questionable decision to recapture on c5 on move 33, however, led to an endgame where he was up in material but burdened with two sets of doubled, isolated pawns.
After winning the match 1.5-0.5, Carlsen was quick to admit that he is currently struggling with the required skills to perform well in Freestyle Chess where back positions are randomised to make the games more unpredictable and promote creativity.
Carlsen was the joint-leader in the round-robin phase played in Rapid time control, but he revealed that he is struggling in Classical time control used in knockouts.
“This is the opposite honestly of Weissenhaus this year. I couldn’t really get going at all in Rapid and once we started playing Classical I felt a lot better. This time, two days in a row I have felt like so clueless out of the opening and just not figuring it out at all and then when we get to a faster phase I actually play well. It’s been frustrating. I think he did a fantastic job today, putting a lot of pressure on me but I kept fighting and I don’t know how but I escaped,” he told Freestyle Chess Tour.
Asked specifically about why he seems to struggling to do well in Freestyle Chess matches, Carlsen said skills seem to be the issue for him currently.
“I feel it’s mostly a skill issue, to be honest,” he said. “Right now I just cannot figure it out. It’s the beauty of the game. It’s supposed to be hard, that’s why we are playing this.”
Carlsen will face Fabiano Caruana in the semi-final in Paris. The American GM defeated French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the quarter-finals.
“I thought Fabiano put in a great performance today and I think he’s rounding into form so that will be going to be a very tough match,” he added.