D Gukesh winless on opening day of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025
Gukesh suffered a defeat and played out four draws on the opening day of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Germany on Friday.
Gukesh D won the World Chess Championship in Singapore. (Photo Credit: FIDE)
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh, who recently became the youngest world champion, began his 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam campaign without a win on Friday at the German Baltic Sea luxury resort of Weissenhaus.
The 18-year-old endured a challenging day, drawing against Nodirbek Abdusattorov before suffering a loss to Alireza Firouzja in the second round.
He followed up with another draw against Levon Aronian and narrowly escaped defeat against one of the day’s standout performers, Javokhir Sindarov, securing yet another draw. Gukesh ended the day with a final draw against Hikaru Nakamura.
These results placed Gukesh sixth in the standings with two points after five rounds.
The tournament is currently led by Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov, both of whom have 4.5 points after five rounds and have secured their spots in the knockout stage.
Sindarov, who joined the tournament as a replacement for Viswanathan Anand, stunned Magnus Carlsen with a victory in their first-ever over-the-board encounter.
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam follows a Formula 1-style points system, with the ultimate Grand Slam champion being crowned in South Africa at the end of 2025.
The rapid round-robin stage (10 minutes plus a 10-second increment) will determine the top eight players advancing to the classical knockout phase.
Stay connected with The Bridge on #socials.