Freestyle Chess Grand Slam: Gukesh reaches quarter-finals in Weissenhaus

India's Gukesh Dommaraju advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Weissenhaus, Germany on Saturday.

The reigning world champion finished the nine-match round robin stage with 3.5 points to take the last qualifying spot in the knockouts. The teenager is yet to register a single win in the tournament, having drawn seven and lost two games so far.

The 18-year-old Gukesh did not have the best of closures to the league stage as he went down to the five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen with the white pieces in the ninth and final round.

The Indian pushed for a win in an equal position but Carlsen prevailed with his trademark endgame grind, forcing errors out of Gukesh under time pressure.

Starting the day with two points in five rounds, Gukesh suffered a massive scare in the very first game on Saturday. He, however, held on to an inferior position to salvage a draw with the black pieces against Fabiano Caruana.

The Chennai lad then played out draws against his World Championship match second Vincent Keymer and Vladimir Fedoseev in the next two rounds before the final battle against Carlsen.

While Gukesh took the final spot in the knockouts, Fedoseev and Levon Aronian were eliminated from the competition after finishing in the bottom two spots with 2.5 and 1.5 points respectively.

The knockout stages will start with the quarter-finals on Sunday. The tournament leader after round robin – Alireza Firouzja – will pick an opponent of his choice out of the qualified players for the quarter-finals. Those who finished on the top of the pile, thus, have an advantage.

The knockouts will be played in the classical format of two games. If the scores remain level then the match will move into rapid time control and then blitz.