Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Final: Erigaisi loses to Keymer in quarterfinal; Carlsen claims tour title

Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi suffered a defeat in the quarterfinal stage of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Final against Germany’s Vincent Keymer on Tuesday.

Former world champion Magnus Carlsen trumped American GM Fabiano Caruana in tiebreaks to enter the semifinal, a result which also guarantees him the overall tour title – the Norwegian now holds an insurmountable lead in the standings.

GMs Javokhir Sindarov and Levon Aronian were the other players to enter the semifinals, claiming wins against Parham Maghsoodloo and Hans Niemann, respectively.

Erigaisi and Keymer began with a tame draw before the latter, playing with white pieces, captured a win in the second game to secure the tie.

“I played better chess, I didn’t blunder pieces or pawns just randomly, so I also have the feeling that I can slowly trust my calculation again,” said Keymer after his win.

Erigaisi will now be up against Niemann in the lower-bracket semifinal, with a chance to finish as high as fifth.

In the semifinals, Keymer will be up against Aronian, while Carlsen will take on Sindarov.

“He looks very good right now, so l certainly need to play much better than in the first game, at least,” said Carlsen about Sindarov, who recently won the Chess World Cup.

Published on Dec 10, 2025