Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, Las Vegas 2025: Full schedule, format, players, prize money, timings
Freestyle Chess Las Vegas Grand Slam, the fourth leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, takes place from July 16-July 21.
Here’s all you need to know about the event:
What is Freestyle Chess?
Freestyle chess is a new name given to Fischer random chess or chess 960 where the position of the pieces is randomly changed at the start of the game.
With little theory in the books, the version is gaining popularity as tame draws out of the openings have vanished and there are usually a lot of fighting games right from the beginning.
How many players will compete in Las Vegas?
A total of 16 players, divided into two groups, will take part in the six-day event.
Group White features world number one Magnus Carlsen will start as the favourite for the title in this edition that saw a lot of pre-event activities including participation of NBA players. His group comprises India’s R. Pragganandhaa, Americans Wesley So and Levon Aronian, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov, Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva and Germany’s Vincent Keymer.
Assaubuyeva is set to become the first-ever female player to compete in this event.
Group Black has India’s Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun Erigaisi, and Americans Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Hans Niemann, Ray Robson, Sam Sevian and Leinier Dominguez Perez.
Top four top from each group will advance to the next stage while the bottom half will play against each other.
World champion D. Gukesh is going to give the event a miss as he will be playing the main event of the Grandmaster tour in about a month’s time.
What are some of the prominent opening fixtures?
The 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa will start his campaign against Abdusattorov, who was struggling at the previous edition of Grand Chess tour in Zagreb, Croatia.
Carlsen will play Keymer, the winner of the first edition, in his opening round.
Niemann, who will make his first appearance in the Freestyle chess tournament, takes on Erigaisi in the opener while Gujrathi will face Caruana.
What is the total prize money?
The event carries a total prize pool of USD 750,000 with 200,000 reserved for the winner.
Here’s the full schedule with IST Timings:
July 16 – Group Stage Round 1 – 11:30PM
July 17 – Group Stage Round 2-7 – 12:30AM – 5:30AM
July 17 – Quarterfinals Game 1 – 11:30PM
July 18 – Quarterfinals Game 2 – 3AM
July 18 – Quarterfinals Tiebreaks – 5:30AM
July 18 – Semifinals Game 1 – 11:30PM
July 18 – Intermediate Matches RED Game 1 – 11:30PM
July 19 – Semifinals Game 2 – 3AM
July 19 – Intermediate Matches RED Game 2 – 3AM
July 19 – Semifinals Tiebreaks – 5:30AM
July 19 – Intermediate Matches RED Tiebreaks – 5:30AM
July 19 – Intermediate Matches GREEN Game 1 – 11:30PM
July 20 – Intermediate Matches GREEN Game 2 – 12:40AM
July 20 – Intermediate Matches GREEN Tiebreaks – 1:50AM
July 20 – Lower Bracket Semifinals Game 1-2 – 3:30AM – 4:40AM
July 20 – Lower Bracket Semifinals Tiebreaks – 5:50AM
July 20 – Match for 3rd place Game 1 – 11:30PM
July 20 – Matches for 5th-8th Place Game 1 – 11:30PM
July 20 – Grand Final Game 1 – 11:50PM
July 21 – Matches for 5th-8th Place Game 2 – 12:45AM
July 21 – Matches for 5th-8th Place Tiebreaks – 2AM
July 21 – Grand Final Game 2 – 3AM
July 21 – Match for 3rd place Game 2 – 3AM
July 21 – Grand Final Tiebreaks – 5:30AM
July 21 – Match for 3rd place Tiebreaks – 5:30AM
What is the Time Control format?
The group stage will have rapid time control (10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move) while all knockout rounds will be played with a 30+30 classical time control.
Standings after three events:
- Magnus Carlsen – 65 points
- Fabiano Caruana – 39
- Vincent Keymer – 37
- Hikaru Nakamura – 28
- Parham Maghsoodloo – 18
- Arjun Erigaisi – 16
- Andrey Esipenko & Frederik Svane – 15
- Javokhir Sindarov – 12
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov – 12
- Alexey Sarana – 10
- Leinier Domínguez Perez- 10
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 8
- Alireza Firouzja – 6
- Ian Nepomniachtchi – 6
- D. Gukesh – 4
- Levon Aronian – 2
- R Praggnanandhaa – 2
- Rauf Mamedov – 2
- Leon Luke Mendonca – 1
- Richard Rapport – 1
- Vladimir Fedoseev – 1
(With inputs from PTI)