Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, Weissenhaus 2025: Gukesh draws with Nakamura in 5th-8th place playoff; Keymer beats Carlsen

World Champion D. Gukesh played out a hard-fought draw with Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the first game of the 5th-8th place playoffs in the Freestyle Grand Slam chess here on Tuesday.

After losing the semifinal against American Fabiano Caruana 0-2, Gukesh was back to his confident self against Nakamura who is known for his expertise in this version.

On a day when Magnus Carlsen, the main protagonist behind the tour, lost to young Vincent Keymer, Caruana split the point with Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov.

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In the other game of the day, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan signed truce with Alireza Firouzja of France.

Gukesh needed a break and he achieved it, matching Nakamura move for move right till the end of the game. The American, in fact, was offensive right from the word go as he pushed his pawns to gain some grip on the position.

Local lad Vincent Keymer beat Magnus Carlsen in the first match of semifinal.
| Photo Credit:
Freestyle Chess/Lennart Ootes

Gukesh, however, found the path to equality easily and reached a rook and pawns endgame that was theoretically drawn. Known for his no draw approach, this was Gukesh’s eighth draw in the tournament with the first seven happening in the nine-round prelims.

The shocker of the day was provided by Keymer who was at his best. Much to the surprise of the followers, Keymer and Carlsen managed to find a normal-looking position very early from the opening and the German had things under control.

Winning a rook for knight, Keymer used his resources well and he is now a draw away from securing a place in the finals.