Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Day 3: The Nepo Gambit Is Born, Solely Carlsen Wins

Arjun ½-½ Nakamura

Two massive fighters, GM Arjun Erigaisi and Nakamura performed essentially the most chaotic sport of the day. Nakamura performed the newly-created Nepo gambit, however quickly regretted it. The engine accepted of the preliminary sacrifice, however 6…Qh8 put Nakamura in a tough place and, for the primary twenty strikes, Arjun held a commanding benefit. 

Nakamura: “Apparently I did job of performing there if you happen to assume I seemed blissful, as a result of for just about the primary 1.5 hours I actually needed to rise up from my board & strangle Nepo!” 😀#FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/V2IsPOTDAH

— chess24 (@chess24com) April 9, 2025

Nakamura is likely one of the finest defenders on this planet, significantly in irrational positions such as you see in freestyle chess. He sophisticated the sport and Arjun’s 25.N4g5 handed Nakamura the sting. The commentators speculated that Nakamura could have been relieved to have survived his doubtful place and he did not press his benefit very far. The gamers reached a rook endgame the place Black’s benefit was not sufficient to trigger White a lot bother.

Nakamura later recapped the sport.

Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Caruana

Caruana provided the identical pawn sacrifice that Nakamura performed towards Arjun, however GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave declined the pawn, permitting Caruana a snug sport. GM Peter Leko, commentating on the sport, speculated that Caruana strolling in the course of the sport was signal for the American participant. He speculated that each time Caruana walks round throughout a sport it means he is assured in his place. 

Vachier-Lagrave fought again with the robust 18.Nd5! and 20.d4! to take the initiative. Caruana needed to commerce right into a pawn-down endgame, however opposite-colored bishops assured him a peaceable end result.

Ninth-Twelfth Place Matches

With much less on the road, the Ninth-Twelfth place matches demonstrated free-spirited preventing chess. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was in bother early towards GM Vidit Gujrathi, however when he managed to commerce queens, solely White may win within the endgame.

World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju continues to battle in freestyle chess as he failed to carry a pawn-down endgame towards GM Richard Rapport. It might have been a small measure of revenge for Rapport, who had been GM Ding Liren‘s second in final 12 months’s world championship match. He stored management all through the sport and located a powerful trade sacrifice on the finish to let his bishop escort three handed pawns towards promotion.

Tomorrow will see the identical matches with colours reversed. Abdusattorov, Vidit, and Gukesh should win to drive tiebreaks. Who do you anticipate to advance to the Semifinals? Tell us within the feedback.