In the other opening quarter-final games, Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer defeat Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja respectively while Hikaru Nakamura plays out a 60-move draw against Javokhir Sindarov.

World champion D Gukesh was eliminated from the Freestyle Grand Slam chess tournament on Monday after suffering a second consecutive loss in the quarterfinal stage. Competing against the renowned American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana,

Carlsen, the world’s highest-rated chess player since 2010, will take a seat in Weissenhaus, Germany, to compete in freestyle chess, previously known as Chess960 and Fischer Random. The starting position of the back row pieces is randomized, removing a top grandmaster’s lifetime of memorization and theory on how to open a chess game.

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen reflects on D Gukesh's gameplay at the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, shedding light on the dynamics of their high-stakes encounter and the challenges of top-level chess.

While Gukesh is out of the quarterfinal, his time in Weissenhaus still continues, as he will battle for the fifth to eighth ranking spots, playing the loser of the Hikaru Nakamura vs Jakovhir Sindarov quarterfinal tie. Fifth place gets $50,000 and 10 points, while eighth gets $10,000 and 4 points.

The reigning world champion lost the must-win Game 2 of the last eight on Monday to continue his winless run in Weissenhaus