2025 ~ Chess Club Black & White (CCBW)

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Paris Freestyle Chess: Arjun only Indian to Qualify; Nepo, Carlsen Lead Field

Paris, 08 April 2025: The preliminary stage of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Paris concluded on Tuesday after eleven rounds of play. Twelve players competed for eight spots in the knockout stage. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen both finished with 8.5 points. It was Nepomniachtchi who topped the standings thanks to superior tiebreaks.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave followed in third place with 7 points, ahead of Arjun Erigaisi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who both scored 6.5. Hikaru Nakamura qualified with 6 points after defending a difficult endgame against Abdusattorov under time pressure.

Only Indian to get through prelims as Gukesh, Praggnanandha and Vidit knocked out Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour II - Paris Photo by Freestyle Chess/Lennart Ootes

One of the most notable results of the day was the elimination of World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. The 18-year-old went into the final day with just 1.5 points and was unable to fully recover. A mistake in the opening against Nepomniachtchi in round 11 left him in trouble as early as move seven.

Further down the table, Vincent Keymer secured qualification with a win over Fabiano Caruana in the final round. That result brought Keymer to 5.5 points and ensured his place in the top eight. Despite his loss, Caruana also advanced with 4.5 points, benefiting from Nakamura’s win over Richard Rapport in the last game.

Praggnanandhaa, Rapport, and Vidit Gujrathi were also eliminated. Vidit recorded a notable win over Caruana with a tactical mating idea, but previous results had left the newlywed with too much ground to make up. Rapport showed flashes of creativity—including a queen sacrifice for mate—but could not accumulate enough points to qualify.

Gukesh, Vidit, Pragg, Arjun begin Quest at Freestyle Chess 2nd Leg in Paris

Paris, April 7 2025 - The second Freestyle Chess Grand Slam of the year is underway in Paris. From April 7 to 14, twelve of the world’s top grandmasters are battling for a $750,000 prize fund—$200,000 for the winner—in a format that has already redefined elite chess competition.

Freestyle CEO Jan Henric Buettner and his team are determined to build on the momentum: “The first Grand Slam in Weissenhaus was a huge success – we tripled the reach compared to the inaugural Freestyle tournament at the same venue the year before,” says Freestyle COO Thomas Harsch. With that experience in mind, the journey continues in one of the most vibrant cities in Europe. Buettner: “We’re constantly learning – but one thing is guaranteed: the very best are playing.”

The exclusive Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy, nestled in the Bois de Vincennes, hosts the high-stakes event in Paris. With randomized back-rank positions in every game, Freestyle Chess removes memorized openings and rewards pure chess skill: creativity, calculation, and adaptability.

A Clash of Champions: Keymer vs. Carlsen?

All eyes are on Germany’s Vincent Keymer, the surprise winner of the inaugural Grand Slam in Weissenhaus. Can the 20-year-old repeat his stunning run? Will Magnus Carlsen, the world number one, return with vengeance and restore order at the top?

“Mind against mind. Freestyle against the world’s best is the ultimate challenge,” says Carlsen. He’s looking forward to the tournament in Paris — and to the unique creative possibilities Freestyle Chess offers from the very first move. “For the spectators, it’s exciting to watch the best players take on this challenge.”

With only the top three players securing automatic qualification for the next Grand Slam in New York this July, every point in Paris counts.

Line-Up Update: Rapport, Abdusattorov In – Firouzja, Niemann Out

Two late changes add extra intrigue: French number one Alireza Firouzja and wildcard Hans Niemann have withdrawn. Stepping in are Hungary’s Richard Rapport and Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Fan favorite Rapport, runner-up in the official Qualification Tournament, is renowned for his bold, imaginative play. His presence injects fresh energy into an already world-class field. The same goes for Nodirbek Abdusattorov, whose uncompromising, fighting style has made him one of the most dangerous players on the circuit. On a good day, the tricky and unpredictable world No. 6 can take down anyone.

Paris Line-Up:

Magnus Carlsen

Gukesh Dommaraju (World Champion)

Fabiano Caruana

Hikaru Nakamura

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Vincent Keymer

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Praggnanandhaa R.

Arjun Erigaisi

Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (Qualification winner)

Richard Rapport (Qualification runner-up)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov

The Road Ahead

After Paris, the Grenke Freestyle Open in Karlsruhe, Germany (April 17–21) promises to set participation records, featuring stars like Carlsen and Keymer. The winner there will claim a ticket to the New York Grand Slam—making the upcoming weeks decisive in the Freestyle Chess calendar.

With elite names, unpredictable positions, and momentum on the line, Paris sets the tone for a dramatic spring in world chess.

For schedule, pairings, and live coverage, visit: freestylechess.com

Sanyam Srivastava wins CCBW Rapid Chess, Daksh Arora Junior Champion

Chief guest well-known socio-political journalist Chandrani Banerjee with prize winners at CCBW Rapid Open Chess

Lucknow's teen talent fourteen-year-old Sanyam Srivastava won the CCBW Rapid Chess on tiebreak ahead of Anchal Rastogi (Central GST) and Pawan Batham (State Tax Department). All three scored 6/7 points. The state-wise tournament was hosted by Chess Club Black and White (CCBW) at Charans Plaza in Hazratganj on Sunday.

Tournament winner Sanyam Srivastava

Sanyam lost his last round game to Pawan blundering two pawns away but earlier Sanyam beat Anchal in a Scotch Gambit game where white misplayed the opening. Octogenarians Kranti Kumar Gupta (Bareilly) and Kapil Kumar Khare (Lucknow) — an inspiration for the entire chess community — played super strong chess to top the senior citizen section with 4 points each. Well-known socio-political journalist Chandrani Banerjee gave away the prizes and discussed her YouTube channel, Across the Table in the 'Meet & Greet session'.

Junior Champion Daksh Arora

Daksh Arora won the Junior Unrated Under 16 section on tiebreak ahead of Ishaan Kumar. Both scored 6/7 points.

Tournament hall at The Charans Plaza, Hazratganj

Anirudh Dwivedi was the Best Rated Under 16 player with 5 points followed by Anay Agarwal at 4.5 points and Abhinav Kirti Varman at 4 points.

The Best Unrated players were Nikhar Saxena and Somesh Srivastava with 3.5 points each.

The top-scoring schools were DPS - Eldeco branch and Modern School, Aliganj.

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Caption: Chief guest Fariduddin Abbasi, Director, Silverstone Group, with prize winners of the 3rd CCBW Maha Shivratri Chess at Kapoor's Inn.

Defending champion Anchal Rastogi (Central GST) took home the winner's trophy on tiebreak ahead of Pawan Batham (State Tax Department) and Saeed Ahmad (Lucknow Chess Centre) with 6/7 points on Sunday at the 3rd Maha Shivratri Rapid Open Tournament. Chess Club Black & White (CCBW) hosted the tournament at Kapoor's Inn Banquets & Suites in Kapoorthala, Lucknow, on Sunday. All three scored 6 points.

Tournament Champion Anchal Rastogi

Junior Champion Rachit Yadav

Chief guest Fariduddin Abbasi, Director, Silverstone Group, gave away the prizes.

Anchal dropped a point only to Saeed in a Queens Gambit Declined game. Saeed found a great pawn break to set his centre pawns rolling to the last rank. However, Saeed blundered and lost his game versus Pawan. Pawan, in turn, lost a pawn and his game to Anchal.

Rachit Yadav was the junior champion with 6 points and Aadi Saxena was runner up with 5.5 points. Kaustubh Mishra, and Advika Tiwari were the stars of the under-10 section. Shah Murad Alam won the under-13 section.

Tournament hall at Kapoor's Inn at Kapoorthala

Senior citizens' section winners were KK Khare and KK Kesarwani 4 points each. UB Singh was third with 2.5 points. KK Gupta and RK Gupta were close with 2 points each.

Other results
Best Unrated: 1st Nikhar Saxena 3.5 points, 2nd Shatrugan Rawat 3 points

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Weissenhaus Players Decide to Call Tour Winner Freestyle Chess Champion

February 10, 2025 – At a Sunday evening meeting in Weissenhaus with organizer Jan Henric Buettner, 12 Freestyle Chess Players Club members unanimously decided that the 2025 Grand Slam Tour winner in December (South Africa) will be titled "Freestyle Chess Champion." They also plan to form their own independent association with a qualified legal team to represent their interests.

The Sunday evening meeting, following the first day of the quarterfinals, included all Freestyle Chess Grand Slam participants in Weissenhaus and remote members of the Freestyle Chess Players Club. They agreed to temporarily avoid using "world" to counter FIDE's unfounded claims of ownership over such word.

"This was never our intention, as we have always called our events 'G.O.A.T. Challenge' or 'Grand Slam,'" said Jan Henric Buettner. "It’s important to note that this decision was made by the players, not by Freestyle – and certainly not by FIDE." The title "Freestyle Chess Champion" will apply for the 2025 season. At year’s end, organizers and players will review and discuss the 2026 Tour, including the title at stake.

Another key outcome of Sunday’s roundtable in Weissenhaus was the players’ plan to establish an independent association representing top chess players, staffed with a qualified legal team. This move comes in direct response to recent clashes with FIDE.

Last month, FIDE demanded that players sign a legally questionable document, setting an inconvenient deadline right after the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, where many were competing. The document required them to (i) acknowledge an alleged obligation not to compete in non-FIDE events crowning a World Champion or similar title and (ii) accept a ban from future FIDE World Championship cycles if they violated this rule.

The players, some still teenagers, were notified by FIDE’s Legal Director and were given no chance for legal counsel to review the demand. "These repeated harassments are outrageous," said Buettner. "We strongly oppose FIDE’s coercive tactics, which pressure players to forgo their right to choose which events to play."

"We were ready to take all necessary action to defend the freedom of the players." But in Sunday’s meeting, players unanimously agreed to ignore FIDE’s demands, refusing to be forced into choosing between exciting new events and future FIDE participation.

Monday marks the second day of quarterfinals in Weissenhaus, the first of five tournaments in the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, which features a $750,000 prize fund.

Harshit wins 3rd Sunita Verma Memorial Chess, Kushal Dey Jr. Champion

Caption: Chief Guest and Awadh ITI Principal Agni Shikha Verma with prize winners at the 3rd Sunita Verma Memorial Rapid Chess 2025 in Lucknow.

Lucknow’s top rated junior, Harshit Amarnani, won the 3rd Sunita Verma Memorial Chess Rapid a point ahead of a very strong field with 6.5/7 on Sunday.

Veteran coach and senior player Arif Ali was runners-up with 5.5 points dropping a point to another veteran coach Sayeed Ahmad of the Lucknow Chess Centre. Five players tied for third place with five points each including Pawan Batham, Kuldeep Shankar, Anchal Rastogi, Sayeed Ahmad and Suchitra Tandon. Pawan took the trophy on a better tie-break. Following him was Kuldeep Shankar who works with the Parliament in New Delhi and was recently felicitated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for excellence in chess.

Chief Guest and Awadh ITI Principal Agni Shikha Verma gave away the prizes to all the winners. Ms Verma is a philanthropist, yoga practitioner and well known for her social contribution in supporting especially women and the underprivileged.

Another star of the tournament was eighteen-year-old Suchitra Tandon who made it to joint third despite being unrated.
Raghav Awasthi and Abhigyan Katiyar 4 points each won the under 16 rated section.

Hrothbertina Hilton was the best woman player with 3 points. The best senior citizen players were RP Gupta with 4 points and Kamalesh Kumar Kesharwani with 3.5 points.
All credit to eighteen-year-old Shabad Kesarwani for winning the Brave Beginner prize despite being an unrated player among top-rated players of the city.

Kushal Dey from Unchahar won the junior section with a fantastic 6/7, followed by Divyansh Singh 5.5/7.

Best Junior Girl prize went to nine-year-old Advika Tiwari.
Best children’s section checkmating combinations were by seven-year-old Atharv Sarin Shukla.

Other Top Results
Under 10: 1st Advik Singhal 4.5 points, 2nd Kaustub Mishra 4 points
Under 13: 1st Aqib Jalil 5 points, 2nd Meer Shukla 4.5 points
Under 16: 1st Aadi Saxena 5.5 points, 2nd Daksh Arora 5 points

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