Carlsen Wins Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Match Vs. Caruana After Surviving Game 2

After holding a draw with the black pieces, GM Magnus Carlsen won the Freestyle Chess Match against Fabiano Caruana 1.5-0.5, without a single loss. In the final game, Caruana achieved a dream position with a space advantage and the bishop pair, but Carlsen muddied the waters with a tactical sequence leading to 19...e5! and ultimately escaped into a drawn rook endgame. Though Caruana had a few chances to win even in that endgame, Carlsen succeeded in defending the half point to win the match.

The event, concluding a few days before the 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore, promoted the launch of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a yearlong event that will feature the Chess960 variant. 

The three days of the event featured three venues. We've traveled from the Skai Loft on day one to the Silentworld yacht on day two to, finally, Le Freeport, an underground vault that, as IM Danny Rensch reported, stores some of the most priceless art in the world.

In fact, as Holly Buettner explained, they played today's game inside of a piece of artwork that was imported from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Jan Henric, her husband and co-mastermind behind this event and tour, shared that it cost $8 million dollars just to transport the art piece.

Opulence was the name of the game, and the organizers went all out on the final day of this event. Jan Henric said that the glamorous chess table you see displayed below, constructed of gold bars, is worth nearly $50 million.

Due to some great investments, @TaniaSachdev has turned her Olympiad gold into $44million USD pic.twitter.com/cDuc0Pw33I

— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) November 22, 2024

The game started with position 180. After a brief inspection, GM Maurice Ashley pointed out that the problem piece for both sides is the knight on a1. Deciding which way to castle, short or "extra long," proved to be an interesting ordeal in the game as well; White castled queenside, his king jumping three squares to the left, while Caruana only castled kingside all the way on move 25, one square to the right, in the endgame.

Carlsen played provocatively in the opening, moving his knight several times instead of developing his other pieces, and thus beckoning his opponent to push his pawns further. Carlsen confessed during the game that the U.S. champion played the opening well but that it was going to be a fight.

Magnus Carlsen: "It feels a bit weird that I'm just basically moving one knight, but I think for now I have at least practically reasonable counter-chances, but I think he's definitely got something to play for after the opening"#FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/lfcue1VeIM

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 22, 2024

Provoking the white pawns forward is a double-edged sword, however. They can either become over-extended weaknesses, or they can establish a space advantage. After Carlsen's mistake, breaking with the very natural 13...b6?, Caruana's 14.f4! solidified a space advantage while killing the opponent's dark-squared bishop.

The c6-pawn was going to be a target, and Carlsen was in trouble. Caruana said in the post-game interview that he knew he was better and was maybe close to winning.

Stabilizing the advantage turned out to be harder to prove in practice when playing the world number-one. Caruana played the natural moves, Kb1, Qf3, and Rc1, intending to pressure the c-file, but this gave way to a tactical counterblow, and Carlsen didn't need to be asked twice to find a sequence of preparatory moves that ignited the superb pawn break 19...e5!, taking advantage of the pinned f-pawn.

After 20.dxe5 Bxe5, Black had his own counterplay against the b2-pawn. A long series of tactics followed, and when the smoke cleared, we had a rook endgame. Carlsen was going to be down a pawn, but the position was drawn with best play. 

In his annotations, GM Rafael Leitao writes: "Even though the endgame is drawn and the defender is Carlsen, the greatest endgame player in history, let's not forget that rook endgames are notoriously difficult even for the brightest minds." The game's biggest twists occurred after this moment, and you can follow Leitao's analysis below.

You can also listen to GM Hikaru Nakamura's video recap of the game below.

Carlsen has survived yet another close call with his resourceful defense. He explained, "I was just doing the best I could to hold on. I feel like usually in these situations with little time we end up making some mistakes, but I felt overall I did a good job defending today."

Carlsen was also asked whether Caruana is his strongest rival in this variant, considering they also played in the Final of the 2024 Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge. He pointed out that he's lost before in rapid to GMs Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi and beat Nakamura once, "So far I feel like Fabi understands the positions really well and sets a lot of challenges, so I feel like so far he's showing a very good level." He added, about the format, "I think these games showcased what an exciting format this can be."

I think these games showcased what an exciting format this can be.

—Magnus Carlsen

The 2024 Freestyle Chess Match: Carlsen vs. Caruana is a two-game Chess960 match between the world number-one and number-two. After a Head and Hand event on November 20, the main event takes place from November 21-22. The time control for the two games is 60 minutes plus a 30-second increment. 

Previous coverage:

• Carlsen Wins Game 1 Slugfest In Freestyle Match Vs. Caruana
• Carlsen, Tania Dream Team Scores 2-0 Vs. Caruana, Ashley