Magnus Carlsen Clinches Title at Inaugural 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Held in France.

Sports

In April 2025, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, the world's top-ranked chess player, secured a commanding victory at the Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, held at Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy in Paris, France. This event was the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025.


      - Carlsen clinched the title by defeating American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura with a final score of 1.5–0.5. He won the first game and drew the second, making a tiebreak match unnecessary.

      - For his championship win, Magnus Carlsen received a prize of USD 200,000 (approximately Rs 1.7 crore), while Hikaru Nakamura earned USD 140,000 as the runner-up.

     

Main Point :-   (i) India’s Arjun Erigaisi finished in fifth place on his Freestyle Chess debut after defeating France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He was awarded USD 50,000 (around Rs 43 lakh) for his performance.

      (ii) Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa secured the 9th position in the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after winning his placement match against Hungary’s Richard Rapport, earning a prize of USD 12,500.

(iii) In 2013, Magnus Carlsen famously defeated Viswanathan Anand in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in the World Chess Championship match, with 3 wins and 7 draws across 10 games. He became the second-youngest world champion in chess history, after Garry Kasparov.

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