‘All people can beat Magnus Carlsen… he isn’t a pc: 10-year-old chess prodigy Ivan Kukushkin

The 2025 Grenke Chess Freestyle Open obtained underway simply 4 days after the conclusion of the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and enters its ultimate day on Monday. The occasion has witnessed the participation of among the greatest names within the chess world, from world No 1 and Paris Grand Slam winner Magnus Carlsen to Weissenhaus champion Vincent Keymer and runner-up Fabiano Caruana.

World No 4 Arjun Erigaisi, who had completed fifth within the French capital on Freestyle debut earlier this month, can be amongst these in motion. As is controversial American Grandmaster Hans Niemann, who lastly confirmed up for a Freestyle Chess occasion after abruptly withdrawing from the Paris Grand Slam with out providing a proof.

Among the many gamers in motion on the occasion which is being hosted in Karlsruhe, Germany, is a 10-year-old chess prodigy Ivan Kukushkin who has a FIDE score of 2030 and defeated a few Worldwide Masters – Germany’s Georg Seul and Canada’s Shiyam Thavandiran, in consecutive video games at that.

The Bulgarian had even identified an unlawful rook transfer throughout his recreation towards Thavandiran and had a healthful response after defeating his higher-ranked opponent.

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‘I can beat Magnus’, says 10-year-old prodigy

And after his victory over Thavandiran within the fifth spherical of the occasion, younger Ivan advised ChessBase India that he was eyeing the highest spot within the event, which to nobody’s suprise would ultimately go to Carlsen with a spherical to spare on Sunday.

“Yeah, I do know,” Kukushkin mentioned when host Sagar Shah identified that Carlsen was additionally amongst these in motion on the Grenke Open.

“I can beat Magnus. All people can beat Magnus. Magnus is the most effective on the planet however he isn’t a pc. He could make errors,” the 10-year-old added, earlier than stating a “dangerous transfer” by Carlsen in his third-round assembly with Swedish GM Nils Grandelius.

Carlsen isn’t by any means unbeatable, having misplaced his semi-final assembly towards Keymer within the Weissenhaus Grand Slam and in addition struggling a defeat towards Erigaisi within the round-robin stage in Paris.

On the Grenke Chess Open, although, Carlsen has had an ideal marketing campaign by successful all eight video games to date. And on Monday, he might be trying to make an emphatic assertion by full an ideal 9.0.