Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour: Gukesh stays winless after gathering draw towards Nakamura; Keymer stuns Carlsen

Gukesh Dommaraju’s winless run within the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour occasion in Weissenhaus, Germany continued on Tuesday with the reigning world champion being held to a draw by world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura. Gukesh and Nakamura opted to shake fingers after 59 strikes – the longest match on Day 5 of the occasion on the Weissenhaus Non-public Nature Luxurious Resort through which the Indian was enjoying with black items.

It was the second time the 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster held Nakamura to a draw within the ongoing occasion; the 2 stars had earlier opted to shake fingers after 38 strikes through the Spherical Robin stage of the match, through which matches had been performed within the fast format.

Tuesday’s assembly between Gukesh and Nakamura was the primary match of the Fifth-Eighth place playoffs, with the 2 gamers set to face one another once more on Wednesday, albeit with colors reversed.

As for the semi-finals, Keymer saved the German flag flying excessive with a sensational victory over world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who had overwhelmed Nodirbek 2-0 within the quarters. The analysis bar shot up in Keymer’s favour after five-time world champion Carlsen determined to maneuver his pawn ahead (c6) in his thirty seventh transfer, with the German’s reply (Qa3) additional solidifying his place on the board. Carlsen would resign simply two strikes later.

Keymer finds the killing blow and wins recreation one towards Carlsen! He’ll want a draw tomorrow to win the match.https://t.co/K1UaL5RqE3#FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/tVczOCSHGM

— chess24 (@chess24com) February 11, 2025

As for the opposite semi-final, Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov performed out a stalemate that lasted 51 strikes.

Gukesh’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals had been dashed with back-to-back defeats towards American GM Caruana within the quarter-finals, with the Indian resigning in 40 and 18 strikes in Recreation 1 and a pair of respectively.

Nakamura, in the meantime, had misplaced to Uzbekistan GM Sindarov, who wasn’t even a part of the unique lineup and was solely included after Indian legend Viswanathan Anand had withdrawn from the occasion. Their quarter-final went into tie-breaks after each video games resulted in a draw, with Sindarov ultimately prevailing 2.5-1.5.

Within the different Fifth-Eighth place classification match on Tuesday, Alireza Firouzja and Nodirbek Abdusattorov performed out a 43-move draw through which the latter was enjoying with white items. Firouzja had completed on prime of the standings on the finish of the Spherical-Robin stage, however was eradicated within the quarters following a defeat towards German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer.

The winner of the Firouzja-Nodirbek battle faces the winner of Gukesh vs Nakamura for the fifth spot later this week whereas the losers battle for seventh.