Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Gukesh D of India had contrasting fortunes in Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025. While the Norwegian remained unbeaten throughout the round-robin stage and topped the leaderboard, the 18-year-old World Champion had a disappointing campaign after being eliminated with just 3.5 points across 11 rounds.

Carlsen maintained a dominant run, remaining undefeated in 11 games and accumulating 8.5 points. As a result, he was the joint leader with Ian Nepomniachtchi.

For Gukesh, who recently earned global acclaim by becoming the World Chess Champion, 3.5 points from 11 rounds was a poor reading. But this was something that Carlsen had predicted before the tournament.

"Everyone’s at risk, of course. But Gukesh, Niemann, Vincent, Maxime… Vidit on paper is going to struggle a bit,” Carlsen had remarked.

In round 11, when Magnus defeated Gukesh, the duo shook hands. After that, Gukesh seemingly asked where he had gone wrong. When the Norwegian explained, Gukesh realised his mistake and where he had gone wrong, a lesson that he will carry with him in the future.

Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Standings after Round 11

Ian Nepomniachtchi – 8.5 points

Magnus Carlsen – 8.5 points

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 7.0 points

Arjun Erigaisi – 6.5 points

Nodirbek Abdusattorov – 6.5 points

Hikaru Nakamura – 6.0 points

Vincent Keymer – 5.5 points

Fabiano Caruana – 4.5 points

Praggnanandhaa R – 4.0 points

Richard Rapport – 3.5 points

Gukesh Dommaraju – 3.5 points

Vidit Gujrathi – 2.0 points

Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam: Here is all you need to know about the event

Paris Freestyle Chess 2025 Grand Slam Total prize fund: US$ 750000 per Grand Slam

Paris Freestyle Chess 2025 Grand Slam Format: Rapid and Standard

Paris Freestyle Chess 2025 Grand Slam: Time

• Round robin: Rapid 10 minutes for the game + 10 seconds per move

• Knockout stage - Game 1+2 = 90’+30’’ / Game 3+4 = 10’+10’’ / Game 5+6 = 5’+2’’ / Game 7 = Armageddon

Paris Freestyle Chess 2025 Grand Slam: Here is the full schedule of the tournament

7th and 8th April: Round-Robin stage - Rapid

9th and 10th April: Quarterfinals - Classical

11th and 12th April: Semifinals and Playoffs for 5th to 8th - Classical

13th and 14th April: Finals - Classical