Magnus Carlsen: The undisputed king of Freestyle

The world No.1 Norwegian had made history – winning the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open with a perfect 9/9 score

Bengaluru: Vincent Keymer twirled a captured white pawn between his fingers. The 20-year-old German knew it was over. Sitting across from him, Magnus Carlsen surveyed the board, content with his spoils. Keymer resigned, the spectators’ arena erupted in applause, and Carlsen was soon swallowed by the crowd of waiting fans.

Magnus Carlsen’s Grenke Chess Freestyle Open win comes less than a week after he won the Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour (X / Grenke Chess)

The world No.1 Norwegian had made history – winning the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open with a perfect 9/9 score. A performance that will perhaps be spoken of in the same breath as Bobby Fischer’s brilliant 11/11 at the 1963-64 US Championships, and might even be seen as one that surpasses it. It’s only fitting that Carlsen’s flawless win came in the Fischer Random or Chess 960 format – one that was conceived by Fischer as a pushback against the thrust on theory, memorisation and preparation in chess.

“I haven’t done this before and I’m not going to be able to do it again, that’s for sure,” a pleased Carlsen said moments after, “so it’s just incredible. Of course, I knew coming in today (Sunday) that there was a chance, but I didn’t really believe it until the very end when it was certain. It’s just relief and joy…it’s the kind of performance that you don’t get to experience very often or basically ever.”

Carlsen’s Grenke win with a €60,000 prize check comes less than a week after he won the Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, without needing a tiebreak through the knockout stage. What makes Carlsen’s feat astounding is his dominance irrespective of format – classical, rapid, blitz, and now, Fischer Random, which was supposed to be difficult and make for a level playing field in the absence of opening theory to fall back on.

He stepped away from classical chess and chose not to defend his world title (after winning it five times), since presumably winning no longer seemed fun and preparation, cumbersome. He turned to Fischer Random for unpredictability, chaos, and a fresh frontier to conquer. “Carlsen is making the same mistake in his new game as he made in chess,” Grandmaster Anish Giri wrote on X in his typical wry style, “He is completing it too quickly.”

“I played just one 2700 plus player, it should be mentioned,” said Carlsen, “It’s such a tough tournament, playing two games a day against so many hungry players. “I didn’t really think about it (scoring 9/9), until after I won my game against Parham (Maghsoodloo). Then I thought well, I’m not going to get a better chance than this. This (achievement) is way up there. It’s the kind of thing I aim for these days.” He had scored 9/9 in the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2023, in blitz. But a flawless score in the chess960 classical time control, should hit differently.

Carlsen’s aura was hard to miss in the tournament. Ahead of his game against eight-time French champion Etienne Bacrot, Carlsen was met with an unusual request. Bacrot pulled out his phone and clicked a selfie with Carlsen as the arbiter waited patiently. Both before and after games in the German city of Karlsruhe, Carlsen was surrounded and followed by crowds, hunting for autographs and selfies. “There’s nowhere to hide,” Carlsen smiled, “That’s why I don’t play too many of these (open) tournaments.”

Before the ninth and final round began, German entrepreneur and founder of the Freestyle series Jan Henrik Buettner was in attendance in the playing hall. Keymer, who won the year’s first Freestyle event in Weissenhaus, appeared to be putting up a brave fight and the position seemed equal before he ran into time trouble and the game slipped away from his hands.

“The last game (against Keymer) was a bit of a slugfest,” said Carlsen, “I was mainly trying to hang in for most of the game. He got down on time, I took my chances and that’s how history was made.”

Carlsen had already won the Grenke event with a round to spare before his result against Keymer saw him speedrunning it to perfection.

“It’s very nice to sit at the board and know that I’m really going to enjoy the process of playing a game because that doesn’t always happen when I play tournaments... I’m playing for the joy of the game and these little achievements are a bonus even if it’s a huge one.”