Magnus Carlsen remains close. His run of 12 consecutive wins ended in Round 4, where he was held to a draw by Amin Tabatabaei in a rook endgame. With the black pieces, Carlsen had to work hard to equalize and then couldn’t create any winning chances. In Round 5, he responded with a win against Shamsiddin Vokhidov. The result keeps him in the chasing group on 4.5/5. In round 6, Carlsen will face Alexey Sarana.

Round 4

Round 4 introduced Position 534, a setup close to the traditional starting position but with king and queen exchanged. The position triggered immediate reactions. “You cannot do this to chess,” Peter Leko remarked, referring to its resemblance to incorrect setups seen in films and illustrations.

The position carries a Freestyle trap. In most starting positions, Black may choose to mirror White’s setup, the most solid way to open the game. Here, that logic fails. After 1.d4, the natural reply 1…d5 already leads to problems. Vincent Keymer had prior knowledge of the position, having analyzed it at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Paris. “I was happy that my opponent played 1. e4,” Keymer stated after the game.  

Keymer went on to defeat Volodar Murzin in a long game. Murzin held equality for an extended phase, but with his clock running down to just over a minute, his position began to deteriorate. Keymer tightened control and eventually trapped a knight, forcing resignation. Ian Nepomniachtchi recovered from early opening pressure against Parham Maghsoodloo and took over the game after stabilizing, converting his advantage without complications. The last remaining perfect score game between Maksim Chigaev and Vladimir Fedoseev stretched deep into the day. Despite earlier difficulties, Chigaev prevailed, preserving his place among the leaders. In the all-Uzbek encounter, Shamsiddin Vokhidov had chances against Nodirbek Abdusattorov but allowed the game to end in a draw against his higher-rated countryman. 

Round 5

Round 5 brought another starting position close to the traditional one, with only the rook and knight on the a- and b-files exchanged. “The forces of lottery wanted us to play traditional chess,” commentator Alexander Donchenko noted.

The games themselves remained anything but conventional. Keymer defeated Nodirbek Yakubboev to become the first player to reach 5/5. Yakubboev entered the game with an early queen excursion, but his enterprise did not translate into stability. Eventually, the queen had no choice but to drop back. Under pressure on both the board and the clock, Yakubboev lost control and was eventually beaten. Niemann followed on the adjacent boards, converting his game against Chigaev to also reach 5/5.

Sarana and Nepomniachtchi tested each other briefly before agreeing to a draw, a result that removed both from the group of perfect scores. Carlsen’s win against Vokhidov kept him in contention for the tournament win. One of the most notable results came from Daniel Hausrath, who defeated Tabatabaei. Hausrath, rated 2440 and ranked far below the elite players around him, secured the only upset win at the top boards. He did so in his very first Freestyle game. Before the round, Hausrath had switched from the grenke Open to the Freestyle Open.

The race in the women’s field remains open. After five rounds, no player has separated from the group. Nine players stand on 3.5 points, followed by eleven players with 3 points. Three of these twenty will qualify for the FIDE Freestyle Chess Women’s World Championship 2027.