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The second day of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris ended in high drama, with Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi emerging as joint leaders. Meanwhile, newly-crowned World Champion D Gukesh bowed out in a shock early elimination.
Gukesh’s Paris Run Ends in Disappointment
In a surprising turn of events, D Gukesh’s journey in the Paris leg came to an abrupt halt during the preliminary stage. The 18-year-old prodigy, who recently earned global acclaim by becoming the World Chess Champion, managed just 3.5 points across 11 rounds and placed 11th out of 12 participants—missing out on a spot in the quarterfinals.Magnus Carlsen, who had earlier hinted that Gukesh might struggle, was proven right in hindsight.
“Everyone’s at risk, of course. But Gukesh, Niemann, Vincent, Maxime… Vidit on paper is going to struggle a bit,” Carlsen had remarked, as quoted by Onmanorama.
Arjun Erigaisi Keeps Indian Hopes Alive
Only Arjun Erigaisi made it to the quarterfinals among the four Indian contenders. The 20-year old Grandmasters was reported on the grit and consistency note, having finished the round-robin stage with 6.5 points. It was confirmed that the qualification was made official through an important victory over the fellow Indian Vidit Gujrathi at the end of the last round.
Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi Finish Strong at the Top
Former World Champion Magnus Carlsen continued his invincible and undeterred run through all 11 games, never lost, and totalized 8.5 points. Sharing the top spot with him was Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, who ended his journey with two consecutive victories to bring him at par with Carlsen.
Other Highlights from Round 11
R Praggnanandhaa could not collect enough points to progress despite he had executed an upset win over Nodirbek Abdusattor. Hikaru Nakamura remained in the hunt and notched up his victory against Richard Rapport. Vincent Keymer-winner of the previous leg managed to Edge past Fabiano Caruana to seal a spot in the quarterfinals. -Local hero Maxime VachierLagrave narrowly held Carlsen to a draw in an exciting encounter.
Quarterfinal Format and Schedule
The knockout phase will commence for this leg of Paris on April 9 and 10 and will be a single knock-out format. Every match shall feature two classical games at alternating colours for two players, and the top four finishers will choose their opponents from the bottom four-ranked qualifiers.
Final Standings – After Round-Robin Stage in Paris
| Rank | Player | Rating | Points |
||-|--|--|
| 1 | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2758 | 8.5 |
| 2 | GM Magnus Carlsen | 2819 | 8.5 |
| 3 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2745 | 7.0 |
| 4 | GM Arjun Erigaisi | 2708 | 6.5 |
| 5 | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2732 | 6.5 |
| 6 | GM Hikaru Nakamura | 2734 | 6.0 |
| 7 | GM Vincent Keymer | 2649 | 5.5 |
| 8 | GM Fabiano Caruana | 2756 | 4.5 |
| 9 | GM Praggnanandhaa R | 2684 | 4.0 |
| 10 | GM Richard Rapport | 2709 | 3.5 |
| 11 | GM Gukesh Dommaraju | 2654 | 3.5 |
| 12 | GM Vidit Gujrathi | 2650 | 2.0 |
What’s Next?
With the knockout battles set to begin, all eyes will be on whether Carlsen can carry forward his unbeaten streak and whether Erigaisi can continue his deep run to keep India’s hopes alive in the tournament.
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