GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Pranav Venkatesh, Grigoriy Oparin, and Amin Tabatabaei all finished with 7/9 to place in the top-four of the 2026 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship Play-in Swiss, and they advance to the Knockout. Only one of the four players will qualify for the world championship that will take place in February.
The Play-in Knockout is on January 15, starting at 10:00 a.m. ET / 16:00 CET / 8:30 p.m. IST.
Seven of the eight players for the 2026 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship have already been decided based on the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The Play-in that takes place from January 14 to 15 will determine the eighth and last player to join the likes of GM Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and other elite players.
The Play-in has two stages. The first, which is the focus of this article, was a nine-round Swiss tournament played at the 10+2 time control. Every round featured a new starting position. The goal from the outset was to place in the top-four.
Whoever wins the next stage will also earn a solid $1,000 for their efforts.
The standout leaders in the first half of the tournament were Pranav and Oparin. Pranav held onto a perfect score for five rounds, beating Abdusattorov in round four along the way.
Going into round five, there were four players on a perfect 4/4—GM Saleh Salem, Arseniy Nesterov, Oparin, and Pranav—and that’s when Pranav scored his nicest win. Though there was an easier win earlier, 23.Rxg6!! was a beautiful exchange sacrifice that ultimately paid off.
Nesterov lost to Oparin, and so we had the two leaders Oparin and Pranav face off in round six. Oparin won and kept up the perfect pace on 6/6.
In that encounter, the American was a piece up, but Pranav still had a chance to defend with 39.a4!, which with best play would have traded off all of Black’s remaining pawns. Once that was missed, Oparin converted the advantage flawlessly.
Oparin went on to make two draws and, even with a loss to Abdusattorov in the last round, finish in the top-four. A critical half-point came in the penultimate round, when he survived a two-pawns-down position against Salem by a miracle.
The stars align for Grigoriy Oparin, who saves a dead lost position with a miraculous fork! He stays in the lead with one round to go!https://t.co/RMdmiVO9Wi pic.twitter.com/BMVvlBSFlf
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 14, 2026
Pranav, on the other hand, made zero draws in the nine rounds. he lost against Nesterov in round seven, but then beat GMs Denis Lazavik and Bogdan-Daniel Deac back-to-back in the last rounds.
It’s hard to imagine anyone’s as heartbroken as Nesterov, who was centimeters away from defeating Tabatabaei in the last round and finishing on 7.5, which would have been clear first. In a completely winning position, Nesterov intended to castle but instead played 19.Kc1??, which hung an entire knight.
A heartbreaking loss for Arseniy Nesterov, who was completely winning but made a losing mistake in his attempt to castle!https://t.co/53WkE4DyHS pic.twitter.com/BFFGWf7azR
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 14, 2026
Like Oparin, Abdusattorov and Tabatabaei lost just one game in the nine rounds, won six, and drew two. The final position in Abdusattorov vs. GM Vahap Sanal, in round two, seems like something that can only happen in a Chess960 game: the black queen shuttered in the corner by her own pieces, and the black king stark naked by move 20 on the left side of the board.
As for Tabatabaei, his sacrifice 29.Rxe5! was a nice find to put away the game against GM Prraneeth Vuppala.
On Thursday, players will switch to the 15+3 time control and play matches of two games. It’s single-elimination, so the action will be fast-paced. Only one player will remain at the end.
The 2026 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship takes place on February 13-15 at the five-star Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in Germany. Eight players will compete for the title of Freestyle Chess world champion, with one player determined by the Play-in, a nine-round Swiss followed by a Knockout on January 14-15 ($1,000 prize). The main event features a round-robin stage followed by a Knockout stage. The following time controls are featured: 10+2, 15+3, 10+5, and 25+10. The event features a $300,000 prize fund.
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