GM Magnus Carlsen will face his great rival GM Fabiano Caruana in Sunday’s match for the 2026 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship title. Carlsen won the final two games against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov to clinch a 3-1 victory, while Caruana survived a comeback by GM Vincent Keymer to win the final game and take a 2.5-1.5 victory.Â
In the lower bracket, GM Hans Niemann will play GM Arjun Erigaisi for fifth place after Niemann defeated GM Levon Aronian 2.5-1.5, while Arjun defeated GM Javokhir Sindarov 3-1. The Women’s exhibition match is level at 1-1 after GMs Bibisara Assaubayeva and Alexandra Kosteniuk traded wins.
This is a flash report—come back later for the full report!Â
The last day, featuring the Finals, will be on Sunday, February 15, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET / 7:30 p.m. IST.
Two incredibly hard-fought Semifinal matches saw the older generation claim spots in Sunday’s Final.
Upper Bracket
Abdusattorov and Keymer will play for third place, while we also have matches for fifth and seventh.
Lower Bracket
There was a wide choice for Game of the Day, but we’ve gone with Caruana’s final win, which featured what Keymer’s coach GM Peter Leko called “a complete knockout punch.” GM Rafael Leitao will analyze the game below.
How To Watch
The 2026 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship runs February 13-15 at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in Germany. The prize fund is $300,000, with a $100,000 first prize. The event begins with an eight-player round-robin at a 10+5 time control, with only the top-four players going on to battle for the title in a knockout, while the remaining players compete for 5th-8th place. All knockout matches are played over four 25+10 games, with a single armageddon game deciding a tie. All games are played in the freestyle chess variant.
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