In the last Freestyle Friday before the July 16-20 Grand Slam event in Las Vegas, the final qualifier for the Grand Slam, GM Hans Niemann, won his first Freestyle Friday after several near-misses. Draws in the eighth and 10th rounds were all that kept Niemann from a perfect record as he scored 10/11 to lead the field of 182 players.
Niemann started out on 7/7, which he reached by delivering GM Hikaru Nakamura‘s first loss of the tournament. It turns out that the King’s Gambit becomes a little less risky when the f-pawn is actually defended. The game turned into a classic rook endgame and it was Niemann who handled the proceedings more accurately.
Niemann drew two of his next three games, of course, but that was not enough to lose sole control of the lead entering the final round, giving Niemann control over his own destiny. Once again, now against GM Szymon Gumularz, Niemann felt free to push his f-pawn early with the backing of his queen. As Black, Niemann eventually planted a knight at d4, forcing Gumularz give up an exchange for no compensation other than the short-lived satisfaction of deleting the annoying steed. Thanks to a far-advanced passed e-pawn, Niemann soon wrapped up the game and the tournament.
The fight for second place thus came down to the two players who entered the round on 8.5 points but had yet to face each other. GM Tuan Minh Le, whom Niemann had kept at bay with their draw in the penultimate round, had the second move against GM Matthias Bluebaum but nonetheless won the battle by delivering checkmate on move 47. Even with all but a few pieces and pawns off the board late, Le was able to keep Bluebaum’s king in a precarious position, thanks to a knight that far outperformed White’s bishop.
The top three standings positions, in fact, were won outright, with GM Ihor Samunenkov becoming the only player to score nine points after he beat GM Bogdan Daniel Deac in the last round. Up a pawn, Deac thought he had a simplifying fork, but was in fact running headlong into a game-losing pin.
GM Mitrabha Guha took fourth place on tiebreaks ahead of Bluebaum and GM Sergei Zhigalko, while young WFM Diana Preobrazhenskaya won the women’s prize.
Will Niemann ride this momentum into a successful Grand Slam Las Vegas appearance? We’ll find out starting July 16.
July 11 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 5 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 2790 | 10 | 77 | |
| 2 | 15 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2698 | 9.5 | 70 | |
| 3 | 22 | GM | @sokidze | Ihor Samunenkov | 2646 | 9 | 69 | |
| 4 | 14 | GM | @mitrabhaa | Mitrabha Guha | 2674 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 5 | 7 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2718 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 6 | 25 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2626 | 8.5 | 61 | |
| 7 | 27 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2618 | 8 | 76 | |
| 8 | 13 | GM | @SGchess01 | Szymon Gumularz | 2672 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 9 | 3 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2744 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 10 | 11 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2682 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 11 | 34 | GM | @Chesssplayer21 | Platon Galperin | 2539 | 8 | 62 | |
| 12 | 6 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 2703 | 7.5 | 70.5 | |
| 13 | 9 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 2665 | 7.5 | 65 | |
| 14 | 8 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2672 | 7.5 | 63 | |
| 15 | 17 | GM | @Vaathi_Coming | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2637 | 7.5 | 62 | |
| 16 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 2853 | 7 | 72.5 | |
| 17 | 42 | FM | @Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 2504 | 7 | 70 | |
| 18 | 19 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2627 | 7 | 66.5 | |
| 19 | 31 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 2532 | 7 | 63 | |
| 20 | 29 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2528 | 7 | 61.5 | |
| 55 | WFM | @Preobrazhenska_D2011 | Diana Preobrazhenskaya | 2192 | 5.5 | 42.5 |
Prizes: Niemann $400, Le $250, Samunenkov $150, Guha $100, Preobrazhenskaya $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com’s weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
