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9 Things We Learned — Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge 2024
The players with their cash and champagne at the closing ceremony. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

9 Things We Learned — Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge 2024

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
Staff
| 93 | Chess Event Coverage

World number-one Magnus Carlsen enhanced his claim to be the greatest of all time Friday as he won the 2024 Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge by defeating world number-two Fabiano Caruana in the final match. We take a look at what else we learned from a super-tournament that saw the first top-level classical games in Chess960 and threatens to shake up the chess world as we know it.

  1. Carlsen Defended His G.O.A.T. Status—But It Was Close!
  2. The Old Guard Won’t Let The Kids Take Over Without A Fight
  3. The World Champion’s Slump Continued
  4. Classical Chess960 May Solve The Problem Of Draws In Short Matches
  5. Freestyle Chess Is Exhausting But In A Good Way
  6. Pre-Game Consultation Was Controversial
  7. Not Everybody Is A Freestyle Chess Fan
  8. Freestyle Chess Is Here To Stay, But Will It Remain Fun And Theory-Free?
  9. The Gimmicks Were Hit-And-Miss

1. Carlsen Defended His G.O.A.T. Status—But It Was Close!

"Just a joy from start to finish and I can't wait for the next one," said Carlsen after winning it all again. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

The “Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge” is arguably the worst name anyone not obliged to name-drop a sponsor has come up with for a new super-tournament in living memory, but it did have one virtue—it put pressure on the world number-one. Carlsen himself said during the event, “I don’t refer to myself in those terms,” and he’s on record as naming another world champion as the greatest of all time in chess…


…but still: for a man who arguably is the GOAT to crash and burn in his own event would have been tough to take… and it very nearly happened!

Carlsen struggled in the round-robin and then lost his first competitive game of classical Chess960 after getting outplayed on the board and clock by GM Alireza Firouzja.

He would later comment, “To be honest, I was a bit down after the first classical game.” If he hadn’t won the second game on demand, he’d be left battling for only fifth place and $15,000—which, incidentally, Firouzja did go on to win.

You don’t stay world number-one for so many years without finding another gear in such circumstances, however, and Carlsen played a minor positional masterpiece to hit back against Firouzja before winning the two rapid tiebreaks that followed. From then on there was no looking back! 

Carlsen compared it to his biggest victory of 2023:

"It’s a bit like in the World Cup, where I was on the brink against Vincent [Keymer]. It sometimes happens that you’re on the brink of elimination, and that’s the kick you need to come back. It was a huge relief to survive that match, and I felt that in the last two matches, I didn’t have any pressure. I was just so happy to play."

It sometimes happens that you're on the brink of elimination, and that's the kick you need to come back.

—Magnus Carlsen

What’s left to say?

2. The Old Guard Won’t Let The Kids Take Over Without A Fight

After the rapid round-robin, it seemed as though Chess960 might be a game for the young, and it was easy to imagine why—with opening preparation removed, the “veterans” no longer had the advantage of career-long preparation and experience, while the energy, calculating ability, and computer-powered lack of prejudice of the young could dominate. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov reigned supreme, GM Vincent Keymer was close behind, and only Caruana squeezed into the top of the table with his win over Gukesh Dommaraju, the only win scored by the old guard against a youngster in seven rounds.


All four quarterfinals then pitted youth against experience, and again on day one it was only Caruana who managed to win (again, against Gukesh). From there on, however, everything turned around, so that when the dust had settled, the podium was made up of players who could as easily have topped the standings a decade earlier: Carlsen, Caruana, and GM Levon Aronian, who bounced back spectacularly from four losses in the rapid.

The format changed, but we got a podium of Aronian (third), Carlsen (first), and Caruana (second). Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

3. The World Champion’s Slump Continued

The one glaring exception to the success of the older players was the total collapse of GM Ding Liren. The Chinese star, who took a half-year break from chess shortly after winning the title, looked way below his former level in Wijk aan Zee, and in Weissenhaus he sank without a trace.

When will we see the real Ding Liren again? Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

He began the event with six losses in a row and never recovered, making the format with matches continuing for lower places after a player was “knocked out” seem like cruel and unusual punishment. He won no games, drew three, and lost 10—to finish in a deserved last place.

The result couldn’t be explained as unfamiliarity with Chess960, since again and again Ding would rush and miscalculate in relatively standard middlegame positions, where it felt like he simply didn’t have the will to fight. All we can hope is that he'll bounce back strong, both for himself and chess as a whole—at the moment the impression is growing that the winner of the upcoming Candidates Tournament will almost automatically become the next world champion. 

4. Classical Chess960 May Solve The Problem Of Draws In Short Matches

The big question going into the tournament was how the real innovation—playing Chess960 at classical time controls—would go, and, now it’s over, it’s hard to see it as anything other than a success. In fact, we learned that it might be particularly good for short matches, such as the two-game classical format we also see at the World Cup.

In normal chess the top players have an arsenal of “drawing weapons,” particularly with the white pieces, that they can use to shut down the second game after taking the lead, so that a win is huge and cautious play results. In Chess960, however, there’s no clear way to shut anything down. Carlsen commented:

"The difference is that you know that people are never going to be able to coast into a draw, and this means that every game is so exciting, that you know that comebacks are very much possible every time that someone is down. You know this is never going to be easy, and because the games are more demanding, you also see people getting tired and making mistakes, so it’s really exciting."

Firouzja made a draw against Gukesh in the final game, but if he'd needed to win, he could have done so. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

The draw percentage hovered around 30%, but it is noteworthy that draws where neither player was ever winning were exceedingly rare. More common was a player in a winning position taking or forcing a draw, since that was all they needed to qualify for the next round.  

5. Freestyle Chess Is Exhausting But In A Good Way

Much has been made of the fact that players don’t need to prepare for Chess960, but it turns out that doesn’t mean an easy life for them. Carlsen commented after overcoming Firouzja in tiebreaks:

He would later explain:

"I feel like the format really works. We’re basically thrown into an unfamiliar middlegame from move one, where the price of a mistake is incredibly high, so it’s super-challenging, but a lot of fun. I’ve seen a lot of positive feedback from fans as well, so I just hope this continues—it was really a refreshing change of pace."

We're basically thrown into an unfamiliar middlegame from move one, where the price of a mistake is incredibly high!

—Magnus Carlsen

The players are forced to think intensely as soon as a new position appears and always have to be on the lookout for unusual motifs, such as the fantastic long short-castles that appeared in a couple of rounds.

Firouzja commented, “You don’t spend so much energy before the game, but you spend it on the game, so it makes a lot of sense!”

6. Pre-Game Consultation Was Controversial

One of the most discussed topics among chess fans was how in a tournament that was billed as “the players think from move one,” we instead saw them get to spend 10 minutes discussing after the positions were revealed. That was borrowed from events in St. Louis, though it’s noteworthy that the chief arbiter announced at the players’ meeting that no consultation was allowed, before being overruled by Carlsen and the organizer, who had made a late change.

Team Keymer, Abdusattorov, and Caruana mixed youth, experience, and shocking jackets. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

It’s not clear it was advantageous to discuss positions, since Carlsen, when he began to work alone, saw his results improve. Many suggested that at least for classical the players could simply think after the clocks were started—though from the point of view of spectating, or commentating, seeing the players sit at the board for 10 minutes before pushing a piece might be less than thrilling.

7. Not Everybody Is A Freestyle Chess Fan

Of course, there were dissenting voices, with some observers feeling that shuffling the pieces before the game broke the harmony and tradition of the game. For instance:


For the average chess player, the last thing needed is to make the game even harder to play—though the tournament did a good job of making the case that it might be a better game to watch when the top players are involved.

8. Freestyle Chess Is Here To Stay, But Will It Remain Fun And Theory-Free?

Freestyle Chess looks to be here to stay, with sponsor Jan Buettner promising that at the very least one more event will take place in Weissenhaus in 2025. His ambitions run far beyond that, however. Earlier in the tournament he mentioned a tour with events in Germany, the U.S., India, and South Africa, while at the closing ceremony the stakes had grown again.

It’s also been reported that he was approached by the World Chess Federation about potentially hosting the Chess960 World Championship, or even the overall World Championship, in Weissenhaus.

If we do get a highly lucrative Freestyle Chess Tour with all the top players involved—and the likes of GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So were missed this time—the chess variant will become something the top players will inevitably begin to focus on. Already for this event, we saw Carlsen skip Wijk aan Zee for the sake of a training camp in Spain with sparring partner GM David Howell.

The big question is whether the dream of being able to come to games fresh might sour. It’s already rumored that some grandmasters have files on all 960 opening positions. Will we end up with a new arms race, where instead of less preparation work that needs to be done, the players have astronomically more—and only those with the best memories are able to stay above water? Or will it largely be impossible to do more than scratch the surface, so that fresh heads at the board may prevail? It’s likely we’ll find out!    

9. The Gimmicks Were Hit-And-Miss

The Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge seemed to combine every trick that tournament organizers had tried before. We had the already mentioned pre-game consultation from St. Louis, the confessional booth championed by Norway Chess (Carlsen, Aronian, and Keymer livened up the first half hour of each day), and the heart-rate monitors used by World Chess and other events such as the Isle of Man Open. When it came to heart rates, Caruana seemed to single-handedly prove that playing chess when your heartbeat climbs above 150 is a bad idea, since he blundered a rook at 156 and 170!

Some gimmicks, however, were all but unique to the event. The players were given color-coded jackets and an epic Formula-One-style intro…


…while the position of each round was chosen by a spectacular machine designed just for the task. More questionable is how the machine was operated—great showmanship or sexist anachronism? Opinions varied wildly. 

A new position was picked before every set of games, even during tiebreaks. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Then there was the “innovation” of the organizer to bring along all of the $200,000 prize money in $20 bills, so that the players could take as much or as little as they chose, while the rest would be wired to their accounts. It’s unclear if this one will catch on, but the excess could certainly be forgiven for the image of GM Peter Leko and IM Tania Sachdev wondering what to do with the $60,000 that had appeared on their table.

Leko regretted the absence of his samurai sword to protect the loot, though it would perhaps surprise no one if swords were included next time round!

How did you find the first edition of Freestyle Chess?

The Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge took place February 9-16, 2024 in the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort, Germany. All games were Chess960. It started with a seven-round rapid tournament to decide pairings before a classical knockout tournament with two-game matches. A tie was decided by two 15+10 rapid games, then, if needed, two 5+2 blitz games, then finally an armageddon game. The prize fund was $200,000 with $60,000 for first place.

How to replay the action?
You can watch the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on Twitch and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/Chess24. The games can also be followed from our Events Page.

The live broadcast of the final day, hosted by IM Tania Sachdev, GM Peter Leko, GM Niclas Huschenbeth, and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni.

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Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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