Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025 points table standings, schedule, date, time, format, rules, prize money and live stream where to watch

As the revolutionary Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025 gets underway, check out all the details of the tournament below along with the latest standings

The tournament is currently taking place in Weissenhaus, Germany, and features the best chess players from across the world.

Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025 points table standings, schedule, date, time, pairings, format, rules, prize money and live stream where to watch

The world’s best players will be competing in the the first leg of the 2025 @chess_freestyle Grand Slam tour this week! 😍 #FreestyleChess

🔵 Feb 7 – 14 at 7:00 am ET, 13:00 CET pic.twitter.com/QaVHmELO3d

— Chess.com (@chesscom) February 5, 2025

The tour officially started with Stage 1 on February 7, and it will run until February 14. Following which, four more stages will take place across Paris, New York, Delhi and Cape Town.

Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025 players

The competition features 10 players, including the top three players from the previous Grand Slam. It will then feature the top three players based on the classical FIDE rating. The list will also include the winner of a major classical tournament and the winner of a qualifying tournament. Following which the organizers will invite two players through wildcards. This year, the following players are competing in the tournament:

Freestyle Chess format

The Freestyle Chess format, aka Chess960 or Fischer Random, slightly differs from classical chess rules. Unlike in the classical chess format, Freestyle Chess features randomized pieces on the back rank during the start of the game. However, all the pieces move the same way as in classical chess. Notably, the randomized black pieces must mirror the white’s positions, while the king needs to be placed between the rooks. Moreover, the bishops must be on opposite-colored squares.

Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour prize pool

Both legs of the tournament will feature a total prize pool of $75,0000.

Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour format

Given below is a description of the tournament’s format and rules:

• Each leg will start off with round-robin matches followed by a knockout stage
• Players will receive rapid 10 minutes for the game and + 10 seconds increment per move
• Each player will face the other nine opponents once during the round-robin stage, from which the top eight players will advance to the knockout stage
• During the knockout stage, players will receive a time control of Classical 90 minutes + 30-second increments per move
• During the knockout stage, players will get eliminated with one defeat.

Knockout stage tiebreak system

• Two rapid games (10+10 time control)
• If still tied, two blitz games (5+2 time control)
• If still tied, a bidding Armageddon game

At the end of Stage 5, the player with the highest number of points will be declared as the winner.

Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025 Stage 1 Schedule and results

Pairings for Freestyle Grand Slam Tour : Round 1 starts with Magnus vs Hikaru 🔥
byu/rio_ARC inchess

Given below is the competition schedule and current results and standings:

Results and points standings:

Freestyle Chess Grand Slam live streaming

Fans can watch all the live streaming action of the tournament on Freestyle Chess’s YouTube channel and Chess.com.

After Day 1 of the Weissenhaus #FreestyleChess Grand Slam Caruana and Sindarov are flying on 4.5/5, while Fedoseev and Aronian would currently miss out on the knockout tournament! pic.twitter.com/Iwtk7RuHfP

— chess24 (@chess24com) February 7, 2025

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