The first Freestyle Chess Grand Slam on U.S. soil will crown a new champion. Hans Niemann and Levon Aronian both won their semifinal matches on Friday at the Wynn Las Vegas, setting up an all-American Grand Final on Sunday with a $200,000 first prize at stake. Neither player has claimed a Grand Slam title before.
Niemann, who had said earlier this week, “I really immersed myself into Freestyle,” proved it on the board. After two tense draws in classical play against Fabiano Caruana, he survived a scare in the first rapid tiebreaker. In the second, he broke through with a clinical attack to clinch the match 2½:1½.
PGN OF THE GAME:
[Event “Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas Upper Bracket”]
[Site “Las Vegas, United States”]
[Date “2025.07.19”]
[Round “11.2”]
[White “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Black “Niemann, Hans Moke”]
[Result “0-1”]
[GameId “2GzenxLw”]
[UTCDate “2025.07.19”]
[UTCTime “11:17:51”]
[WhiteElo “2784”]
[BlackElo “2736”]
[Variant “Chess960”]
[TimeControl “-“]
[ECO “?”]
[Opening “?”]
[Termination “Unknown”]
[FEN “nrqkbrnb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRQKBRNB w KQkq – 0 1”]
[SetUp “1”]
[Annotator “lichess.org”]
1. f4 g6 2. Bf2 Nb6 3. c4 d6 4. g3 Nf6 5. h3 Bd7 6. g4 O-O 7. d3 h5 8. g5 Bxh3 9. Re1 Ne8 10. Nxh3 Qxh3 11. Nb3 c5 12. Bf3 Qd7 13. Rh1 Na4 14. Qc2 Nc7 15. Na5 Ne6 16. e3 Rfc8 17. Ke2 b5 18. cxb5 Rxb5 19. Nc4 Nb6 20. b3 d5 21. Nxb6 Rxb6 22. Bg3 Ng7 23. Kf1 Nf5 24. Bf2 e5 25. fxe5 Bxe5 26. Qd2 d4 27. e4 Ng7 28. Bg2 Rf8 29. Bh3 Qd6 30. Rg1 Bf4 31. Qe2 Qe5 32. Kg2 Ne6 33. Kh1 Nxg5 34. Bf1 Rf6 35. Rb2 Kg7 36. Rc2 h4 37. Rg4 Be3 38. Bxh4 Rh8 39. Kg2 Rxh4 40. Rxh4 Nf3 41. Rh3 Ng5 42. Rg3 Ne6 43. Qg4 Rf4 44. Qd1 Rh4 45. Rf2 Nf4+ 46. Rxf4 Bxf4 47. Rh3 Qg5+ 48. Kh1 Rxh3+ 49. Bxh3 Qg3 { Black wins. } 0-1
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