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Arjun Erigaisi set to battle against Carlsen and co. at Freestyle Grand Slam Tour Finals in South Africa

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/12/2025

Freestyle Grand Slam Tour Finals starts today at Grootbos Private Nature in Walker Bay, Hermanus, South Africa. The top eight finishers of the tour will battle each other in Round-Robin Rapid stage. The top three players will get to choose their Quarterfinal opponents. The newly crowned FIDE World Cup 2025 winner, Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) got number 1 at the Draw of Lots, Vincent Keymer (GER) no.2 and Arjun Erigaisi 3. Arjun will start the day with a game against Hans Niemann (USA). The remaining pairings are: Sindarov vs Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Keymer vs Levon Aronian (USA) and Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) vs Fabiano Caruana (USA). Round 1 starts today at 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Sagar Shah



Arjun vs Hans in Round 1

Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025 Finalists | Photo: Sagar Shah

Arjun Erigaisi with team ChessBase India before the helicopter ride

L to R: Abhyudaya Ram, Harshit Raja, Amruta Mokal, Arjun Erigaisi, Sagar Shah and Aditya Sur Roy.

Draw of Lots with GM Sebastian Siebrecht (GER), Tournament Director and IA Gerhard Bertagnolli (ITA), Chief Arbiter | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Our Cofounders - IM Sagar Shah and his better half, Amruta Mokal | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more photos, please check the album here.

Players

Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Fabiano Caruana (USA), Levon Aronian (USA), Vincent Keymer (GER), Arjun Erigaisi, Hans Niemann (USA), Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) and Javokhir Sindarov (UZB).

Video Gallery

Draw of Lots | Video: ChessBase India
Venue tour | Video: ChessBase India
Jacket ceremony | Video: ChessBase India
Hans Niemann vs Levon Aronian - Push-up Challenge | Video: ChessBase India
Venue tour | Video: ChessBase India
Press Conference with Magnus Carlsen, Jan Henric Buettner | Video: ChessBase India
Mumbai to Cape Town vlog | Video: ChessBase India
Hans Niemann's diving chess skills | Video: ChessBase India
100 kids vs 12 Grandmasters | FreeStyle Chess Grand Simul Vlog | Video: ChessBase India
When Magnus Carlsen played against the kids of South Africa with all the love and care! | Video: ChessBase India
On air with Arjun Erigaisi | Video: ChessBase India
The stress and the pressure of facing Magnus Carlsen | Video: ChessBase India
The friendship between Javokhir Sindarov and Bibisara Assaubayeva | Video: ChessBase India
Horsing around with Vidit and Nidhi | Video: ChessBase India

Schedule

8th December: Round-Robin stage - Rapid

9th December: Quarterfinals

10th December: Semifinals and 5th - 8th place

11th December: Finals, 3rd, 5th and 7th place

Round 1 pairings

Bo.No.RtgWhiteResultBlackRtgNo.
112704GMSindarov, JavokhirGMCarlsen, Magnus29238
222752GMKeymer, VincentGMAronian, Levon27727
332744GMErigaisi, ArjunGMNiemann, Hans Moke27176
442712GMMaghsoodloo, ParhamGMCaruana, Fabiano27975

Details

Links

Official site




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