Carlsen, the world’s highest-rated chess player since 2010, will take a seat in Weissenhaus, Germany, to compete in freestyle chess, previously known as Chess960 and Fischer Random. The starting position of the back row pieces is randomized, removing a top grandmaster’s lifetime of memorization and theory on how to open a chess game.

While Gukesh is out of the quarterfinal, his time in Weissenhaus still continues, as he will battle for the fifth to eighth ranking spots, playing the loser of the Hikaru Nakamura vs Jakovhir Sindarov quarterfinal tie. Fifth place gets $50,000 and 10 points, while eighth gets $10,000 and 4 points.

Classical World Champion, India’s D. Gukesh lost the second leg of the quarterfinal match against USA’s Fabiano Caruana in the 2025 Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tour in Hamburg, Germany on Monday.

Gukesh lost both his games in the quarter-final against Fabiano Caruana. He's so far winless at Weissenhaus. But he will now play for classification between 5-8 spot.

At a meeting in Weissenhaus on Sunday, the Freestyle Chess Players Club declared the 2025 Grand Slam Tour winner will be titled 'Freestyle Chess Champion'. The club plans to establish an independent association to protect their interests,