With Freestyle Chess, Magnus Carlsen rediscovers child-like joy and the hunger to ‘prove himself’ that made him a legend

The game had appeared to continually trigger him bitterness over the previous couple of years. The person identified to combat until the final pawn on the board had began to select up loads of fights off the board. However over the previous week, as he has duelled his approach to the title on the Paris leg of the Freestyle Tour, Carlsen has repeatedly spoken in regards to the “totally different pleasure and tranquility” he feels whereas sitting down over the board to play a sport of freestyle chess.

By no means thoughts that he has battled the flu for a good portion of the occasion in Paris. He appears to like the format a lot, the truth is, that in a few days, Carlsen can be again on the board on Thursday to play in one other freestyle occasion in Grenke: this time in an open event the place gamers will play two classical video games per day (one thing Carlsen has not executed in over 20 years). Carlsen mentioned he anticipated the expertise to be thrilling however exhausting. And in contrast to common chess, the place he would have scoffed at being requested to show himself, he was really trying ahead to it.

“I’m not trying ahead to enjoying with black items in opposition to some 2200-rated participant on Thursday night time,” Carlsen mentioned, albeit with a large grin that has turn into a uncommon sight when he talks chess nowadays. “I feel it’s fairly cool that we get to show ourselves in very, very totally different codecs. That’s the best way it must be.”

World no. 1 @MagnusCarlsen receives his 🏆 and examine for $200,000 after successful the 2025 Paris #FreestyleChess Grand Slam! @GMHikaru takes 🥈 & $140,000, whereas @FabianoCaruana is 🥉 with $100,000! pic.twitter.com/9EUC2wjEXM

— chess24 (@chess24com) April 14, 2025

In one other interview he did after successful the crown at Paris, Carlsen opened up in regards to the “child-like pleasure” he feels within the Freestyle variant the place the items on the again ranks may be shuffled in 960 other ways.

“Going to the board to play Freestyle Chess, in comparison with classical chess, is a totally totally different feeling. There’s extra of a child-like pleasure of simply enjoying chess somewhat than being concerned about openings, score factors — issues that are essential, however don’t essentially equate pleasure,” Carlsen mentioned earlier than including: “I wish to win too. You wish to be reminded as to why you began enjoying chess early on. And I’m reminded of that after I sit down for a Freestyle Chess sport.”

It’s not simply Carlsen. His opponent Nakamura too has appeared disenchanted with classical chess over the previous couple of months, going to the extent of calling himself a chess streamer first and a chess participant second. Regardless of dropping to Carlsen, he admitted that the Freestyle Chess variant was a “lot of enjoyable to play.”

So dominant has Carlsen been on the Paris occasion, that he has not wanted a tiebreaker in opposition to any of his opponents within the knockout section: Nodirbek Abdusattarov, Fabiano Caruana and now Nakamura.

In fact, loads of Carlsen’s happiness enjoying at Freestyle Chess additionally comes from the appreciable heft he enjoys. Just lately, Jan Henric Buettner, the person behind the Freestyle Chess Tour, revealed that from the following occasion of the tour in Las Vegas, video games can be diminished from 90-minute encounters to 45-minute battles. Each video games of a spherical can be performed on the identical day at Las Vegas. Buettner additionally quietly slipped in that the concept had come from Carlsen. Adjustments to the format itself can even be carried out on the suggestion of Carlsen’s father, Henrik, Buettner added.

Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen in motion in the course of the Paris Freestyle chess. (Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess)

For gamers of Carlsen’s technology like Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura — Carlsen, Nakamura and Caruana by the way ended as the highest 3 at Paris — the Freestyle Chess variant additionally serves a sensible goal: gamers have to spend little or no time making ready for a sport earlier than the duel begins within the enjoying corridor. It’s because they solely discover out which one of many 959 doable positions they should play that day 10 minutes earlier than the sport begins. Younger gamers like Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh and Praggnandhaa have a slight edge in classical chess as a result of they’ll put together for an opponent for hours at a stretch within the morning after which nonetheless have sufficient power left within the tank to play a five-hour sport with out psychological and bodily fatigue creeping in. However Freestyle Chess presents gamers the posh of waking up 5 minutes earlier than they need to make it to the enjoying corridor and nonetheless be completely wonderful.

Carlsen indicated as a lot.

“I don’t have the power to play actually good video games. I can nonetheless be inventive, I can nonetheless perceive the place and the dynamic and strategic concepts. However I can not implement them with out blundering, which is what occurred yesterday (sport 2 of the semis in opposition to Caruana which resulted in a draw) and in the present day (sport 1 of the ultimate, which he received after his opponent, Nakamura, blundered horribly on the finish). Basically, I needed to win the sport 3 times in the present day (in opposition to Nakamura): I bought a successful place two occasions and I threw them away. I simply received as a result of he made the final blunder,” admitted Carlsen after defeating Nakamura within the first sport on Sunday.

Chess’ greatest takeaway from Paris just isn’t that Carlsen received. It’s that he’s rediscovered that child-like pleasure and the starvation to ‘show himself’ that propelled him to 5 world championship titles again within the day.