Grandmasters Magnus Carlsen, Vincent Keymer, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov top the field for the Grenke Freestyle Chess Open, set for April 2-6 in Karlsruhe, Germany. The event, part of the Grenke Chess Festival, features 14 players rated over 2700 and a €215,000 prize fund. Carlsen returns as defending champion after his perfect 9/9 score last year.
The Grenke Freestyle Chess Open will draw top talent to Karlsruhe's Schwarzwaldhalle and Gartenhalle conference rooms, where organizers plan to set up more than 50,000 chess pieces for one of the world's largest tournament halls. Magnus Carlsen, the former world champion, defends his title from the 2025 edition, where he scored 9/9—one of the standout performances of his career. Joining him are fellow top-10 players Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, along with 11 other grandmasters rated above 2700, including Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Hans Niemann, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Leinier Dominguez, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vladimir Fedoseev, Nihal Sarin, Awonder Liang, Parham Maghsoodloo, Amin Tabatabaei, and Aravindh Chithambaram. The tournament offers a €60,000 first prize from a €215,000 fund, equivalent to about $69,000 and $248,000 respectively. For the first time, it serves as an official qualifier for the Freestyle Chess World Championship, scheduled for three days in the second week of February 2027 in Weissenhaus, Germany. Carlsen, Abdusattorov, and Fabiano Caruana have spots secured from the 2026 event, with Karlsruhe providing one additional berth. In the women's category, Bibisara Assaubayeva has qualified after defeating Alexandra Kosteniuk in an exhibition, and the top three female finishers here will join her for the 2027 Women's FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. Registrations have surged past 3,200 and approach 4,000, organizers said, positioning it to break attendance records as the world's largest open chess tournament. The festival also includes the traditional Grenke Open, led by Igor Kovalenko, with players able to switch events before round five while keeping points.