Magnus Carlsen Freestyles His Way To His 21st World Chess Championship

Did anyone ever have any doubt? What was the point in even turning up?

Those are the kind of questions chess experts ask whenever Norway's chess superstar GM Magnus Carlsen rocks up to a tournament.

And so it was at the first FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship as the inevitable Carlsen scored yet another world title—his 21st, and third this year alone—plus $100,000 in prize money.

The result meant another day of heartbreak for reigning U.S. Champion GM Fabiano Caruana, Carlsen's opponent in the final. Caruana fell to his Norwegian nemesis just as he did in the 2018 classical World Championship.

Caruana, for so many years the world number two to Carlsen, remains always a bridesmaid, never the bride when it comes to winning a world title.

Caruana, 33, lost his first shot at a crown to Carlsen eight years ago in rapid tiebreaks after drawing all twelve of their classical games. To his utter dismay, history repeated itself again on Sunday in Weissenhaus, Germany.

The American, the third-highest-rated player in history and more than worthy of a chess crown, has other opportunities coming up, however.

This time, in a much shorter title tournament rather than match, Carlsen secured the draw he needed in the final's fourth and final game to seal a 2.5–1.5 match victory.

The decisive moment came in game three. Carlsen won from a dead lost position, turning the match in his favour.

Entering the final game, the 35-year-old needed only a draw and achieved it in an equal endgame after Caruana missed late chances to mount a comeback.

"I don't know what to say about game three," a crestfallen Caruana said afterwards. He can, however, take some solace in knowing he's now qualified for the 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship.

Carlsen, meanwhile. was relieved: "Not certainly one of my more convincing wins today, but it feels great to win on a bit of an off day, and most of all I'm just happy to be done!"

The 2026 tournament marks the first official FIDE-recognised Freestyle Chess World Championship—an event played using the "Chess960" or "Fischer Random" variant that was born out of political wrangling.

Freestyle Chess Operations GmbH, which hosted the event, had attempted to put on their version of a new world title last year but faced a wall of opposition from FIDE, leading to a very public row.

FIDE and Freestyle, backed by the German businessman Jan Henric Buettner, eventually made up after last year's successful Freestyle Chess Tour concluded in Cape Town. The new version of a chess world title, with the two sides working together, was announced shortly after.

Carlsen, the world number-one, had previously attempted to win the FIDE Fischer Random World Championship, this event's forerunner, without success.

Instead, the 2019 title was taken by GM Wesley So, and the 2022 edition by GM Hikaru Nakamura. After 2022, FIDE never held it again and seemingly lost interest. Meanwhile, Carlsen also lost interest in the classical World Championship and vowed never to play a FIDE world title match again. He even said he was "at war" with FIDE.

That didn't come to pass. The feud thawed and over Christmas Carlsen competed in—and won—the FIDE Rapid and Blitz Championships. Now, in Weissenhaus, Carlsen secured has the "Fischer Random" title's successor the official FIDE Freestyle Chess title.

In the match for third place, Uzbek sensation GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated Germany's world number-four GM Vincent Keymer. Abdusattorov secured the match by drawing a winning position in the final game, also ensuring qualification for the 2027 championship.

GM Hans Niemann, of the U.S., took fifth place with a 2–0 victory over India's GM Arjun Erigaisi, while another American GM Levon Aronian won his Armageddon against the 19-year-old World Cup winner GM Javokhir Sindarov to take seventh place.

In the women’s exhibition match, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan prevailed over GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, representing Switzerland, after the final game ended in a draw.

So with Carlsen winning the new freestyle version of the title, his chess CV is now complete. At least until FIDE's next new version of the title, the Total World Chess Championship, starts.