The semifinals featured four players, all currently ranked in the top 5 of standard world chess. Carlsen faced some difficulty against Abdusattorov, drawing the first two games. However, in the third game, playing with white pieces, the world number one capitalized on an endgame mistake by the Uzbekistan representative to take the lead.

Carlsen (right) during his semifinal match against Abdusattorov at the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026, in Weissenhaus, Germany on 14/2. Photo: FIDE

Abdusattorov needed to win the fourth game to force a tie-break. However, with a series of rook and knight sacrifices, Carlsen set up a checkmate trap, compelling the 21-year-old to resign after 29 moves. The Norwegian ultimately won the match 3-1, securing his spot in the final.

Carlsen's opponent in the final will be world number three Caruana. In his semifinal match against local player Keymer, the American player took the lead in the very first game, despite playing with black pieces. However, the German representative equalized the score in the third game. In the decisive game, the 33-year-old Caruana gained an early advantage from the opening and concluded the match in the middlegame by capturing one of Keymer's bishops.

The final match is scheduled to begin at 21:00 on 15/2 (Hanoi time). It will consist of four games played under a 25+10 format, meaning 25 minutes per side with a 10-second increment after each move. If the score is tied, a 10-minute armageddon game will determine the winner.

The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 marks FIDE's first world championship for 960 chess since the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2022, which Hikaru Nakamura won.

This year's tournament brought together eight grandmasters, who competed in a rapid round-robin to determine the four semifinalists. Prior to this event, Magnus Carlsen had accumulated 22 "World" titles, including 20 championships within FIDE's World Championships system. Despite this, he has never won a 960 world championship.

Chess 960, also known as Fischer Random or Freestyle Chess, was pioneered by the 11th World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. In this variant, the pieces on the first and eighth ranks are randomly arranged by computer before each game, resulting in a total of 960 different starting positions. This very diversity gives the format its name, Chess 960. With no fixed setup, players cannot rely on memorizing openings, forcing them to calculate and formulate plans from the very first moves.

Xuan Binh